Ahead of Superbooth 2025 in Berlin, Instruō has launched Seashell, an analog semi-modular desktop synth with a modern edge.
Bridging the knob-twiddling hardware world of modular synthesis with the software landscape via an accompanying plugin, Seashell aims to bring perfect integration with your DAW or software control environment.
Connecting to your computer (Mac, Windows or Linux) via USB-C, users can modify any and all of the Seashell’s analogue components via the plugin’s fairly contemporary-looking UI, with high resolution digital control (14 bit) over its main areas.
Instruō stress that this approach provides a fresh method of working with the analogue world – and marks a notable coming together of the two universes that have traditionally side-eyed each other with suspicion.
On to the synth itself, and the semi-modular architecture is fuelled by dual analog sawtooth-core analogue VCOs sporting sync and cross modulation. There’s a wave folder and lowpass filter (CV controlled) and on the modulation front, there’s an LFO, a flexible envelope generator and a stereo diffusion effect – All of these elements can be manipulated via the accompanying software. It’s also patchable via CV inputs for external signal manipulation.
Seashell definitely looks like a fantastic way in to the semi-modular universe. Its plugin-based control center effectively a helpful leg-up for music-makers more used to digital workflows and daunted by the learning curve of modular. The appeal of total recall via software is undoubtedly a highlight here though.
Instruō Seashell is available now for £649. Find out more on the Instruō website.
Ahead of Superbooth 2025 – kicking off in Berlin on Thursday 8 May – Moog has shared a cryptic teaser video that confirms the company will be releasing a new synthesizer: Messenger.
The video is a surreal experience that depicts unidentified workers visiting the forest to install microphones in the ground, before we’re shown a Severance-esque scene in which more creepy corporate types get their Jackson Pollock on, while one plays the new Messenger synth. (If the Severance connection seems a little random, cast your mind back to the fourth episode of the show’s latest season, in which Miss Huang somewhat inexplicably plays a Moog Theremini.)
“A new mode of communication has arrived,” reads the caption for the video. “A carrier of universal language, a catalyst for human connection, a machine for deeper meaning. This device translates ideas into actuality. It exists in a space where experimentation meets expression, where the sights and sounds of the natural world intersect with notions of the cosmic beyond.”
Based on what we can see in the video, the Moog Messenger is a compact monophonic synthesizer, featuring two oscillators, a sequencer, arpeggiator, a 32-note keyboard and a hands-on, knobby interface.
Judging from the image below, it looks like there’s also a multimode filter onboard with four modes, an arpeggiator and a 64-step probabilistic sequencer.
“Keep on listening,” the caption reads. “We’ll have more to share with you soon.”
We’ll have full official details on the Moog Messenger when they are announced May 8th.
Melbourne Instruments has announced a free update for its NINA synthesizer that adds a multi-track sequencer and more.
NINA’s major new firmware update introduces a new polyphonic, polymeter sequencer, with per-step parameter locking and front panel automation, powered by Melbourne Instrument’s motorized knob technology.
The update also adds 64 new noise sources to NINA’s synth engine, expanding the possibilities for greater sound design. The new noise sources include various percussion hits, digital, metal and assorted noise types, as one-shot or loops.
The new sequencer mode also adds time-based features like shuffle, micro-timing, clock multiplication, variable gate lengths, and probability options. The Multi-Track Sequencer mode is optimized for stand-alone use and as a powerful instrument when synchronized with other gear.
New Multi-Track Sequencer Features:
4-track sequencer, up to 64 steps available per track.
Polymeter sequencing: each track can have different step lengths.
Assignable polyphonic voices per track, up to 12 voices available.
Polyphonic sequencing – allows for chords per step.
Per-step front panel parameter locking with instant recall and motorized automation feedback.
Live automation recording of front panel knobs.
64 new noise types for greater sound design possibilities. Includes various percussion hits, digital, metal and noise types for creating more percussive sounds.
Different noise sources can be parameter locked per step.
NINA’s powerful Morph feature available per step, providing more vast timbral possibilities.
Timing options include shuffle, micro-timing, clock multiplication, gate length and probability (per step and per track).
Internal storage for more than 4000 patterns.
Perform and chain up to 16 patterns with user definable pattern lengths, up to 512 steps.
The firmware update is available now as a beta release at the MI site.
