A chord-generating synth that its creators describe as a “harmony machine”, Nopia is a unique instrument that caught the attention of millions with its harmony-centric workflow and pastel-coloured, minimalist design when it was first teased in 2023.
The synth went unexpectedly viral when creators Martin Grieco and Rocío Gal shared a video of a prototype produced for a design competition, picking up nearly three million views in the space of a week.
Three years on and the small but passionate team behind Nopia has finally finished development, and is almost ready to share the finished product with the world: Nopia MK1.
Ahead of its release later this year, we invited the Nopia team to visit the MusicRadar Tech HQ and show our viewers what the instrument can do. Fortunately for us, they obliged, giving us an exclusive first look at a synth that, until now, has only appeared in a handful of short videos produced by its creators.
As Martin explains in the demo above, Nopia’s harmony-focused workflow is built around three core controls: the Chord Builder (a one-octave keyboard) the Tonal Selector (12 buttons laid out keyboard-style) and the Extensions Dial.
Between them, these can be used to play all diatonic chords from every key, with the Extensions Dial adding colour and character through chord extensions, the slider above the Tonal Selector allowing the player to explore different octaves and voicings, and a switch on the front selecting major or minor tonalities.
These feed into a multitimbral sound engine that draws on a combination of virtual analogue synthesis and samples across four distinct modules: Keys, Bass, Arp and Pad. Individual notes from the chosen chord can be played via the touch-sensitive strum plate in the top-right corner and the slider beneath the Tonal Selector can be used to perform polyphonic pitch-bend between chords.
Nopia is also equipped with a number of effects, including a filter, delay, reverb, saturation, tape emulation and beat repeat, and offers comprehensive connectivity that covers per-module MIDI output via TRS, MIDI input, clock in/out, stereo TRS audio outputs, USB MIDI and a sustain pedal jack.
While the team behind Nopia have yet to share an official release date, we’re told that the instrument is “basically finished” and that they’re aiming to launch within “a couple of months”. We also learned that Nopia will be priced at “around £550”, though this is subject to change.
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