Melbourne InstrumentsDelia Hybrid Polyphonic Keyboard Synthesizer

Melbourne Instruments Delia

Building on the platform of their original product Nina, the Melbourne Instruments Delia is a bi-timbral hybrid keyboard synthesizer boasting motorized knobs for instant and accurate recall of parameters between presets. Of course, the biggest difference is the new addition of a 49-note keybed, but Delia also offers several new internal features to make the most of its powerful analog and digital architecture.

Delia has fewer knobs than Nina, but thanks to the power of Melbourne Instruments' motorized Rotary Recall technology this is no issue at all. Whether moving between pages of LFOs, swapping between coarse and fine-tuning controls for the oscillators, or simply loading up a new preset, Delia can move any and all of its knobs to wherever they need to be for accurate parameter values. The haptic feedback in particular is incredibly satisfying and surreal to feel under your fingers—especially if that knob was otherwise smooth a moment ago.

Like Nina before it, Delia features digital oscillators with analog filtering and VCA stages. Four oscillators per voice offer rich stacking opportunities: two analog-modeled VCOs, a wavetable oscillator, and a Noise/XOR/Aux block. Officially speaking, Delia is a six-voice bi-timbral polyphonic synthesizer—but the unique 12-note mode allows two notes to be processed simultaneously by the six analog filter circuits for more flexibility. Speaking of the filters, these are analog lowpass ladder filters augmented with digital highpass filters for chained bandpass and notch filtering modes. Delia also introduces a three-state overdrive circuit, allowing things to get nice and gritty if you'd like them to. Dual onboard effects processors give you chorus, delay, or reverb effects for additional depth in your patches.

Delia boasts an extended modulation matrix compared to Nina, with 20 different sources and 40 destinations to route them to. Three LFOs offer a variety of shapes, while three envelope generators provide contour and shaping where needed. There's also a 16-step sequencer with polyphonic capabilities as well as a phrase looper with overdubbing—both of which can be saved and recalled with presets.

Although Delia has a keyboard built into it, much of the connectivity of Nina is retained on this model as well. Plug additional controllers into the USB device ports, connect to your computer via the USB-C connector, or use other hardware with the 5-pin DIN MIDI in, out, and thru ports. If you're looking for a well-rounded synthesizer with state-of-the-art recallability, then the Melbourne Instruments Delia is a no-brainer.

Delia Features

• 6-voice hybrid keyboard synthesizer
• Motorized knobs instantly recall settings for different pages, presets, and more
• Bi-timbral operation supported
• 49-note keybed with velocity and aftertouch
• 4 oscillators per voice: 2x virtual analog VCOs, 1x wavetable, 1x noise/XOR/aux
• 12-note mode doubles up oscillators per analog filter circuit
• Analog lowpass ladder filter + digital highpass filter
• Link filter mode for bandpass and notch operation
• 3x variable waveshape LFOs
• 3x envelope generators: VCA, VCF, aux
• 20 x 40 modulation matrix
• Dual effects processors with series/parallel routings
• 16-step polyphonic sequencer
• Internal phrase looper
• USB-A ports for connecting controllers and other devices
• USB-C port for connecting to computers/DAWs
• Over 400 factory presets
• High-resolution LCD screen