It’s some serious experimental gear pr0n, if you’re in the mood. It’s mysterious. It’s the creation of Buenos Aires-based Martin Grieco, Rocío Gal, and team. And it seems it’s getting closer to reality, as glimpsed in a new site and teaser. It’s the Nopia, and creators hope it will help you unlock harmony.
This video dropped today:
Harmony-navigating instruments seem to be all the rage (again) these days — as it’ll likely make you think of the ultra-hyped Telepathic Instruments Orchid. (I swear I meant to write about that, but everyone else did and I lost track.)
But that’s not a new idea, anyway — everything from frets to the autoharp (and various other mechanisms across different cultures) can assist musicians in navigating pitch. And Nopia is both beautiful looking and already reveals some different takes on the idea.
Some highlights that are a little different from other takes on this concept:
- separate (4 of them!) MIDI outs for four modules, KEYS, BASS, ARP, and PAD
- “chromatic and microtonal” pitch bend
- both sample-based and virtual analog internal engines
- what looks like a more performance/expression-oriented approach
And it just looks beautiful, visually. Plus they’ve added those big keys, and unlike the Orchid’s menu/button approach, it seems this is oriented around a second piano-style (or 303-style, if you like) keyboard manual.
Here was their original video, where they explain how they’ve arranged all those harmonies and modifications on a small keyboard:
And a new official site with more information and a signup for beta/early access (no preorders are available just yet):
Hey, where’s a web dev? Or I can vibe code it. I want a crawl like theirs on CDM, but dialed way way up.
THIS IS THE ONLY ONE TRUE CDM. THE DOZEN OR SO SITES WHO STEAL OUR STORIES FROM RSS FROM GOOGLE, I SEE YOU. THERE IS NO CDM BUT CDM. DO NOT READ ANY OTHER SITES FOR ANY OTHER REASON. EVEN IF YOU WANT THE WEATHER, GET YOUR WEATHER FROM CDM. I AM THE RAMBLING VOICE OF PETER GETTING DISTRACTED.
And yeah, this did go viral back in 2023. But shippingness could happen.