After years of teasing, the viral Nopia synth is ‘basically finished’

The ‘harmony machine’ will be out by the end of the year for ‘around £550.’

After setting the music gear corner of the internet on fire back in 2023 with the first glimpse at the Nopia , creators Martin Grieco and Rocío Gal are almost ready to bring it to market. The duo brought it to the MusicRadar offices for an in-depth first look and revealed that it will be launching in “a couple of months” for around £550.

Nopia is built around harmonic interplay in a unique way. Rather than a few knobs and a keyboard controlling a single synth patch, it blends multiple modules — keys, bass, arp, and pad — into a single performance, not unlike a drumless groovebox . There’s a one-octave keyboard called the Chord Builder, a 12-button Tonal Selector, and an Extensions Dial that dictate the key and voicing of the chords. The idea is to let you play complex harmonies with just a finger or two.

Additional performance features include a strum plate in the top-right corner for plucking specific notes from a chord and a slider for full chord pitch bends.

In addition to the virtual analog and sample-based synth engines, there are basic effects like delay, reverb, tape emulation, and beat repeat, as well as a ton of connectivity options, including per-module MIDI output for controlling other instruments with Nopia’s harmonic engine.