Nicolas Melis

Cypriot Pianist Nicolas Melis enjoys an international career performing as a concert soloist as well as a keyboardist. At a young age, he represented Cyprus at the international music festival Steinway for Young Pianists in Hamburg, Germany. A graduate of the University of Music and Theater “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy,” Melis, who has studied Piano Performance in Classical music and Contemporary Improvisation, has won numerous competition awards both at a national and international level including the 1st Prize at the International Piano Competition for young musicians of H.O.N in Athens, Greece and a special prize at the 1st international piano competition of E.P.T.A. in Zagreb, Croatia amongst others.

He is a founding member of Cyprus’ leading blues band, The Zilla Project, who released their first album This One’s for the President in 2014. The band has successfully collaborated with a number of international artists including Adam Levy (USA), Bex Marhsall (UK), Gil Edwards (N0R), The Blues Wire (GR), and Panos Mouzourakis (GR). After having toured Greece in 2016 they perfomed at the Palais Des Natios in Geneva, Switzerland and enthused their audience with three more performances in the city. The band has also performed in London and headlined the August Full Moon festival in Crete.

Recently Melis collaborated and recorded keys for Loizos Pafitis’album The Underdog, and is slated to record for alternative rock band Belua’s second album. The Zilla Project’s next album is expected to be released in 2019.

We chatted with him about how he’s using the Prophet Rev2.

What made you choose the Prophet Rev2?

“When I am trying out a new keyboard, the first things I look for are a good keybed, good build quality, and fat sounds. I fell in love with the Rev2 seconds after playing on it, as it gives you that little spark of inspiration with endless possibilities and options for creating the sounds you aim for.”

How are you using it?

“It’s my main analog polysynth for pads and lead sounds when I’m in the studio recording. When I am gigging, I use it for my live performance needs as it translates and delivers the sounds I have in my mind.

What’s one of your favorite things about it?

“I really like the Rev2’s layout and accessibility. It’s an amazing synth from its sound quality to its effects. I love the build quality, the keybed feels great (as a classical trained pianist this is very important to me), the knobs are well-made, and I also enjoy the display for giving me the option to tweak precisely.

What does the Rev2 give you that other instruments don’t?

“Dave Smith instruments are known for their great sound quality and the Rev2, allows you to go really deep into sound design and create fat sounds and warm pads. The fact that it’s so versatile and flexible to experiment with on my sound is the main reason why I chose the Rev2 as my main analog polysynth.”

Any interesting tricks or techniques you’d like to share?

“I’m not doing anything special, but using Noise as a modulation source to slightly modify the filter cutoff adds some roughness to the sound that I enjoy when playing.

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MORE ABOUT THE Prophet REV2

For more information, check out the Prophet Rev2 product page here.

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