Some of the most interesting instruments are also the cheapest. Hügelton Instruments' Nikolator is a polyphonic physical-modeling synthesizer that simulates a Tesla coil, and it is available for just one US dollar. Reported by SYNTH ANATOMY, it is a great excuse to talk about how to play an unusual instrument expressively, even when MPE is not part of the feature list.
What Nikolator does
Instead of oscillators, Nikolator models the behavior of a Tesla coil: an interrupter drives a resonant circuit, the discharge grows, and energy transfers into the air. A dedicated coil section lets you adjust arc length, branching, and channel behavior. A performance driver provides octave and tune controls plus burst parameters, and a paraphonic valve low-pass filter adds resonance.
Two ADSR envelopes, one for the driver and one for the main output, both include curve control. A multi-wave LFO and a 4x6 modulation matrix let you route movement around, and 22 factory presets come with a visual of the virtual coil. It runs as a standalone app and as VST3 and AU on macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel) and Windows.
MIDI support: what is and is not listed
The developer lists velocity, pitch bend, mod wheel, and sustain pedal support, with assignable modulation routing. MPE is not mentioned. That is common for small, experimental plugins, and it is not a flaw: building per-note channel handling is real work, and many indie developers prioritize the sound engine first.
This is a good moment to remember what MPE actually adds. In an MPE setup, each note travels on its own MIDI channel so pitch bend, pressure, and slide (CC74) can be unique per note. A plugin without MPE typically treats everything as one channel, so a single pitch-bend gesture affects the whole chord. Our explainer on what MPE is covers the basics.
Getting expressive results anyway
You can still play Nikolator with a lot of nuance:
- Use your controller in single-channel mode. Most MPE controllers can fall back to a standard MIDI mode. Pressure can be sent as channel aftertouch, and you can map it through the modulation matrix.
- Play monophonic lines for pitch gestures. Pitch bend on a single line sounds great on a Tesla-style tone, and no per-note separation is needed.
- Record and edit automation. Capture your gestures in the DAW and shape the mod wheel and pitch curves afterwards.
- Layer instruments. Put Nikolator under a fully MPE-capable synth to add texture while the other layer handles per-note expression.
Test before you trust
Whenever you try a new plugin with an MPE controller, a quick check saves time. Hold a two-note chord, bend one note, and listen. If both notes move, the plugin is treating input as one channel. If only one moves, per-note handling is working. It takes thirty seconds and tells you exactly how to set up your session.
Worth a dollar
At its price, Nikolator is an easy download for anyone who enjoys unusual timbres. The developer also notes that generative AI was used for coding assistance while the sound design and graphics were made by hand, which is worth knowing if that matters to you. You can grab it from the official itch.io page.
The larger lesson is that expressive playing is a spectrum. Native MPE gives you the most detailed per-note control, but a creative instrument, a good modulation matrix, and some technique can go a long way. And when a plugin does add MPE later, you will already know what to try first.