Novation Nova

I'm using the latest version 4.something. I'd been using 3.0 since I got it a year and a half ago up until a month ago since I didn't have the tools to upgrade it, and my buddy couldn't figure out how to back up all my sounds.

Anyhoo, the presets are questionable at best, but a lot of them are not far off. I've done a few minor tweaks to some of them and come up with gold. The performance patches that come preloaded get written over without mercy or even checking what's on them.

I had the basic idea of subtractive synthesis when I got the Nova so editing sounds wasn't that hard, and with all these knobs and buttons it's only gotten easier. Sometimes I wish there were a few more dedicated knobs (individual controls for each envelope, oscillator, etc.) but really it's not that big a deal, I just have to pay attention to which light is on. There is some menu diving for the more advanced features, which can be a good thing, as 99% of the time I don't think I'd want a knob for sync skew or format width. Editing performance modes was tricky at first, as I basically sat down and figured out how the hell to do it on my own. Easy as pie for doing what I do now.

16-voice polyphony with the new upgrade. I have no idea how I managed to live with 12 for so long. even maxing out the multi-timbrality (some layers, some splits) I never want for more voices.

The built-in effects are really easy to use, especially with the send knob being right there. The reverb and delays sound decent for what they are (part of the synth sound), the distortion is chintzy, but neat for what it is, I actually really dig the flange/chorus/phase for thickening up a sound a touch or giving it some shimmer. Tremolo I'm embarassed to say I have never been able to figure out. When I have it set to tremolo the send knob seems to do nothing. I guess I'll have to *gasp* crack the manual!

I'm not really sure what this thing can do midi-wise. All I care about is that I can plug a cable in and get sounds to come out. I'm not planning on using it as a control surface/master apreggiator/midi clock/kitchen sink. I've got an MPC-1000 and a ReMote 49 LE, and they get plenty of usage.

It's got all the features I need and a few I'll probably play around with in the future.

It is a very realistic synth, and by that I mean it is dead on for sounding like some oscillators and filters in a box.

I hate to put this thing into just one category. The presets scream "make sounds on me that kids with pacifiers and floppy pants will love!" but I've gotten some stuff out of it that could work for almost anything. There are some really smooth pads to be gotten as well as some of the most aggressive leads and basses I've been able to use. The oscillator section is really versatile, and almost anything can be routed to the modulation sources far beyond anything I need. The velocity sensitivity works really well; I've had to turn it down plenty of times to compensate for my somewhat inconsistent playing.

As I've said before, the really flexible, great-sounding oscillators are amazing. I don't think I've seen anything short of wavetables that give me the kind of variety of sounds this box has. At first I was really disappointed at not having a triangle wave, but I've since gotten over it and focused on crafting great sounds out of what I have. With my new (to me) double saw wave things are even more fun. It sounds a little digital and "sterile" at times, but other times it sounds as dirty and gutsy is I'd care to have it before it gets into analog problems.

I use it every gig with no backup. The knobs worry me, but that's just because they stick out of a piece of digital equipment. I've only had it weird out on me a couple times, but never during a gig. Tip: never EVER let that adapter get too warm, as it will make your synth do funny things. It's happened to me twice, and each time I just gave it a little while to cool. No big, but it does linger in my mind as a possible way to waste a large sum of money should it ever go out.

I'd give this thing an 8 if it weren't for the finicky adapter.

Never dealt with them directly, and I wouldn't want to try and deal with a company across the ocean from myself. They're really good with releasing updates and posting their manuals online, so I can't complain. I wish they still supported this thing, but they don't seem to be doing much with hardware synths these days. Pity.

If it were lost or stolen I'd probably try and save up for a Virus. It seems like the only synth that is capable of doing what my Nova does and then some as far as features, polyphony and multi-timbrality. Honestly I've wanted a virus for a long time, but the price was always waaay to high, so this seemed like a really good (way better priced) alternative. I'd definitely say that it was worth the money though.

Been playing synth in earnest for close to two years now. I took a piano class in high school, but as far as musicianship goes I'm pretty novice.

I used to own a Novation X-station, and my friend owns the Novation KS-5. I guess my familiarity with their products is what drew me to the Nova in the first place. As far as I'm concerned they're an underrated company that makes a fine instrument for a price that I can afford.

I love the sounds this thing makes, the interface is awesome, and I really love the performance mode. Really I can't ask for anything more. In fact, I'm glad it doesn't have more. I'm really not at all interested in those horrendous workstations that so many companies seem to want to put out these days, as I don't need a bunch of orchestral sounds, sequencers, samplers, and various other doo-dads that take up precious room that could be used for knobs and sliders.

Sure, it's not a Moog, but it's not meant to be. It's meant to be a useful, flexible and powerful machine that I can use to make music in a live or studio setting. I run the Nova through some cranked-up speaker mains for high sounds and the bass sounds through my bass amp. It's loud and gets plenty of analog signal path with speaker coloration by the time it hits my ears, so I really never notice any of the nitpicky things you always hear analog nuts talk about. Recorded, it can sound somewhat digital at first, but with a good engineer you can either work through it or use it to your advantage.

I used it on all my band's recordings, which can be found at myspace.com/teamsharkweek. The sounds were recorded directly onto the computer, and I never went through and overdubbed any other patches or sounds. Anything you hear on there can be played with a 49-key MIDI controller.

So final summation: I highly recommend this synth, especially for the money. It'll get the job done with flying colors.

There is a lerning curve to this synth. I run O.S. 4.1 I sounds great. One tip is to back off the default level on the oscillators lower the 127. I noticed that when they are peaked they pruduce some audible crackling noise. However easily sovled simply save new preset with lower level.

16 Voice Polyphony, every function can be controlled by midi. Sync the arpegiator easily with local control set to off.

Excellent sounding VA synth. I love it.

Bought mine used in good condition. Seems to be pretty solid.

NA

I like this synth because I can get awesome sounds out of it, It has a good arpegiator and lets my host sequencer breathe easy while the external synth takes care of the processing.

Using OS V4.1
The presets are crap and don't do justice to this jewel.
Fortunately, it is very user friendly and a breeze to program (provided that you have played with analog synths before).
The Manual is well done, with a bit of background on subtractive synthesis for people new to analog-type synthesizers.

16 voices with the OS 4.1 revision.
Built-in effects are quite good despite the fact that some people find them "cold" and digital sounding, with a bit of tweaking they can sound warm enough.
6 parts multitimbral with 7 effects on each part all independent! (the new Access Virus TI has finally got that too, 7 years later!)

Arpeggiator that is programmable!

The sound is amazing! Once you unleash the real power of this beast, you will be surprised of what it can do! I've managed to get the Nova to sound like a Yamaha CS80 or a Moog or a Prophet V.
The filter is smooth and "juicy" (on the 24 db setting). Maybe not as unpredictable as the Moog, but very close.
The presets are more trance and rave oriented. Not really my style.
The tweaking response is excellent (no zipper effect here as on the Roland JP8080).
The compare button is really helpful when programming and saving patches to allow you to preview the old settings.

The Vocoder is the best ever made! 40 bands! Sibilance control! It leaves the whole synthesizer unit intact (it is an effect)! You can Vocode a 8 voices unison sound with ease!

Well suited for analog synth sound emulation (Jupiter 8, Prophet 5, Moog, Oberheim, and many more)

Uses the same Motorola DSP chips as in the Clavia Nord Lead 3, but has only 5 instead of 6 in the Nord. That's why only 16 voices polyphony. But it has a DSP for effects alone!

Here's where it gets a bit troubling. I've bought mine used and got it with the original power-supply (which gets quite hot). And after a couple of days, the unit started to show some problems:the display would go dark and LEDs would light-up and some others would blink and no sound would come out of the unit.

E-mailed Novation, and got a reply the next day. They told me it sounded like a bad power-supply problem, and they gave me the address and phone number of the distributor for Novation products here in Canada. Called them up and they told me they would have to order one since they didn't have that item in stock and I would have to wait about a week to have it delivered. The cost? $125 cdn !!!!
WAY too expensive for me for a simple power-supply (a third of the cost of the whole unit! )

So, since I have some background in electronics, I decided to repair it myself. It turns out that there was a defective soldering joint on one of the wires on the circuit board.

I havent had a problem since...

The Nova itself seems well made, but does get warm after a while.

Novation should have provided a better quality power-supply.
Unfortunatly, the Nova requires a special power plug (female 5 pins DIN) so you cannot use another power-supply easily. It needs +5 volts, +12 volts, -12 volts.

Got a quick reply to my email, but the replacement part was too expensive (power-supply).
But the service was very good.

Since it is working fine now (see above) I just LOVE that unit! I used to own a Korg MS2000R which was almost as great as this one, except only 4 voices of polyphony and no reverb effect and only 2 parts multi-timbral, so I sold it to get this one. I don't regret it one second!

I'm using version 4.1 and its pretty good. The preset sounds were fine but its a lot better making your own sounds on this thing to fit your music needs. Yeah, it does take a while to get the sound you really desire but the solo oscillator function is really handy. The manual is online and really basic but you shouldn't really need it as everything is right in front of you to play around with. I give it a nine because of those hidden sounds that take you too long to get.

You're probably going to want an external midi keyboard for this as it only has a 'demo' that plays a little jingle for the sound. 16 polyphony is usually enough (v3.0 only has 12) very rarely do I run out of room. Multitimbral for real, you can go into 'performance' mode and seperate the six 'programs' to midi channels 1-6. And the 'sequencer' sucks a ton. I never use it. The only effects I even think about using are chorus, distortion and subtle delay. The reverb is pretty awful. Too much delay sounds cheesy also.

This is why I own it. Huge range of sounds and everyday I can come up with something new. You can even grab those presets, change them a little and you have completely different and (sort of) original sound. The only thing I can complain about is the NOISY outputs. The Nova is about 5 times more noisy than the rest of my equipment combined. You can manage though by turning the master volume up on the Nova and your mixer volume down and also by limiting the amount of effects you use. It seems to clip a bit more often then my other equipment while using effects.

Yeah, some of the 'fast data' knobs near the top are getting wobbly but other than that it is built like a tank. No problems here and haven't had problems gigging. Hasn't crashed on me once.

Haven't had to deal with them

If it were lost or stolen I'd buy it again. Its a great instrument especially if you're not filthy rich. A lot of sound for not a lot of money. I really enjoy that it is truly multitimbral and that you can create your own sounds. I also enjoy that as soon as you have all your sounds ready that it is a breeze so set up your 'performance' and you can start making music right away. Only things I don't enjoy are the noisy outputs and the long editing process sometimes. Overall a 10.

i am writing this after owning the nova for over one year now, in addition to my earlier review.
i still like the nova a lot. things which i dont like: the sonic possibilities are not very big. you have to search around for a while to get the desired sound, but its definitely possible to achieve. its just hard work compared to other modern VAs out there sometimes.
the effects are really annoying.
in general i am really surprised how cheap you can get one of those these days, so its still a good bargain..

Presets good. Editing simple- press button, twist knob, job done.
Manual's ok.

Good poly. Truely multitimbral effects- one of the most noticeably good things. Everything MIDIable.

D&B, dance, ethereal, fab.

Solid.

Nothing's gone wrong yet.

I'd buy another in a flash.
If I have to struggle to gripe, it's that you I can't turn off the blip sound when you press a button.

O.S 4.3, The presets are awsome on this beast. Editing of patches is as simple as TWEEEEEEEAAK and bammo, something new, something exciting. I still haven't even opened the manual and I am churning out killer tracks with a more pro sound than anything I have done in the last 20 years of playing.

In every respect this unit provides plenty of everything and anything I need. MIDI response is immediate and very solid using it with a JX 305. Pressure sensitivity and after touch fine depending on the patch.

Ok, why the fuck would you buy a Novation if you are after realistic sounds. This machine is a ballsy piece of gear and absolutely the perfect workhorse for all forms of electronica from 80's style Yazoo, Depeche Mode through to the latest Trance, Techno, D&B sounds.

Solid as a rock. Its sending me back to live performance after 5 years stuck in the studio.

N/A

After 15 years playing guitar in various punk/ska/indy bands, I've found something that has revitalised my enthusiasm for contemporary music and performance. I can't wait till I start to explore my Nova and find out a plethora of exciting new directions. I also use a JX 305, a TG33 ( I love the pads on this baby), S550 sampler, Juno 106, Korg Poly 800, SH101, Kawai KX5 and I still pull out my Vantage guitar and Ibanez base. Just buy the thing and start groovin' cats. Peace !

i think this synth is pretty nice for making trance,i used to use old analog stuff because of their straight forward sound,now i have the nova for about 2 years and it still come up with some new sounds.the way i use nova is multimbral mode in combination with my computer, and i believe that nova is very easy to use that way..

This is addition to my earlier review. I'm using OS4.01, not 3.0. Very easy to use.

Check my earlier review.

I make electro-ambient and this synth is great addition to my other equipment. I use it mainly for synth lines, distorted sequences and additional backing stuff like effects etc. It's not good for everything, quite good for basic analog-type stuff.

Knobs feels good and it's build like a tank (metal), no bugs.

Never used.

I would buy it again. It's very important synth in my setup: Roland Juno 106, Roland Jupiter 6, Roland XV-3080, Yamaha AN1x, Yamaha FS1r, Kawai K5000R, Novation Nova, Elektron Sidstation, Elektron Machinedrum, Waldorf Microwave XT, Waldorf Pulse.

i am using OS 4.01...The Presets are mainly crap...they dont show the capabilities of this great machine..Editing the patches is very easy, this is one of the most logical laid out synths that i know..

polzphony is 16 voices, and 6 part multitimbrality...thats really ok, and its enough for my needs. the built in effects are crap...the delay is usable off course, and partz of the distortion..i wish there would be more parameters existing for changing the distortions sound a little bit to my own likes...There is an onboard arpeggiator, with manz patterns, but i dont use it much..

i reallz like the filters of this machine...the sound gives me that "Juno"- feel i am baldy missing on other VAs like the nord, or the virus...

seems to be sturdy built...i guess i wouldnt take it to a gig...

this is the most convincing VA i have been playing on so far. it suits my style of making music, and it has a wide array of sounds to generate..for that price of 550 euro that i paid for it, its unbeatable..i think i would buy it again...i wish it had a better EQ section, with parametric mids...otherwise its incredible...BUY IT!!!

I have upgraded to version 4.1, adding -most significantly- 4 more notes (to make 16-note) to the polyphony. If Novation keeps up with these updates, they are going to have some terribly happy customers. The presets are 98% garbage, and even the one or two decent sounds I wouldn't use without tweaking. And how hards is tweaking? Easy enough that you don't even need to crack the manual to make yourself a decent patch. I hear Sound Diver integrates the Nova nicely, though I haven't had time to try myself. Two thumbs up for all the buttons, knobs and matrices. Everything is right in front of you, and the menus are minimal and concise. The only downer (so far) is it can be difficult to view a parameter's setting without having to *change* the setting. This can be somewhat worked around by setting the knobs to 'pickup', meaning the knob will pick up control of the parameter only once it has passed or touched the value the parameter is currently at; until then the value is displayed on the screen.

As I mentioned, v4.01 and later gives you 16-voice polyphony, probably sufficient for a 6-part instrument, though again I haven't hooked it to a sequencer yet. The effects are basically useless, the distortion is weak at best, and the reverb is so tinny and metallic it's embarrassing to use it at all. The comb filter (though not quite up to that of the Waldorf's) however can really make this blue box squeal and scream, the delay and panning/autopanner are pretty standard, and the flanger/chorus/phaser could be a lot worse. <br><br>The expansional capabilities of this unit seem to look pretty good. After all, if they can add an extra 4 notes of polyphony and several new filters in just one minor update, what's to stop them from doing it again? I really hope they continue developing firmware for the Nova. <br><br>One thing that I don't think gets mentioned much is the fact that the part edit buttons can be used as 'audition' buttons while editing a patch. This essentially means that you can listen to a sound while you develop it without having to connect an outside controller. The odd combination of F's and C's spread over quite a range doesn't offer *too* much flexibility, however it is a nice added feature.<br><br>Among the features I don't like is the little beepy 'chirp' that sounds on every button you push (though isn't routed through outputs thank goodness), and the lack of other common waveforms (ie. Sine, Triangle, etc, not just square/saw/double saw - though I can see this being acknowledged in future updates).

Ignore the presets. If I could delete them, I would. They can offer you only a glimpse into the world of synthesis that you will dive into once you start digging into this machine. The sounds you can pull out of 3 oscillators are really quite impressive. Techno/trance/jungle/D&B/etc basses and leads are a dime a dozen, electronic organs, bells, and the like are not far behind. If you want pads, do not buy this piece. Thin at best. I mean it. I love the filter section - a low, band, or high pass filter each set to either 12, 18 (ala TB-303), or 24db. Another option is the continually expanded 'special' filter, consisting of: Res LPF, Res BPF, Res HPF, Notch, LPF+LPF, BPF+BPF, HPF+HPF, LPF+BPF and BPF+HPF; again each can be set to 12,18 or 24db. If this doesn't impress you, I don't know what will. Almost any single filter setting imaginable can be created with the Nova.

Well, I have only had one issue that apparently came with the box when I bought it used. If the power supply was already warm and the Nova was switched on, all kinds of noise would shoot out the outputs. This problem was quickly resolved, as I will write later in the customer support section. Don't consider this to be a reliablilty issue, as I think it was the owner, not the unit, that may have caused the problems.<br><br>
I would still use this unit without a backup. Rock solid so far, and besides, I don't have the cash for a backup!

Okay, here's where Novation really shines. I was purchasing the unit without a knob, so I emailed Novation to find out about aquiring another one. The same day I got a reply asking me to send them my address, and within a week or two, a replacement knob was in my hands, all the way from England. No cost, no hassle - I didn't even own the unit yet! The second issue I had was about the noise that showed up every time the unit was turned on when the power supply was warm. I emailed Novation again, explaining the problem and asking them to direct me to the nearest qualified technician. Instead, I got a reply from a knowledgable customer service rep. who said he thought he knew what the problem was, and again, in about 2 weeks I had a brand new eprom (the main computer chip) mailed to me - no hassle, no charge. I cracked the unit open, replaced the chip, and mailed the original back to England as I had promised. The Nova works impeccably, and I am floored by Novation's amazing service. If I could give them higher than a 10/10, I would do so without even thinking. They have a long term customer in me. I highly recommend.

I got this unit at a pretty reasonable used price, and I'm having a lot of fun with it. It's my first VA, but I have listened, emulated, and synthesized for 4 or 5 years now, so I consider myself to be somewhat VA-knowledgable when I say this is definitely a good buy.

Software 3.0. First I have to say that NEVER (like the most) judge the synth after playing it in the store, don't even after using it few days. If I did, I had sold it months ago. I have owned it for 6 months now and I'm not going to sell it. I have quite good experience of VAs (Prophecy, K2000(tons of DSP algos), Nord Rack 2, QM 309/Sirius, Micro Q, AN1x and some analogs/half analogs). Like Nova, every synth is very different and for very different needs. After I got Nova I sold Micro Q, not that it's bad but Nova is so much better to edit. Nova and Micro Q are great companion. Micro Q has much deeper engine and worse interface (more complex sounds). Well for those "complex" sounds I use FS1r, XT and other complex sounds.

Presets are really crap. I haven't used even one of the presets before tweaking. They are mostly too effected for me. I wouldn't use editor it's so easy to edit after couple of hours of learning the interface. It was a bit strange at first because I haven't owned Novation before.

I think I once opened the manual cause there was problem with setup.

Polyphony is enough, 16x3oscs, for the price. I was a bit disappointed of effects(just few parameters). Delay, pan, reverb and distortion are quite good and chorus is ok. What I miss, second filter like in Micro Q. That's why(and only 2 LFOs) it's not possible to make really good pads.

I use it for quite many sounds except pads/strings. If rating the presets, I'd give 6-7 but after making your own I'm really satisfied. It's so fast and easy to make good lead/bass sound. Trance/techno -dudes really likes it, i'm sure. I make electro-ambient and it's perfect. Sounds quite smooth but rough if needed. If you now think that it can't make pads, it can. Like every(the most) vas but I mean "complex" pads like Micro Q. So it's good for "basic" analog, OB etc style, pads.

Knobs feels good and it's build like a tank (metal), no bugs.

Never used.

I would buy it again!

I've recently updated to the newest OS version, which is OS 4.01. Adding a few touches to version 4.0 (16 voices, now) it also adds another bank of sounds, some new features (filters, for example) but that doesn't necessarily make it easier to use...

The basic features remain the same.

There's a tremendously inspiring Vox Continental organ-like sound that defies definition... awesome! Most of the new bits are OK as well, with very few duff ones.

Never had a problem since I got the Nova about a year and a half ago. Works incidentally fine with a MIDI guitar!

This is the best bit... If Novation keeps on keeping up with updates they'll get return customers which is a nice policy, indeed!

If lost or stolen, I'd get another one without further ado's - it's an ESSENTIAL part by now, along with Novation BassStation and other bits, mostly samplers.

I'm using version 4.1.

The presets on the Nova are exactly what they think you want to hear and obviously don't showcase it's real abilities very well. I'm not usualy very fond of presets on a synth, though!

I've had it for 7 months and only cracked the manual once to figure out how to sync the clock to MIDI. Everythings laid out very nicely, and programming is a breeze!

Biggest fault: There's no way to establish what the parameter of a nob is before you turn it. This is incredibly more frustrating than you might think at times and decent ears come in handy if you want to set it back.

This is where the NOVA shines most brightly. For the cost it stuffed to bursting with VERY inspiring functions.

Seperate effects parameters for each effect per program. I don't know of another hardware synth that can do this (except other Novation products) but if Novation can do it why can't every one? The effects are all pretty useful. distortion does suck (as has been mentioned already), reverbs are decent but nothing to get too excited about. Delays are pretty well spec'd and MIDI syncable. The comb filter is INSANE, not quite a Waldorf but definately brings a harder edge to the sound (and since it's designed as an effect it's in addition to the filter Mods, very sweet). The chorus is chorus, not too exciting. But the Pan and pan effects are incredible. The pan effects parameters make for intense swirling psychedlic timbres.

Every parameter on available sends and receives MIDI. Try sweeping the delay timing from 32nds to 4 bars and back over 8 measures. Incredible!!!

Masses of filters with several combinations and a very useful Notch filter. (filter overdrive is week!) LFO's sync to MIDI and can effect any other parameter in the synth!

Some of the Arp's are pretty standard but some are VERY musical. Some of the best funky basslines I've heard and they're presets! Arp sync's to MIDI but is a pain in the ass to program!

I think it does a very good job emulating a very lush analog synth. Not one in particular, though. it definately has it's very own character.

This synth sounds incredible. It is so inspiring and it effected dramaticaly thesound of my trax! I took back an MS2000 to get it! No competition... this is the most rich, warm and lush AM on the market, i think.

One note though, it does warm and lush very nicely but takes some serious effort to make it harsh or bangin'! It's hard to make this very pretty little synth ugly.

Rock solid!!! I've never had any problems with it, and i do play live sets with it often without a back-up. It's not crashed once in the 7 months I've owned it.

I had some issues with the vocoder not well explained in the manual. E-mailed Novation and got response the same day that straightened me out. The guy also gave me some tips based on my message that i didn't ask him for. Very helpful, and prompt.

If it were lost or stolen i would crying big salty tears and replace it immediately. It's in every track I write. (and it''s not my only synth, or VA for that matter).

I've been making electronic music for 7 years and have a Waldorf Q and a Nord lead 2 along with a sampler and sequencer/rompler. i compared the NOVA to the Virus, the MS2000 and the JV8080 and felt that the NOVA is WAY better than these. More voices than the JV (and way more convincing sound), and greater effects and envelope options than the Virus at a cheaper price! I think it's also better than my Nord all around. I don't think I'd go so far as to say it's better than the Q but there are features on the NOVA that I wish they had included on the Q. Like a decent effects set-up.

It is VERY inspiring and the best tool I've ever had for adding that warmth and presence that sets a track over the top.

I love it to death, and could not get along with out one now.

Now using OS 4 but have used OS 3 for the last 18 months. The operating system of this module is very well designed and is quite easy to find your way around. However compared to other synths that I have owned (MS2000, AN1X and XTk) this is the most difficult to program. Due to its complexity this is not a good synth to learn how to program on (like I did).
Contrary to what someone else said in an earlier review I believe the manual to be very good. Everything is explained clearly and in detail.

This is the Nova's strength. Great arpeggiators (384 different types) which, like the 2 LFOs, can be synced to midi clock. Two audio inputs which can be used to filter drums etc (very effective). Awesome effects power - for each of the 6 parts you can apply all of the effects in any configuration. I am not aware of any other synth that can do this.
Great performance capabilties i.e mute and solo for each part and a great operating system which baasically allows you to do any task that you can think of (well nearly).

Has a great range of sounds but is not the best overall sounding synth I have ever heard (AN1X & XTk sound better). In my opinon it is best at soft lead and pad sounds. Sometimes it can sound a little harsh and cold. It is however capable of some great original sounds that you will not hear on any other synth.

The first one I had died completely after a month. The one I have now crashed once and lost all of its sounds. I lost a sound that was the key part of a track I was working on and have since failed to recreate it. This pissed me off. Has been OK since though.

E mailed them after it lost all of its sounds and never had a reply.
They upgrade the operating systems to give you extra features free of charge and they should be applauded for this.

If it was stolen I would replace it as it is a key part of my setup. It can be hard work creating good sounds but it can also be rewarding. I owned an MS2000 for about a month. This costs about the same as the Nova but is not even in the same league.
For the money you cannot buy a better synth.

Using OS/4. Editing is a breeze. Everything is logically laid out. You can start making cool sounds very quickly. There are a host of features that make this easy, including Copy which copies the settings of one oscillator to another and Solo which solos a singls osc to see what effect your programming has had on it.

The manual is OK, not great but does the job. Would be nice to have some walkthroughs.

With OS/4 Poly is 16. There are loads of built in FX which can be routed everywhich way. MIDI implementation is very comprehensive. The arpeggiator is pretty good with 256 patterns on board and you can make your own too. Editing arps in OS4 is much faster. It does glide etc for those TB303 arps.

There are something like 13 filters now and some of the new ones (Notch, HPFHPF etc) are really cool, filtering either side of a range for odd effects.

There are 3 oscillators which can have square, saw, sine or Double Saw waveforms. Everything can be modulated by 3 LFO's 3 envelopes. There are various sync settings and formant parameters for metallic sounds etc. Doublesaw is supposed to sound like 2 seperate oscs which it does.

The sounds are really good. OS/4 has really added some sorely needed bite to the sounds. Everything is still pristine, crystal clear but it can get really nasty now - still in a muscial way. The Unison mode = instant 120 foot trance wall-of-sound especially with PWM done with doublesaws. OS4 has made this possible. The Nova is a far better synth than it was. It easily competes with synths twice the price.

Very reliable. Very strong.

Average as usual. Tend to respond when they want to. Not good at keeping users informed via their website. Quite unlike all mrfrs then!

With OS3 it was a good synth. A bit clean and nice but easy to program, well featured and versatile. With OS4 it is a totally monster synth.

Soundwise and featurewire it now compares favorably with the Access Virus B but is much cheaper. It's easier to program too.

If it got stolen I'd definately replace it.
Probably the best value VA out there. Definately one of the nicest sounding.

Fairly easy to use but the relative (compared to the Supernova) lack of knobs hides feature in menus. Still, the mahority of parameters you'd want to tweak in realtime are there.

Making your own sounds is as hard as any virtual analogue but made harder by the way that the knobs don't "latch" onto the number they are supposed to represent. I believe they are going to fix this in OSv4.0 (March 2001)

The manual is pretty bad and not easy to read. No examples.

You'll have read the poly/multi specs 10 time by now...so I won't bother

MIDI functionality is 2nd to none - it is done very well indeed.
The on board apeggiator is great for the 100's of presets but making your own is very counter intuitive. No swing but there is a quantise which kind of helps here.

FX are a strong point with 6 available for each and every part. The distorion sucks big time. The reverb isn't half bad.

There is no Unison mode as of writing which means you are gonna struggle for really OTT lead sounds.

Expansion wise - there isn't much potential. Novation are bringing out a new OS but it will probably be the last.

The sounds are good but a bit limited. It does great 303 impressions, nice rounded basses and quite decent pads but everything is just a bit too smooth and pristine. It's impressive at first but I don't think you are gonna be using it for your lead sounds as much as you'd like. It does the sort of stuff you hear on DnB intros but but not blazing trance arpeggios.

There are some problems with clipping. The signal path is hot and you have to consciously keep osc and FX levels low to avoid it. Hopefull this will be sort out in OS4

Very reliable

Only average. Don't return emails until they feel like it. Relative to other h/w and s/w mrfrs it is actually pretty decent I guess!

Overall it is a good product. It is used mostly by the dance brigade and I think that the lack of edge to it might prove problematic.

It is very easy to use. Editing is a breeze. Except for the arpeggiator is kind of cumbersome to program without hearing it at the same time. I haven't messed with the arpeggiator much though.

12 voices is more than enough coupled with a sampler. If you run out of voices just sample one of the parts and you free up that for more.
I can only see this being a problem with a live act of some really intense and full trance. Effects are sweet. Especially the comb filter. Effects are very easy to use and are great for running other pieces of gear through it. I like to run my korg ER-1 through the effects. Very cool. Also Nice long delays. Midi implementation is as good as it gets with all the tweaks sent in midi messages. I could definately use a midi merger to get the most out of it though. Then you can record tweaks. As of now I will just sample it instead with my akai MPC 2000xl.
The only onboard sequencer is for the aregiator which I found to be the only drawback of this unit. I want to hear the arpeggio as I create it. Istead of going back and forth between modes as I program it. Then again I haven't spent much time with it. Then again this is probably the reason for that. It is okay though because I enjoy slowing the BPMs down to like 70 and doing my fast synth lines like that. It is much more fun and controllable.

I want to give this a Fifteen instead of a ten. This unit is just plain sick! I did a lot of research and played all kinds of synths before I purchased this baby. All the waldorf's, Nords, roland JP8080, acces virus. The only one that could compare in my eyes was the super novaII the nova II and the access. I was going to get the supenova II at first but realized this was a stupid move for what I needed. Besides if you use it inteligently it is just as good for about 1000 less. Then I had money left for an akai MPC2000 which compliments the nova like you would n't believe as a sequencer.
The lushness sold me. The sound is so thick and has more pressence then all the other synths mentioned. At the same time it could rip up leads like the others with a bit of editing. It is so versatile it is not funny. Bass for everything even D n B. This synth is definately geared towards HOUSE TECHNO TRANCE D n' B and electronic music in general.

The thing is small but built like a brick shit house. It is tough and looks really cool too. I would definately use at a gig, but I try not to take it out of the house just because I am that way. I would rather spin my tracks on vinyl.

Never had too. Never crashed.

I would buy another every time I lost it, until the end of time. This unit is the greatest piece of gear I have ever owned and I am proud to own it. I pet it like a dog every once in a while. :-)

Check out my tunes here if you want to hear this sucker in action:

www.mp3.com/odogsands

Could not be easier - choose a preset (not great but with a little tweaking all of them can easily be made interesting) and twiddle away at all those lovely nobs! Editing patches is so easy its hard not to do it. I say 10/10 BUT... YOU CAN'T check parameter settings before you change them!!

6 note polyphony, delay is great, chorus and reverb are ok, distortion sucks unbelievably. Can do some really cool stuff with the arp thiggy (hard to program but there are enough preset patterns to find easily find an appropriate one). Everyone seems to think the vocoder sucks but think of it as anther effect and you can make it do some really cool things.

Realistic? Not in the slightest, but then its not ment to be. filter is amazing and you can make this thing squelch, burb, fart or do just about anything appart from sound 'real'. it invites you to make cool noises

Crashed on me a couple times since i bought it and had some problems starting up once since i bought it a 3 months ago, but then again i've used it just about every day so..

called them up when it wouldn't start. no hold time and they were very helpful - machine managed to fix itself before i sent it away though.

if it were lost or stolen i'd shoot myself, and then sell my soul to buy a super nova - i end up using all 6 sounds every time i write a tune!

The presets are variable, a little dancey / cheesy sounding for my taste. I found patch editing tricky when I tried it in the shop, but when you get some time with it and the manual it's not too hard. Considering how complex it's capabilities are, it takes a while to realise what you need to set to change parameters that you might just have a slider or two for on another synth.

The manual is unitially a bit daunting, but action rather comprehensive once you get the feel of how it's laid out.

The polyphony is 12 voices, which I find more than adequate with intelligent use. I've been controlling from a Korg SP100 piano, the Nova has some good options for setting up keyboard splits and overlays that most don't have - that was one of the selling points to me.

The more I play with this the more I like the sounds that I can get from it. I play mostly goth and what I might term the more sinister end of early eighties synth music, with some contempory and classical influences, and find the sounds excellent for my purposes. The onboard effects are very useful and ultra easy to use. As easy overall to get a rock bass as funereal organ sounds. Incredible versitility, the are lots of things I have to learn about programming this synth.

Only had it for two weeks but feel confident with it. A very good all rounder which I would be happy to gig with.

Not yet.

I also tried the Roland JP8080, Oberheim OB12 and some Waldorf kit. The latter I don't like the sound of and find the styling absurd. The JP8080 has much less multitimbral capacity, has as the OB12. I was debating for a while between getting a module or selling my Prophet 600 and getting a keyboard model (I don't work with more than 2 keyboards at once) but in the end decided on the module as I much prefer to play from the keyboard of my Korg SP-100. When you're used to hammer action even a good synth keyboard feels horrid to play on. I don't regret this, and find the extra lenght (7 octave) over a standard MIDI keyboard very useful to get an extra split in.

Overall I love the kind of atmospheric sounds it's possible to get out of it, and its versatility. My next buy will probably be a MIDI merger so that I can connect my drum machine into it (Drums + 1 octave of MIDI).

For the price range, it beat all of the competition on specification and sound. I think this is destined to become an absolute classic.

OS v3.X The presets sound superb and are widely varied including electric piano and organ as well as strings/pads, killer leads, squealy TB-303, synth bass, and 808/909 percussion - all modelled with analog synthesis. Editing is a breeze as most features can be modified directly via the numerous knobs and buttons on the front. The manual is also excellent and as well as operational instructions it covers all aspects of synthesis that the module contains, with clear diagrams and descriptions.

There are 12 voices and six parts, but there is a seperate effects module for each part (six effects per part!), plus a 40 band vocoder. There is no onboard sequencer, but there is a fully-featured programmable arpeggiator that works in mono or poly modes and can be synced to MIDI. All the adjustments to the knobs on the front are recordable in real time as NRMs via MIDI so almost every parameter can be controlled by your external sequencer (or a MIDI controller).
There are 2 pairs of outs so that some parts can be routed to external effects, and an extra pair that can be used as in or out. No hardware upgrade, OS software upgrades are downloadable from novationusa web site, and there are extra buttons on the panel to facilitate additional features (filetr types etc) in future OS upgrades.

This is most suitable for dance / techno styles, some of the "dirtier" sounds could be used in grunge or acid.
The basic sound of the module is fantastic - based on analog synthesis modelling using computer processors rather than sample playback - even a basic saw wave patch without effects or filters added has a huge amount of depth and character. Add HPF, BPF and LPF filters, ring modulation, and oscillator sync with control via velocity or aftertouch and you get some very expressive sounds that range from one extreme to the other depending on how hard you play the note. Timbres range from metallic tubular bell-like tones and hard-sync to warm moog leads, fat basses and lush strings. The sound is also consistently great over the entire range, unlike some modules which sound thin at the top end or in the bass. The onboard effects are good, but don't expect the quality of a dedicated lexicon effects unit.

The pitch bends and portmentos are rock solid even at full polyphony, and the LFOs can be driven so fast that they cross-modulate. The knobs and buttons feel solid and the case is very well put together. The unit looks and feels very "robust" in operation. It's never locked up.

I'd back up the patches and the OS.

N/A

I'd probably only replace this with a Supernova II. I own a Roland Juno-106, SH-101, Emax II sampler and a Roland RD500 piano. I was also looking at the Roland XP-50 techno-dance expansion card, but found it very limited in comparison. 64 voice polyphony means little when you have to layer and layer and layer sounds to make them fat, and the low processing power resulted in glitches in portmento and pitch bend when polyphony was more than 1 or 2 parts. Not to mention limited effects per part (only 3 effects processors in total), and the resonant filters were very "harsh" and plastic sounding. At less than half the price, the Nova was the best thing I could have bought for making music.
FM synthesis, parametric EQ and more filter algorithms (such as vocal filters) would be nice. Hell, may as well put additive synthesis in there while you're at it.

OS V3.X // The presets sound good and it's easy to alter them. Patches are created within minutes. A patch editor is not necessary because of the great layout on front of the blue box ;-))

Polyphony is only 12 voices but if you consider how much it costs... The effects are great, easy to use, superb sound. And you have lots of them, you can apply different fx to each of the parts.
All necessary MIDI capabilities are there. You can access all the knobs and potis via MIDI. Arpeggiator is very useful (but not too easy to program user patterns) and MIDIclock syncable

For Techno, Dance, D&B, Trance and sfx or even as an effect for external machines. No realitic sounds (that's why it is analog not digital). The effects section is very easy to use and of best quality. You can program it to react to your playing easily because of the perfect modulation matrix.

massive!! robust, I think it will last forever (hope so...)
Always make backups! Even if its 120% reliable...

Tody i tried the support via email but I don't have an answer yet.
Upgrades are available for free at the website www.novationuk.com and they are transmitted via midi easily (I tried it with Cubase on my PC. The PC crashed, because I transmitted data too fast. Using 60bpm worked well without any problems.)

Would buy it again. It's small in size and big in sound!
I use it for about a week now and I'm sorry I didn't buy it earlier!
I have several samplers, a MicroWave, some E-Mu modules...
I don't need to compare. It inspires me very much and it increased my productivity.
I wish it had more voices.

Version 3.0 The presets are great but this little unit wants to be tweaked!!! Didn't open he book once and I'm finding everthing I'm looking for. Very very easy to learn. Actually you don't have to learn anything at all. It's all there if front of you. Wish there was a disk drive cause I could create a thousand sounds...there's always sysex...