Novation Supernova II

Uploaded OS 2.0 to my secondhand Supernova 2 Keyboard with no hassle.
The presets are now a little dated in my opinion, but with a bit of a tweak here and there, it starts to show its true colours. The layout of the synth is what really makes it for me, a knob for almost every parameter, which makes it a fantastic synth for learning synthesis!
Ease of use gets an 7, the reason being that the manual was written by
someone that was clearly high on crack at the time! It is honestly the worst written manual I have ever beared witness to...

I really love almost everything on this synth! The reverb is absolutely *****... The distortion is bloody insane! Outperforms my virus distortion by a long way. 8 parts multitimbral is sweet, although I do find my self running out every now and then. Every knob and button transmits midi, which is awesome, the arpeggiator section is awesome!
I use the arp section to control the virus, Although programming my own arp patterns is proving challenging, probably because the manual serves more use as toilet paper than as a reference volume. It is still an extremely easy synth to use overall and would recommend it to novices like myself as its taught me loads!

The keyboard is fab in my opinion! I love the feel and expressiveness of it an use it as my main midi controller. I'm not a fan of the presets, but I do really value the sounds I'm able to create with it. I would say that it has a unique sound, it definitely doesn't have the agressive edge that the virus has, but it sits very nicely in the mix and compliments the virus beautifully. I use this synth for Dance music, and
I would recommend it to any dance producer! Of you don't fancy the sound of it, then it makes the most beautiful control surface for your soft synths. All wonderfully laid out in and easy to manipulate kinda way.

Yes, I've used it at gigs without a backup and have never had a problem with it.

Novation have sucked ********************** at supporting this instrument. If it breaks, I'll have to find a very clever person who can repair it. On the other hand though, I've never met another person that owns one here in SOuth Africa, so it is rather an exclusive instrument for me.

I could not love a human baby as much as I love this synth. And being in Africa, if it is stolen, I would not be able to replace it. I'd replace it with a Virus TI, but if I had the chance, I'd still grab another one
simply because no-one else seems to have one out here, so the sound is unique and different to other stuff out there. The layout of this synth has inspired me, and made it easier to make music for me which makes it a winner for me!

Pretty easy if you already know how to pregram a synth. Would be rather cbewildering for the newbie.
A patch editor would be redundant for this, I feel. Most common functions are knob dedicated, but on a VA of this complexity you're bound to do some menu diving to get a few things done. Thankfully it never stops you from playing - all menus and functions are done in real-time, except programming arpeggio patterns. You can also turn ANY patch (except maybe drums) into a vocoder on the fly-adjust the sibilance level and input gain and your set.

I have the 36-voice version. I use several other synths in my kit so I practically never run out of voices. The keyboard has a luxurious feel to it - nice cushion and playing action. The mod wheel has a good deal of resistance and is weighty, which I like. The knobs are just cheap plastic, though. Not nice like a Moog or anything - at this price what do you expect...they had to keep costs down to sell so many at a certain price point. But they do get a lot done, and having nice big knobs would cut down the knob count somewhat. The sliders are EXCELLENT though, with a snappy, thick feel to them, perfect for adjusting the EGs.
Everything transmits and receives MIDI - very well implemented, there are 3 controller jacks. 8 INDIVIDUAL OUTS - a great feature. Discreet FX on each of 8 TIMBRES - no other synthesizer ever made has more FX power in multimode. Feature-wise, this is one of the best.
I wish it had a dedicated Mixer section for the Oscillators, instead you have to go through the Mod section!

It is VERY expressive to play. Minimoog lines, big chords, funky soling, it's all good for. Route all kinds of stuff to the mod wheel. The modulation on this baby is top-notch for a fixed-architecture synth. It feels like a Roland Jupiter or Juno - sounds and behaves like 'em , too. Add some Matrix12 capabilties and a superb filter.

Sound quality: It could be better, I must say. It does NOT have the wavy, thick character of a classic vintage analog synth, because it isn't and will never truly be (at least sound like) a vintage synth. And I think that's FINE, because the SNII does have it's own grand, glorious character. It's English, and rather polite. It does NOT go out of tune or scramble your speakers with analog ooze.
It's basic oscillator sound is a little bland...but don't rely on the FX...use the filter and EGs!!! that filter is really good - it's actually a dual (try the 'Notch' filter or BPF+LPF under the 'special' key) with some preset configurations. Kick in the 18db LPF + filter overdrive and you're off to acid bass land.
The SNII has snappy envelopes - my favorite VA for 303 lines. LFOs are only 2, but can modulate evrything simultaneously.
This synth sounds excellent in a mix, and that's why everybody in electronic music has one!

No trouble yet. Seems solid and sturdy. I bought it specifically for live use, so I'll have to update this review some years from now.

Bought second hand. I hear Novation no longer supports it, so you'll have to find a service tech if you have a problem with it.
The expansion slots are NOT supported - the s/pdif & ADAT cards never found their way to the stores. Oh well - I guess I can live with 2 d/a conversions while recording :^(

This a GREAT live music synthesizer. Others can do what it does a little better soundwise (Q, Andromeda, Jupiter), but not on-the-fly with so much flexibility. It's applications are vast, and buying a quality hardware poly really does make a difference.
One of the ten best keybord Polysynths ever.

I have the SNII running OS version 2.0

Concerning the area of sound design, though generally speaking use of the SNII is not difficult, it is also not as easy as I would have hoped it to be. Despite all the numerous knobs, buttons, and sliders to be found on the Supernova, often times knobs/slider behaviour are shared. Some aspects of the filter section have dedicated knobs, as does the Amp enevelope, and the effects. Further, though it not a super large amount by any means, there is still a bit of menu digging one must got through on occassion to get access to certain paramaters.
Personally, I would have preferred for the direct access to effects to have been eliminated and more dedicated oscillator/filter/envelope controls to have been added. Of some disappointment, some of the controlls offered on the SNII become pointless at times, as it would seem any time one syncs the speed of some paramater to midi clock (be it a delay, LFO, etc.), any sort of "speed" knob that is offered in regard to that paramater ceases to function.

On the outset, it would first appear that one is also a bit limited by the waveform selection possible for each Osc of the SNII. As square/pulse (variable width possible), saw, and double saw are the only directly selectable waveforms. This is a bit of an illusion however, as Novation's combination of Osc sync/sync skew and Osc "hardness" controlls allow for a good amount of reshaping of the 3 Osc waveforms available. It is quite easy to convert a square/pulse selected Osc into a sine wave for example. Though this makes oscillator wave selection a bit more complicated at times, it also adds a good deal to what can be selected. A bit missed however is a Triangle wave. I'll confess that I'm still experimenting with methods of attempting to shape something into Triangle, but I doubt it is possible to form a true triangle and at this point the closest I've been able to come are close approximations to triangle wave.
Despite the lack of a Triangle wave, the amount of waveforms one can generate through "hardness" shaping and syncing/sync skewing is pretty darn large and serve to give the Supernova's true amount of selectable waveforms for oscillators as one of the largest I've ever seen on any analouge/virtual analouge synth.
The waveforms of the "oscillators" also share a bit of the oscillators wave reshaping ability, making the true amount of waveforms offered up by the LFOs larger than it appears as well. (I'll note here, some controll over how the osc syncing works [sync skew to be specific] is one of those controlls that will have you digging into menues).

In it's "Performance" mode (multi-timbral mode) I found the SNII to be extremely versatile. Due to the fact that appregios can be made to be of such long length (64 steps! I actually have a 32 measure long appregio I established utilizing this), and do to the fact that there is a appregio "latch" feature, one can practically look at the appreggio system as a sort of sequencer. Further, there is a nice "part" section of SNII that would seem that Novation was thinking that people might have this sort of use in mind. In very "Groovebox" like ways, one has a series of 8 buttons correlating to the 8 possible parts of a "performance" which can be used to select which part is being effected by any of surface tweaks on the SNII and further, which parts area muted or not.
Adding on to this, program change midi messages can be received by each part and it is also possible to change to entirely new "performance" mode settings via midi program change messages!
Really nice work here.

I'm running with the PRO X version, which boast 48 voices of polyphony which is considerably more than I will probably ever use. Expansion boards were created for the non PRO-X versions that allow for the amount of voices to be increased to 48 however.

The keyboard action is absolutely superb and I can't say I've ever touched a set of keys that I like more.

The effects are nice, though I'll confess it has one of the most unique sounding reverbs I've ever heard. I won't say that it's bad, simply different. I've heard numerous people say they find it to sound "metallic", and I suppose this is as good a description as any of it's nature. The only aspect to the effects, is as I noted earlier, for things dealing with speed/time, any knob offered becomes useless if that particular effect is synced to midi clock.

Though I covered it in the "Ease Of Use" section of this review, I will rehighlight the fact that the amount of waveforms possible for each oscillator is extremely impressive (though takes a bit of work). Further the LFO section suffers this same GREAT fate.

There are a number of filter types offered, which include LPF, BPF, and HPF of the 12db, 18db, and 24db variety. There is also a set of combined filter types available, and arguably, there is a comb filter available as well (the comb filter relates more to the effects section than synth section of the board, but can be utilized none the less).

The modulation routing possibilities are a bit more limited than I would hope for them to be, but none the less, I think most routing schemes one would generally want to establish can be.

The drum maps are a priceless feature, and though limited in regard to how effects work on them, serve as a great means of getting the most out of the SNII's multi-timbrality (one could argue that in some respects it makes it as if it were a 16 part multi-timbral machine).

Finally, as once again noted in the "Ease Of Use" section, the appregiator may in many ways be considered a sort of sequencer. Much to Novations credit, despite the deep amount of complexity that can be attached to appregios, they are extremely easy to develop. Hands down, I would definately put the SNII's appregio system as one of the best (perhaps even the best) ever featured on a synth.

First off, for those of you that may be looking to emulate a 303, though I haven't tried it, in theory I would think the SNII could nail a 303 down to a TB.
The oscillator wave shaping abilities would allow for the odd 303 pulse wave to be made (or VERY close to), the 18db filter would be on hand, and proper programming could even be done to accomadate a bit of accent action.

That issue aside, the sound of the SNII is well.....clean. Really really really clean. Even when this thing sounds dirty....it somehow still sounds clean. This isn't to say it's sounds aren't phat, or that it can't sound aggresive....it's hard to explain other than that it seems to always come off sounding crystal clear.
Though this synth is more than capable of pulling of harsh leads and basses, FM type pianos, clangs, bangs, and electryfiying type thangs; what I've found to be it's really strong area has come in the form of pads. This thing is capable of some of the most lush pads I've ever heard issue out of anyhting.

Haven't had an issue with it yet

Havent' had any issues as of yet.

I really like the SNII, and definately think I won't be parting (willingly) with mine for a long time to come.

It would be nice to see Novation dump one more OS upgrade off on the world and provide the SNII with a true Triangle wave and/or to allow for speed related knobs to still function when things are synced to MIDI clock, but unfortuantely, this is doubtfull.

I've heard quite a few people say they felt the SNII sounded "thin" in comparison to the Virus, but I really don't understand what they are talking about here. By no means, does the Supernova have a generally thin quality to it. If there is an oddity to it's sound, it would definately be how crystal clear it always is......I've never heard a (true) analouge synth or hybrid (DCOs with analouge filters) accomplish sounding so darn pristine. Which I'll confess, when it comes to fitting things into the mix, this actually stands as an outstanding quality of the SNIIs nature.

OS 2. In general, ease of use correlates with abundance of knobs, and this synth has a lot of knobs. Best laid out synth I've ever used. Presets are OK, but seem a little limited. Little touches make it easier, too: constant gate button for internal inputs, transpose buttons above the wheels, favourites locations, internal power supply, easy to read display. A real, separate modulation matrix would make parts of programming easier.

Lots and lots of great features. See reviews below. Keyboard action is FANTASTIC. It's not as fun to play my V-Synth after playing this one, and playing one of those M-Audio toy MIDI controllers is out of the question. Incredible arpeggiator. Great vocoder. ADSR sliders instead of knobs. I don't know if expansions are still available, since as of now (Dec 2005), this synth has been out of production for a few years. Effects are great, even the Leslie simulator!

The sound hasn't aged as well as I'd like. It's beautiful, and extremely fat and warm, but it has a few flaws. First, it's a little polite. The smoothness and beauty that make it great also limit it somewhat. Even its "harsh" FM or distorted sounds are like glossy versions of FM or distortion. That's it--it sounds glossy and polished. Second, it only has two waveforms. Yes, the square can be "rounded" to a sine, and yes, there's doublesaw for some particular purposes, but more versatility would have been great. The result of these shortcomings is that it always sounds like a Supernova. It's easy for me to pick them out of recordings after working with this one for 3 years or so. A synth having its own character is not necessarily a drawback, but you have to really like that character or it gets fatiguing. This one is getting fatiguing to me. It's hard to fault it for sounding like a Supernova, so I bumped my score of 7 up to an 8.

Seems mostly reliable, but I have a few concerns. The plastic upper body does not seem robust. It vibrates in a buzzy way on certain stands when played forcefully, and a knob or two scrape against the plastic when they're turned. When I rest my left hand near the diplay's "soft knobs," and play notes just below the display with my right hand, there's an alarming tapping or knocking sound with every key I press. I think the weight of my left hand pushes the plastic lid down enough to hit part of the keys mechanism. This can't be good, and it doesn't bode well should I ever drop or band the synth on something. Once in a while the synth won't boot up when I turn it on, but it always does on the second try. I have gigged once or twice with no backup--reliability is not so much the problem as durability.

I've never called them.

I still like this synth for particular things, but I'm falling out of love with it. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the keyboard feel, and I use it as a MIDI controller a lot. The only problem there is the rattling/buzzing sound, which is annnoying and distracting. It's like eating dinner on a badly wobbling table. I also own a Roland V-synth and a Waldorf MicroQ, both of which are great synths and neither of which sounds convincingly analog. I test-drove an Alesis Ion recently and loved the sound. If they come out with one with a longer, better keyboard, I'd buy that in a heartbeat. Supernova prices on eBay are falling, which could be seen as a good opportunity, but I'd want to be really sure the chassis were totally intact before I'd buy one of these. If it were stolen, I'd shell out for the Virus TI, I think.

Could not get any easier. Every section has a couple of controls accessible only by menus, but that's OK--Too many more knobs would make the front panel more difficult to use. I'm using OS 2. Many more great presets than bad ones, and the great ones really are great. Editing is a breeze, and a patch editor is totally unnecessary. The display is very easy to read. I have a couple of minor gripes (saving a favorite requires an unintuitive extra step, rear jacks are not labelled along the top edge), but they're really minor. This is an incredibly easy to use synthesizer.

24-voice polyphony, great MIDI controller features, probably the best arpeggiator I've ever used. The keyboard action is fantastic. It's the same keybed as the E-mu E-synth and the Kawaii K-5000. Every non-piano-weighted keyboard should feel like this. There's just the right amount of resistance, the keys bottom out onto something solid but not too hard, you can really lean on them and not worry about breaking anything, they're full-size, and the black keys are textured. Just great. After you play this, you'll have a hard time going back to the cheap, clicky keys on a Triton, Karma, or Motif. The effects are quite good, and programs keep all of them when in multitimbral mode. No rompler can make that claim! There's some expandability, but Novation no longer makes these, so I don't know how hard those items are to find now. It's got favorites memory locations, user-programmable arpeggiators, an internal power supply, a "pass-through" mode for knobs and sliders (no effect until the knob passes through the value stored in the program), on and on. The vocoder is a blast, and it's got a "constant gate" button, so you don't have to hold down a key for vocoding or processing of external signals. Loopable envelopes, FM, ring-mod, hardness waveshaping, variable peak spacing between the two filters, sliders for envelopes, wheels instead of a paddle, a dedicated latch button for the arpeggiator, etc., etc. Just about the perfect virtual analog.

It's missing some features that other synths have: digital waveforms, a third LFO, a true modulation matrix, a random patch generator. I kind of miss the third LFO and the mod matrix. (I'd love to be able to control one LFO's speed from another LFO, for instance.) The digital waveforms would be great, but would take this synth out of the virtual analog realm. The random patch generator would just be icing on this delicious cake. Having made these complaints, I still regret having sold a Jupiter 8 in 1991, and it didn't have any of those features.

This thing really sounds analog. If you listen carefully and know what you're listening for, and there's no other sound playing, you can sometimes tell it's virtual. Play it in a mix with other instruments, though, and you can't tell. I do occasionally hear a little aliasing in the top few keys, but only occasionally. That said, there's no zipper noise anywhere, and the bottom end will shake the paint off the ceiling. It's even got some of the things I don't like about analogs faithfully reproduced. Some of the programs sound very Oberheimish, some sound scarily close to my old Jupiter 8. All the modulation, velocity control, dual filters (which make some very cool vocal sounds), though, take this synth far beyond what any Jupiter or Oberheim could do. The silky smoothness that everyone talks about is definitely there, and I personally love it. Some of the sync and FM sounds can get pretty rude, too.

There are no realistic instrument sounds, of course, but some of the organ and electric piano sounds are really quite good. Much better than the DX7 electric piano that got played to death. The TB303 emulations are very good, very playable and expressive, and lush pads abound. This synth would work well in any genre that called for synthesizers, maybe slightly less well for hardcore industrial thrash stuff than other, more digital sounding synths.

I've only had it for a year or so, but the OS seems very stable, and the case and hardware is rock-solid. The pitch wheel scrapes against the case if you put a little sideways force on it (just a little, and easy to do while playing), but the wheel is rubbery and it shouldn't be a problem.

I've never had to deal with them. They no longer make this synth, so I'd be curious to know if I'd be left high and dry if I ever need help.

I'd buy it again if I had to. It's perfect for me. I actually sold a Waldorf Q to get it. If I were limited to one synth only, I might choose the Waldorf instead. But I found the Q harder to program, and I have a Waldorf Microwave XT for wavetable weirdness and digital grunge. The Supernova/XT combination is impossible to beat. Totally worth the price I paid, and them some.

I love how easy it is to use--everything's right there in front of you, right where it should be. I really, really love the feel of the keyboard. Even if I had some radical change of heart about the synth engine, I'd keep this as a MIDI controller just for the keys. I love the smooth, round, umph of the sound, and I love the internal power supply. Just say no to wall warts! I don't hate anything, but I do wish it had a real modulation matrix and a third LFO.

I've been playing for 14 years, and I also own a Waldorf Microwave XT, an E-mu E-synth keyboard and Vintage Pro, and a Roland RD700. The only other thing I'd like to share is that I'm worried that soft synths are taking over, and great hardware synths like this may become a thing of the past. My laptop is only 1 year old, and it's already too slow to run Korg's new Legacy Collection, for instance. And that's without running a sequencer or any other synths. Hardware synths perform better, they're more reliable, you don't have to worry about configurations/drivers/incompatabilities/latencies, and you can still play them after 10 years. In 10 years, who knows what OS my computer will be running, and what synths I'll need to buy to run on it. Any programming expertise I accumulated along the way will be lost. That doesn't work for me. Plus, carrying a laptop and MIDI interface to a bar gig is just not feasible. Are Japanese romplers and finicky, underpowered soft synths the only things keyboard players want anymore?

OS Version 2 (upgraded from version 1). About 1/3 to 1/2 of the factory sounds are quite good. Easy as can be to program for one with knowledge of analog style synthesis. Dedicated knob for almost everything, including each individual effect. PDF manual is good, don't need it for the basics yet it reveals numerous subtle intricacies of the instrument.

24 Voice Standard, expandable to more voices. Optional ADAT card. Built in effects. Countless knobs, switches, and sliders (excellent control panel for internal synth AND external plug in synths/virtual environments). 1024 internal Preset locations. 512 Performance memories. Additional storage for Drum Kits.

Great for any style of modern dance music, electronica, or ambient. Has its own distinctive sound and mixes great with real analog synths like Rev 2 Prophet 5, or original Minimoog, Waldorf Pulse, etc. The SupernovaII is one of the warmest sounding virtual analogs; other virtual analogs can clog the mix. Vocoder is quite useful. Delay effects can be synced to internal clock or external MIDI, delay amount optionally assigned to the mod wheel. Highly expressive sounds, easy to program.

It's been a solid axe in my arsenal for a couple of years. Shipped it overseas once. Gorilla friggin transport personel bashed the shipping container to pieces. A couple of the keys broke in half and the synth kept working perfectly (even the broken keys continued to function, which I super glued back together at a late date). Not a single knob or slider has ever failed (knock on wood).

Web site is great, lots of free sounds. OS is easy to upgrade. Haven't needed any other support. Tip: power the synth with a UPS if/when you upgrade the OS, otherwise you may to send the unit to the factory.

It is worth every penny (how ever many I spent). I own the other synths that are mentioned in the sound section. New Borg librarian for the synth is free (and works better than a couple of libraians you have to pay for). With a computer setup the SupernovaII is one of the best control panels, and offers glitchless realtime editing of the internal sounds. Leave the fragile antique analogs at the palace and take this one on the road with you.

I use OS version 2.0 It was already installed when I bought it.
The presets is bloody usefull. Very trance related.
As soon, you understand analogue synthesis, it will take short amount of time to learn this thing. The best patch editor is the front panel.

24 voice. If you keep UNISON mode out, It will be enaugh. You can expand it to 36 or 48 voices.
7 built in effects. One knob for each effekt, and a menu button for each effekt, wich makes it very easy.
MIDI in out thru. Knobs and buttons transmitt midi. You can even record that you change performance, to use more sounds in your work.
You can program your own arpeggiator rythm, you can make your own drum set and you can overwrite every singel patch.

I created a Grand Piano!!!!!!! (just like the real thing!!!)
(it will be available on www.novationmusic.com soon)
This synth works greate for Classical, dance, trance Techno and electronica. The effects is the most wonderfull thing, and you can do so much with them.

There is a catch here. If you play a long PAD, it will proseed even if you switch to another patch. But you can safely store the data on the supernova II rack. It never hangs. No worries.

I've only used support by mail. Even so, they respond and they give you a good answer. They are nice. I've solved all my problems.
Long conversations gets automatically shortert though.

If it's still for sale I would buy it. I would have looked for used if not. It was worth the prise. I got 45% of the price. I own a Novation KS5 I've been playing since may 2002. I bougt a Roland XP-30 at that time. I love my Supernova II rack. It's suits perfectly to my demands. I hope a Supernova III or something will enter the market. I compared it with the Access virus series. And waldorf Q and Nordlead 3. The prise was unbeatable and I do not regret. I wish the supernova had more FM parameters, and USB connection. That is all.

I'm using OS 1. The presets are incredible. This thing sounds enormous, warm, and rich. But not just that--it can also have a clean, smooth, crystaline clarity that was hard to get with real analog synths. There are some great emulations of classic analog celebrities, and plenty of presets that are modern and (I think) more inspiring. Editing patches is a total breeze. More complicated than on original analogs because there are more features, but that's a very good thing.

The manual seems great, although I haven't read it cover-to-cover. Helpful and informative, unlike Roland's and some others! (And not just because of bad translations.) This synth could only be easier to use if it played or programmed itself.

I have the 24-voice version, which is fine for me. I play more than I sequence. The keyboard action is great. It feels light to me, despite Novation's "semi-weighted" claim, but it also feels really good. The keybed is solid, pressure sensitivity feels right, and the keys resist just a little bit. They're full-sized, which I love. The black keys are a little textured and rounded, and the white keys are ever so slightly rounded on the top. I guess this is so you can feel where you are more easily without looking. Fine with me. And sooo much better than the awful and almost unplayable keyboard on the Korg Triton Le. It takes a surprising amount of force to move the pitch wheel, but the mod wheels feels great.

The effects are accessed via menus, unlike most other synth functions, but they're still easy to use. And, wonder of wonders, the rumor is true: every sound keeps its own effects during multitimbral sequencing! A reason to buy the synth right there. Another reason: You can set up 128 "Favorites" (sorry, this is a British synth: "Favourites") that point to patches you use the most, so you don't have to go digging for them or disturb your patch categorization to make the most commonly used ones more accessible. A small but brilliant touch. And another: You have the option of telling the knobs and sliders to only have an effect after they pass through the setting determined in the preset. This way, you can avoid huge jumps in the sound during performance as you "play" the knobs. Ahhh. And yet another: Novation, in their wisdom and compassion, gave the Supernova II an internal power supply. (Cue sound of thousands of keyboard players dropping to their knees in grattitude and devotion.) Thank you, Novation! Because of this, I don't have an extra, tempermental device to carry around, the power cord doesn't get knocked out of its socket, the power supply doesn't get dropped or kicked, and keeping a spare power cord is cheap and easy. With this one design decision, Novation have demonstrated that they care about their customers, and they're not out to grab every available penny at our expense. I'm a customer for life. (Paying attention, Kurzweil et al?) Other specs are probably better gotten from Novation's website, since I've seen incorrect specs in these reviews. I haven't used its controller features yet, so I can't comment on them.

OK, here's the best I could do for a list of complaints. I would have liked more waveforms. Even a set of 16 or so digital waveforms (with interesting overtones, maybe, but not samples, per se) would have added even more to the sonic power of this synth. Maybe in a future OS update? Also, the red LEDs which look so cool in low light situations are a little hard to see in bright lighting, especially if you're not standing directly over the keyboard looking down on it. And I wish the rear jacks were labeled on the back of the top edge, so I don't have to injure myself trying to squeeze back there to see what's what. And I would LOVE a 76-key version.

Oh yeah. Warm and fat or cool and smooth, ugly and rude or pretty and subtle...it's up to you. No realistic simulations of acoustic instruments, of course--that's what romplers are for (snooze). All the analog goodies are here, plus new twists: multiple filter types and slopes, overdrive and "q norm" in the filter section, formant width and sync skew in the oscillator section, FM, plus vocoder, effects, programmable arpeggiator, modulation matrix, etc., etc. This thing is a monster. It would work beautifully in any musical genre or situation where electronic sounds were being used. Everything responds perfectly and sounds fantastic. People would have dumped their Jupiters or Prophets in a second for one of these in 1983.

The software and keyboard seem bulletproof, but I have a slight complaint about the build quality. The chassis is a metal base with a solid plastic top that can be opened like a laptop (another nice touch). Fine so far. However, some of the knobs and sliders scrape against the surface of the chassis as you move them. The paint around these controls is almost certainly not going to last very long. These controls can be pulled up a little, but that's a bad fix. Not a crisis, but not great. Otherwise, the knobs and sliders all feel first rate, with a nice amount of resistance. Also, one corner of the plastic top doesn't connect evenly onto the metal base. This leaves a gap under the mod wheel of about 5 mm. I can push the top down onto the base, but it pops back up. Again, not a crisis, but not great. Neither of these issues is likely to affect the performance or reliability of the synth, though. I would (and do) gig without a backup. Nevertheless, lower marks in this category.

I haven't had to deal with them. Let's hope they're better than the Big Synth Manufacturers. (My guess is that they are.)

If lost or stolen, I'd absolutely get another one right away. I'd worry about whether I could afford it later. This is a synthesizer with a capital S. It doesn't have some of the flashy doohikies of the V-synth or some software synths, but fantastic sounds can be made without those bells and whistles--they have been for decades. Think of the cool sounds from your favorite songs--were they spectrally evolving morph-scapes or just punchy and evocative? This synth's middle name is punchy and evocative. (It can actually do a fair job at the evolving thing, too!) In case it's not clear, I love this synthesizer.

I also own a Kurzweil PC88 (with an evil wall wart), a Kurzweil K2000RS, and a Waldorf Microwave XT, and they all complement each other nicely. I only use the PC88 for its piano sound and keyboard. The K2000 gets used only for its sampling and the occasional vintage keyboard emulation--otherwise, it's too complicated and button-pushy for me. I can program it, but I don't really like doing so anymore because the Supernova and Microwave are so much more fun to work with and have years and years of cool sounds left in them, waiting to be discovered. The Microwave XT is a great complement to the Supernova because its wavetables and filters make it sound more digital. Previous synths I've owned: Roland Jupiter 6, D50, and JX10; Ensoniq ESQ1 and TS12; Korg Triton Le; and a Roland JP8080 which I sold to get the Supernova II. Of all these, the only one I really miss is the ESQ-1. I would miss the Jupiter 6 and the JX10, but I don't since owning the Supernova II.

I'm a hobbyist who composes and plays with friends on occasion. (If I were a jingle producer, I'd probably be more into romplers.) The Supernova II is by far the most satisfying synthesizer I've every played. Tuck it under your arm, and no matter where you go you've got incredible sounds, a great user interface, and a responsive and wonderful-feeling keyboard. Plus it's about the sleekest and best-looking synthesizer ever made. What more could you want?

An infinity of presets, all very very good! Editing patches is REALLY in your hands, the manual is a good tutorial. All very fine!

Good poliphony(24),expandable to 48 - fantastic arpeggiator but no sequencer on board (but who needs?)- all imputs and outputs that you like.

This instrument is not for piano bar, but for dance/trance/atmosphere fanaticals, without real simulation of "classical" instruments. I like Kraut-rock elctronical music (Tangerine Dream, Klaus Sculze, Kraftwerk, Cluster and so on), so this big monster is very good to make this kind of music.

I like this instrument at all.

If stolen, I buy it again, if I have the economical possibility.
I repeat: this is only for electronical fanatics, not for live gigs on bar or similar! The only synth I've heard a little bit more "big" (for the sounds), for my opinion, is only Access Virus, but the interface is very much complex.

Just got my new Supernova 2 and like it a great deal. I had to read the owner's manual to get a grip on how to use the machine. It was not as obvious and self-intuitive to me, as others here say it was to them. I do not like that I cannot search for sounds by name, but rather by a bizaree category Finder. As I get a better understanding on how to tweak this machine, of course it gets easier and more enjoyable.

I have the 24 voice keyboard, and will probably buy the additional 24 voice expansion card. I have owned an Oberheim Matrix-12 (nothing has even been as great as that synth!), and now also own the Kurzweil K2500XS. This Supernova 2 is a real delight and I bought it with some very specific intentions: I needed another keyboard because I run out of geography on my 88-key Kurzweil when playing piano. Also, I love analog subtractive synthesis - it's just a ton of fun to program. Kurzweil covers all my realistic needs, and more, and this Supernova 2 takes me into other dimensions, quickly. Probably, what got my attention more than its other features, is its ability to retain all of a PROGRAM's effects, while in Performance mode. I cannot rave enough about this feature. You veteran keyboardists know what I am talking about - it's terrible to route a half-dozen programs into a Multi, and be forced to choose one master effect for all the programs, thus most of the programs end up losing their original sound. Not so in this Supernova 2! Very cool.
MIDI seems comprehensive and working fine. Out of the box it had OS 1.5 on it, to which I immediately downloaded the OS v. 2.0 from the Novation website, and installed it, without a hiccup. I then loaded in all the new sounds, drum banks, arpegiator data, and everything installed fine, from my Laptop computer using a Roland USB Midi cable. The Arpegiator on this machine is just too much. It has so gosh darn many presets, both in Mono & Poly mode, and of course you can create 100s of your own, both from the keyboard and/or Step sequence method. Because of the EXTREME versatility of the effects, AND the arpegiator, along with the more than basic voice architecture, I am giving this a 10 for features. Actually, there are a couple of things that would be nice to see in this machine, but no machine has absolutely everything.

Ok... I find it does a lot, but maybe also is a bit weak in its basic dry sound (Pre-effects). But I am new to the machine (1 week), and I think I can create better sounds than what are on the presets when I am more adept at digging into it. Some sounds are really neat, but I find many are just repeats of other sounds, and not as Fat and inspiring as I would like. I do find, though, that aside from the basic sounds of the 3 oscillators which can also have FM/Ring Modulation, Noise, and Special DoubleSaw Wave, That I am basically able to manipulate the sound how I like. A week into this, and 70% done reading the owner's manual, I think I'll be able to impact an audience, the way the expert reviewers said this machine can.

I'm a gambler, so I will take this, as well as my Kurzweil, out on gigs. I usually backup the most important stuff (software) onto my computer. Hardware can always be repurchases, but not so of custom software. I love how lightweight this synth is, like 20 lbs., and the beautiful blue machine is a very welcome sitting atop my Kurzweil.

I wrote a few questions in an Email to the USA rep. but have not heard anything back in 2 days. I did get an instant Email response from Novation Corporate when I registered my product online, to one of the questions they had in their online form (in it, I wrote them back a question).

I'm pretty sure I will keep this machine. If it were lost/stolen I would replace it. I was going to lay out the $2,300 for the Alesis Andromeda (always check Ebay!), but Alesis lost my patronage due to their too many problems with their buggy OS, and the fact that their main developer is no longer with the new company who bought out Alesis. Too bad. I was ready for more than a year to buy the Andromeda, and kept waiting for their new OS release and a show of support for the product, but none came.
I'm really looking forward to using my new Supernova 2 in live performance. The Arpegiator is so cool. You can tap a button and get instant rhythm. FUN. I also like challenges, so I will get deeper into this machine and create the patches I'm looking for out of it.