Ultranova - Got one! Here are my thoughts..

[MBTC]

This thread cooled off a little, but I would like to encourage any questions from anybody, because it motivates me to get under the hood and learn specific things faster. The manual for this thing is actually quite good and the synth parameters are surprisingly deep and varied.

A few more observations since my last post while reading about the Ultranova elsewhere:

1. Much of the (legitimate) negative feedback I've heard from folks who have tried this synth relates to lack of multi-timbrality. I can understand why this preludes using it as the only synth in one's arsenal; however, often on multi-timbral synths, using a single complex sound uses so many resources that using additional sounds results in such a polyphony reduction that it defeats the purpose. So, I say at the given price point, someone could always buy 5 of these things, keep two and a half band-members hands busy, and across them play 90 notes of 5 different complex patches and still have spent less than a Virus Ti2 keyboard. That's a silly scenario but it puts the value proposition in perspective.

2. Some of the demos I've seen on youtube have been "low-end limited" by the 37 keys. Typically when I hear a synth being played in a manner that I can be sure it's going to meet my needs, it is done with 2 hands that are 3 to 4 octaves away from each other. Without enough physical keys to do that, I think most of the demos I've seen are playing at higher octaves, thus result in a thinner sound. So there may be a kind artificial drawback there, that leads to a real drawback (see #3)

3. There appears to be very little aftermarket sound packs available for this synth. I can see a few potential reason for that... a sound designer probably wants a larger controller, which can be done but at the expense of being farther away from the knobs that provide the immediate interface and take advantage of the UN like the touch knobs, etc. So, much of the sound design would probably require lots of hands on with the plug-in. I've had pretty good luck with the VST but I've read from guys who did not have as much luck with other forms of the plugin, at least in the early days. I saw a post from Rob Lee, who is a very good sound designer, asking Novation to contact him about writing a sound pack for the Ultranova (I don't know what ever came of it except there is no Rob Lee sound pack for the UN that I know of). Why is this? Novation's handling of things or interaction with the community? I don't know, but there may be a combination of issues that resulted in not much aftermarket sounds being available for this synth. Good news is it is very easy to program yourself, bad news is the presets do not showcase the synth and there's not much available that will. It becomes a very DIY synth, which I think is fun but others may not.

4. The modulation is really good. But things like preset arp patterns are irritatingly limiting to me (to some extent the very editable gator effect could be used for this I think).

5. Price always seems to be listed in the $700+ range. I picked this one up for $600 out the door via Amazon, perhaps because its been out a couple of years (too bad Virus rarely drops in price)... and the Mininova can be had for even less. At those prices we're approaching the cost of the better softsynths but getting much so much more for the money.

For convenience, I rounded up some of the review links I came across, posting for posterity here. The synthtopia one has a good look around the plugin... Interesting quote from keyboard mag "Given what the present UltraNova does with just one part, though, I might go so far as to call it the deepest implementation of the virtual analog paradigm next to Arturia’s Origin—which lists for $3,200. This makes the UltraNova one of the most outstanding synth values you can buy":

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/20...hesizer-review

http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/N...UltraNova/4414

http://www.emusician.com/gear/0769/n...-review/140117

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb1...-ultranova.htm

http://www.tonylongmusic.co.uk/keybo...supernova-gaia

http://www.groovypost.com/reviews/no...tranova-review

http://www.junodownload.com/plus/201...tranova-review

http://www.residentadvisor.net/review-view.aspx?id=8544

[namnibor]

Nice selection of varied reviews there! I really wonder why Novation jumped in really no time at all and implimented a mini-me version with indeed twinkle-toe keys rather than offering a 61 key version of the UN?
Wouldn't it be an awesome thing for a company to make such a synth that to expand all you had to do was buy another, then remove an end-cap of each and connect the two for a 74 key, then-biTimberal synth?
I read some things on gearslutz where people actually found the computer integration/editor/vst part of UN to work best actually using the UN as the actual audio interface AND the Automap seemed to be pretty important for that to work well. They also said in that same thread that the UN is really USB-hungry in that when using UN as the interface via USB, it used most of the available bandwidth and to avoid problems, they actually were successful in using an A/C powered USB hub. (I forgot to save that gearslutz.com thread in faves). Read people really liked the action of the keys as well.

[MBTC]

Originally Posted by namnibor

Nice selection of varied reviews there! I really wonder why Novation jumped in really no time at all and implimented a mini-me version with indeed twinkle-toe keys rather than offering a 61 key version of the UN?
Wouldn't it be an awesome thing for a company to make such a synth that to expand all you had to do was buy another, then remove an end-cap of each and connect the two for a 74 key, then-biTimberal synth?
I read some things on gearslutz where people actually found the computer integration/editor/vst part of UN to work best actually using the UN as the actual audio interface AND the Automap seemed to be pretty important for that to work well. They also said in that same thread that the UN is really USB-hungry in that when using UN as the interface via USB, it used most of the available bandwidth and to avoid problems, they actually were successful in using an A/C powered USB hub. (I forgot to save that gearslutz.com thread in faves). Read people really liked the action of the keys as well.

About the Mini, I think almost all aspects are the same except lacks built in audio interface and of course is smaller and costs less. There are some aspects of the knobs and buttons I actually like better on the Mini, but I don't do well with small keys so I needed an Ultra.

Currently, I'm not using the interface in the UN, I run the audio to the Saffire Pro 24 (which is firewire) and a MIDI cable, but the UN is plugged into USB because the plugin needs it. That's one reason its not a fair comparison against the Virus with VC, because at that time (my brief stint with a virus) I was trying to do everything over USB, and its hard to tell how many of my problems were a result of that. Only drawback I can find to the current setup is one of MIDI sync, that changing the tempo in the DAW sometimes seems to take and other times I have to hit play to get it to send the new tempo to the UN (could be the software or just the way things are in the hardware world). That's not something I do every 10 seconds though.

I used to use Automap fairly frequenly with my 49 key controller, but over time I found myself using it less because of the load time it added to each plugin. The new PC does not yet have Automap on it so I have not tried that aspect. I haven't even really used the top row of buttons (right under the knobs) because they are apparently all designed for use with Automap. I guess the idea there is that for folks using the UN as their primary controller, it would be silly not to be able to use Automap like every other controller Novation makes so it was a must-have for some. I probably will not use the UN as my primary controller only due to # of keys, but the laptop-producers on the go will probably love that feature of it.

About the key-action, I think it's about what I want in a synth -- light (as opposed to weighted) for fast or percussive playing (as opposed for the piano feel). Some equate light with cheap but I think quality-wise it feels like Novations other controllers (good for what I do) and things like aftertouch feel right to me.

It's one of those synths that does some things well and other things not.

Sounds it does well: Edgy, punchy, gritty, screamy sounds, trance/hardstyle, dub filth etc. plucks, stabs, etc are good! Basses are good! Formant-vocaly sounding stuff is good and you sometimes stumble on extremely interesting stuff just by playing with moduling things like sync, detune. You can also modulate the waveform index (changing the fundamental sound type of the osc), slew the LFOs and other "interesting" things.

Sounds I would NOT use it for: 80's retro, true analog warmth, bread and butter, mega-layered texture sounds. You can achieve layers and textures by getting creative with modulation it but I don't think its the strength.

As some of those reviews said, one thing that's nice is you can make a single osc sound pretty fat then modulate a different osc with a completely different waveform to get a sound that would be like a multi in another synth, yet it seems to almost offer up the same polyphony no matter how complex you make things. Inside a DAW you could also just layer it with a softsynth or whatever to get whatever multi effect you want, but some folks are used to having that right on the board.