Ultranova - Got one! Here are my thoughts..

[MBTC]

Namnibor asked in another thread for an update, so I thought I'd post here:

I've finally downloaded the free sounsets for the Ultranova and went through them. Most of the sounds therein aren't particularly impressive, although there are some neat emulations of Supertramp, The Who, and the intro to Fly Like An Eagle (Steve Miller Band) that really show what a good sound designer Daniel Fisher is, or maybe how versatile the Ultranova can be. For a lot of people the lack of third party sounds available for this synth could be a real drawback. Its a good synth for sound designers and folks that like to come up with their own stuff, but sometimes it's nice to have a large library of starting points for any given genre. My main motivation for getting it is to see how well I can get accustomed to a hardware+software environment after having been so spoiled by the fantastic workflow of software-only. Even doing things like sysex import/exports introduce what seems like a weird workflow interruption after not having dealt with it in years. But I'm still very pleased with the purchase... some of the Daniel Fisher sounds show that the touch knobs should not be neglected when creating new sounds, as that's one of the things that makes the Nova synths unique. It also adds a greater expectation for the sound designer I think -- i.e. do something useful with the touch knobs for each sound. That could be intimidating for some designers with regard to how much extra work should be invested into perfecting each sound. The good news is that if you're the type that likes to create sounds from scratch, there's tons of fun to be had with all the modulation possibilities (and realistically you don't always really have to start from scratch, you can always start with one of the built in sounds as a starting point).

[namnibor]

Nice! Yes, I have often used an existing sound from a rom bank on Virus KC as a starting point but what's so nice on KC is with any given preset or your own sound, all the LED's make it easier to see how a sound was made and deconstruct it. Perhaps you should task yourself to make an outstanding sound bank or two for the ultra nova and then sell them since you say there's not much out there and ca$h-in?

[MBTC]

Originally Posted by namnibor

Nice! Yes, I have often used an existing sound from a rom bank on Virus KC as a starting point but what's so nice on KC is with any given preset or your own sound, all the LED's make it easier to see how a sound was made and deconstruct it. Perhaps you should task yourself to make an outstanding sound bank or two for the ultra nova and then sell them since you say there's not much out there and ca$h-in?

That thought crossed my mind, although right now I'd be happy just to find the free time to learn the beast very thoroughly, and it probably sounds more enviable than it really is but I need free time more than I need more money. Also it would be hard for me to sit down and create a bank of something like 50-60 sounds. I'd get too distracted with each individual one, and the next thing I know I will have spent the bulk of the time trying to build a track around a single sound and tweaking the sound to fit that mix rather that creating lots of good sounds.

[namnibor]

Originally Posted by MBTC

That thought crossed my mind, although right now I'd be happy just to find the free time to learn the beast very thoroughly, and it probably sounds more enviable than it really is but I need free time more than I need more money. Also it would be hard for me to sit down and create a bank of something like 50-60 sounds. I'd get too distracted with each individual one, and the next thing I know I will have spent the bulk of the time trying to build a track around a single sound and tweaking the sound to fit that mix rather that creating lots of good sounds.

Focus, Focus, Focus!!! I know what you mean because when I sit down with DSI Mono Evolver Keyboard, it's as if I create a wormhole, space/time distortion and have to force myself to get-up to drink water let alone lavatory breaks! What is that Ultravox song, "And Time Stood Still"?

[namnibor]

Originally Posted by MBTC

That thought crossed my mind, although right now I'd be happy just to find the free time to learn the beast very thoroughly, and it probably sounds more enviable than it really is but I need free time more than I need more money. Also it would be hard for me to sit down and create a bank of something like 50-60 sounds. I'd get too distracted with each individual one, and the next thing I know I will have spent the bulk of the time trying to build a track around a single sound and tweaking the sound to fit that mix rather that creating lots of good sounds.

Hey! I thought of you right away when firstly opening an email from Novation today (I own a Supernova 1 Rack), and this link I am posting will take you to the first of two FREE SOUNDPACKS for both Ultra/MiniNOVA and they are actual patches from the pretty awesome still IMO, of the mighty SUPERNOVA!!! You had mentioned the lack of soundpacks and Novation seem to be in full gear...http://us.novationmusic.com/soundpacks

I think to get the second free soundpack all you have to do is LIKE them on Facebook. Marketing, you know but hope this works for you!
Lastly, I recently read that on the UltraNova, you can save with each patch rather than Globally, your expression pedal midi cc modulation assignment. I think we can do this on all strains of the Virus as well but I think it was on homerecording.com where someone's problem was answered in regard to this because that person *assumed* their expression pedal settings would carry over from one patch to another and in case you did not know, thought to toss that in the "care package of a message here" I am pretty sure they said you can set the max/min amount/values of travel of the pedal as well rather than just a 1-127 general value!!
Cheers!

[MBTC]

Originally Posted by namnibor

Hey! I thought of you right away when firstly opening an email from Novation today (I own a Supernova 1 Rack), and this link I am posting will take you to the first of two FREE SOUNDPACKS for both Ultra/MiniNOVA and they are actual patches from the pretty awesome still IMO, of the mighty SUPERNOVA!!! You had mentioned the lack of soundpacks and Novation seem to be in full gear...http://us.novationmusic.com/soundpacks

I have to apologize, when I saw this post the first time, I went to Novation's page and saw the existing soundpacks only (might have had a cached version of the page maybe?) I read the reference to SuperNova sounds but did not see the reference on the page to the new soundpacks.

This is indeed new so I stand corrected! I will also be downloading this of course (have not yet done so).

Great to see they are still moving forward with support for the product line! (Now only if I had a Supernova to compare so I could A/B the sounds to be sure they're authentic