My new Novation Nova!

[Gothboy]

Well, I finally got a Novation Nova. \:D/ Can you tell I'm excited? I've lusted after the Nova for a bunch of years and now you can all join me in welcoming it to my little synth family. It came loaded with the latest 4.1 OS and was seemingly well taken care of by it's previous user. With 3 Oscs, 3 envelopes, up to 5 effects per voice and 6 audio outs with a stunning arpeggiator! With 6 voices you can have 6 arpeggiators going at once. Aside from using it as a synth I'll also be processing my Nord Lead 2 through it as it has 2 audio ins and 6 outs! With a 40-band vocoder on board I'm going to put vocals through it too. It sits nicely between my controller and computer monitors. It's very sexy......I love it!
I contacted Novation(now owned by Focusrite...unfortunately) and on the plus side the Nova has 24-bit internal A/D-D/A converters so it'll work nicely as an inserted outboard effect in Pro Tools as I do everything in 24-bit. On the negative side, since Novation is now owned by Focusrite they're really no longer making synths..just controllers...which means no OS updates for the Nova or SuperNova. Oh well.
I've combed the internet for a Novation user forum and there is none that I can find. It would be nice for Nova, SuperNova and Nova 2 owners to be able to trade patches and help one another. I haven't yet programmed any patches on it yet but does anyone else have one of these little beauts or maybe a SuperNova or Nova 2 and have any patches or banks that are worth passing on?

[braincandy]

Congrats on the Nova. I like mine, too, and it's one of the few pieces of gear I kept around when I did my last gear purge. Although Focusrite acquired Novation, many of the support staff are Novation guys and they've been very helpful when I've had issues with the ReMOTE SL. Good response times, too. You can get help from them as long as you're registered on Novation's website.

There is a Novation forum, but there's not much activity, which is a shame:
http://novation.no-ip.org/b0ard/index.php

I don't know if you have the keyboard or laptop version, but if you have the laptop version and need rack ears, you can order them through a local Novation dealer for about $30. Oh yeah, don't lose the power cord, as they're expensive to replace and have to be ordered the same way the rack ears are. Welcome to the very small club (it seems) of Nova owners.

[23]

Supernova II man here.

[Gothboy]

Great! Thanks for the posts and the info on the rack ears as mine didn't come with them. This is the Nova Laptop version...the keyboard version is the Nova II. It's living in front of my MIDI controller in front of the computer monitors within easy reach for tweaking. I totally hear you about the power cable...I took one look at that thing and thought "NOT easily replaced!".

[stephen]

I have a Nova laptop too, but it's currently set aside. I've been having trouble getting into its sound, not sure why, but I haven't used it in a while, I'm considering selling it.

[braincandy]

Do you use it often in performance mode? This is what impressed me when I initially thought it was so-so, too.

[Gregor Samsa]

I've got a Nova and use it incessantly. It has a very nice sound and a ton of sound creating options, and it's made it's way into every track since I've acquired it. I've found it to be pretty flexible. I'm no synthesis expert by any means (maybe this is why I like it lol?), and I didn't find it too hard to get some really nice sounds going on it fairly quickly. Very high on my faves list! I'd love a supernova when I get the $$$.

[stephen]

I bought an AN1x and found its sounds were more pleasing than the nova's, maybe that's why I'm not using it as much.

It has to be said though, that the nova's arp is superb!

[blueknob]

There is a Supernova group but it seems posts get vetted and can take a few days to appear which kills discussion off. That's why there is not much activity on the board.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/supernova/

Like all synths, just take the time to explore the synth and don't be detracted by what others say.

What I like about the synth, it is so easy to transfer voice data so getting new sounds in and out is easy, plus there is a lot of memory so I can keep a wide variety of sounds at hand, or exchange blocks of sounds.

Although I haven't really worked out the Arp yet. All those patterns etc.

[LesDeuxLoveOrchestra]

LOVE my novas (have 2)

one had the lcd burn out and i got the part from japan. also the rotary encoders on the fast data knobs can be found easily.

they did a nice job building a tight small synth, but it makes self-repairs pretty difficult. super small parts in close proximity makes for difficult soldering. there's someplace around here (hollywood, ca) where they have a repair guy who i've never tried. but he was recommended by the techs at focusrite.

the focusrite group has no novation parts at all, and so you have to rely on the dwindling stock of repair places if you need anything.

but the focusrite guys sent me the schematics and the shop manuals for my nova and were very helpful.

lately i've been using the nova as a tempo locked fx unit for my prophet 5.

also the vocoder is great and ez.

there are a ton of arps in the thing.

congrats on your new synth.

[stephen]

Don't feel that I'm being negative about the nova.... I just preferred using a different synth, that's all. I found the other synth easier to get into. My nova isn't up for sale yet (even though I took the photos for ebay a few weeks ago!), I might just give it one more go before making a decision.

What counts is what works for you and I hope you get plenty of mileage out of yours.

[shaft9000]

It would be nice for Nova, SuperNova and Nova 2 owners to be able to trade patches and help one another. I haven't yet programmed any patches on it yet but does anyone else have one of these little beauts or maybe a SuperNova or Nova 2 and have any patches or banks that are worth passing on?

I've made some SN2 demo videos that show a few programming tips as well
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=iY_PEy3pq4k
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=qCO3iQnT5 ... re=related

Congrats

[crystalmsc]

the Nova is one of the coolest looking desktop synth to me, that still desirable and can't be replace by the newer. congrats for the great addition.

[Gothboy]

[quote="shaft9000I've made some SN2 demo videos that show a few programming tips as well
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=iY_PEy3pq4k
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=qCO3iQnT5 ... re=related
Congrats[/quote]

Hey Shaft!
I'd been checking out your videos even before buying the Nova...while I was shopping around. I couldn't afford a SuperNova II like you have and I know the Nova doesn't have all those possibilities...but Can I get that comb filter effect you use at the beginning of that first vid? I know the Nova has the comb filter but can it be used the same way as in the Super?

[shaft9000]

..but Can I get that comb filter effect you use at the beginning of that first vid? I know the Nova has the comb filter but can it be used the same way as in the Super?

You'll have to menu dive, but it should be in there. For easy tweaks while playing the keys assign the 'comb frequency' or 'feedback' parameters to the modwheel Experiment!
BTW that 1st patch also uses phaser and delay, as well as some filter modulation via LFO....and of course noise; no audio oscillators at all. There might be some LFO shaping/'skew' in there as well.

AFAIK the Nova has all the same features of the SN2, minus the 2 extra output jacks and some polyphony/multitimbrality. You should be able to program the same sounds as me - it just takes longer on the Nova because of the limited UI.