Ultranova - Got one! Here are my thoughts..

[MBTC]

Update - sounds downloaded and they are VERY worthwhile! Much better than presets, more fun but also form useful basis for new patches and do a better job of showing the UltraNova off. There are only 64 sounds, but most are very good and there's supposedly more SuperNova sounds on the way. The default presets do tend to exploit the new features like touch knob animation better than the SuperNova patches, but it makes sense that this would be the case as the SuperNova didn't have that feature.

Anyone demoing an UltraNova or MiniNova in a store should demand these sounds be loaded onto it before deciding!

[namnibor]

Originally Posted by MBTC

Update - sounds downloaded and they are VERY worthwhile! Much better than presets, more fun but also form useful basis for new patches and do a better job of showing the UltraNova off. There are only 64 sounds, but most are very good and there's supposedly more SuperNova sounds on the way. The default presets do tend to exploit the new features like touch knob animation better than the SuperNova patches, but it makes sense that this would be the case as the SuperNova didn't have that feature.

Anyone demoing an UltraNova or MiniNova in a store should demand these sounds be loaded onto it before deciding!

Glad those are useable! If I remember correctly, you got the FIRST free sound pack and when you re-registered for their new forum and/or "liked them" on Facebook, you then received another sound pack, but I could be wrong as my synapses are snapped these past few days and because I too have been doing a complete studio ergonomic makeover, my happy blue Supernova 1 Rack is currently resting in a box. However, the best word that even Novation used to describe it's sound is pretty right-on is, "Liquid", in that very smooth/juicy filters for a VA but not the Virus' classic "Darker" sound, but again, not the violently craptasitic HAPPY sound a Korg has no matter how hard you try to make it even a tiny bit brooding. Hope that made sense!
I do not have the extended 44 voice SN but the very last OS update increased it to 24 and considering the 8 track, multi-timbre, polyphonic Arp can also drive external stuff with it's comprehensive midi specs--it's sound as well is reason I decided to hold onto it.
Sounds like the UltraNova is very programmable "under the hood" and too bad they did not offer a larger keyboard version of it and went "mini-me-keys" direction instead...I just do not understand appeal for extremely mini keys! I'd rather see innovation in having more upward near casing on each key, a touch/slider sensitive pad to go where after touch has never gone before or something

[MBTC]

Originally Posted by namnibor

Glad those are useable! If I remember correctly, you got the FIRST free sound pack and when you re-registered for their new forum and/or "liked them" on Facebook, you then received another sound pack, but I could be wrong as my synapses are snapped these past few days and because I too have been doing a complete studio ergonomic makeover, my happy blue Supernova 1 Rack is currently resting in a box. However, the best word that even Novation used to describe it's sound is pretty right-on is, "Liquid", in that very smooth/juicy filters for a VA but not the Virus' classic "Darker" sound, but again, not the violently craptasitic HAPPY sound a Korg has no matter how hard you try to make it even a tiny bit brooding. Hope that made sense!
I do not have the extended 44 voice SN but the very last OS update increased it to 24 and considering the 8 track, multi-timbre, polyphonic Arp can also drive external stuff with it's comprehensive midi specs--it's sound as well is reason I decided to hold onto it.
Sounds like the UltraNova is very programmable "under the hood" and too bad they did not offer a larger keyboard version of it and went "mini-me-keys" direction instead...I just do not understand appeal for extremely mini keys! I'd rather see innovation in having more upward near casing on each key, a touch/slider sensitive pad to go where after touch has never gone before or something

Not sure about the Facebook "liking", but if that's the case they can shove that scam, I'll get them some other way Those marketing ruses get on my nerves, and I think I'll let some other sheep cave into them; I wont.

Not quite sure what you mean by mini-me-keys, the UltraNova has full sized keys, it just only has 37 of them like the TI2 Polar. The MiniNova has smaller keys and is designed for those that want things more portable and at a lower cost (although the UN has dropped in cost since originally released so they are now only about $100 apart at street prices). I do see a lot of newer bands with tiny key synths on stage so there may be some sort of fashion trend behind it all that you and I aren't "getting".

About the sound, I think the UN has a characteristically gritty, in-your face sound that loves to go to obscure if not naughty places in your mix. It can be tamed easily and behaves when told, but it's kind of like always knocking at the door to the cage ready to bust out. It's been a long time since I've heard a SuperNova so it's very difficult to properly compare, but the first SuperNova patch bank does invoke memories of the SN to my ear.

The touch knobs on it, I think, are actually significantly more innovative than a touch slider, because of how many of them you can manipulate at once. One of my Cubase controllers has a nice touch fader (looks a lot like the ones in the Akai Max controller), and it's really just what it says, a fader with touch (good for controlling mix volume mostly). The touch knobs on the Ultranova actually lean you toward a different playing style that I have not seen on any other synth.

[namnibor]

That's what I meant, the "MiniNova"...and realize I am off-base because totally different knob configuration and such with mininova.
I actually was going to ask you if there's a limit to how many parameters you can influence/change via the touch or is the engine such that it does not glitch if say you made a very long release and then just went mad touching knobs and such?
Lastly, is there any glitching in aforementioned scenario when connected in the vst? Do you HAVE to use the integration to deeply program or is all that available as a stand alone synth?

[MBTC]

Originally Posted by namnibor

That's what I meant, the "MiniNova"...and realize I am off-base because totally different knob configuration and such with mininova.
I actually was going to ask you if there's a limit to how many parameters you can influence/change via the touch or is the engine such that it does not glitch if say you made a very long release and then just went mad touching knobs and such?
Lastly, is there any glitching in aforementioned scenario when connected in the vst? Do you HAVE to use the integration to deeply program or is all that available as a stand alone synth?

It's fully designed to be a stand-alone synth with emphasis on live play, you don't have to use the VST at all and you can get to all functions through the menus, but the display is just a one-liner at a time, so certain things would be infinitely more productive in the editor... For example the modulation matrix, you've got 20 slots with two potential sources (not counting the knob assignment) and one destination for each slot. Using only the synth you'd have to page through one mod slot at a time, on the editor you see 10 slots at a time (two pages of a grid) so it's more productive that way. Plus, you've got visualizations of things right there in front of you, like lets say LFO3 is a sine wave and you're using that as a source to modulate a filter on OSC2, well the actual rate of that sine wave, whether its free or synced etc is not going to be visible on that same line of the LCD display while making that mod slot assignment, but on the editor you'd have a graphic representation of the sine wave at the top of same screen to help keep things in context.

This could be irrelevant with simple modulations, but think about a situation where you get many of those going on (for the sake of knob assignments), and now remember that you can do things like modulate the rate of LFO3 with LFO1 via another mod slot! Lots of modulation options means lots of opportunity for losing track of what's what, and it's much easier to keep up with on the editor. You would just be menu diving more without the editor.

In terms of glitchy behavior with lots of weird knob modulations on patches with long release, no not at all, you can go nuts assuming no other technical issues going on. The only thing that feels slightly glitchy (impaired by MIDI itself I guess) to me are things like patch browsing through the editor, that require synchronization between the VST and the synth. You don't have to do that if you don't want though. And at the end of it, it's still smoother than my experience with the Virus editor.

It's not to say you couldn't encounter particular bugs. I saw someone saying that selecting certain waveforms in the editor was crashing the VST for him in Cubase. I've had no such problems in Cubase so I suspect he had something else going on, or maybe they've just patched it since (it was an older post).