Supercharge your on-stage synth setup with the UltraNova, featuring a new touch-sensitive performance mode, vocoder and more.
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The Novation UltraNova is a 'Nova' series analogue-modelling synthesizer with a powerful effects processor. It is a single-part synth taking the legendary Supernova II synth engine as a starting point and packing it with the latest technology. It now has brand new features including wavetable synthesis, even more powerful filters, a software editor and a revolutionary new touch-sense performance mode.
The Novation 'Nova' family was born in 1998 with the Supernova, which was the first of a series of powerful synthesizers. These quickly became industry standard 'big-synths' which are still used by countless artists and sound designers.
The Novation UltraNova is the latest addition to the family bringing the range right up to date with a host of new features and a more affordable price tag.
Features
- Brand new Nova-series synth engine based on Supernova II
- Touch-sense controls enable totally new sound-shaping and performance
- Totally gig-able with 37 full sized keys, a vocoder, and loads of controls
- Software plug-in editor and Patch Librarian for full visual editing
- Built-in 2 in 4 out USB audio interface and it can be bus powered
This video from Novation gives a great overview of the UltraNova:
Software Editor
UltraNova has a powerful software editor that enables visual editing of all parameters. It can be used within DAWs as a plug-in editor.
Patch Librarian
UltraNova also ships with a patch librarian that can be hosted on Mac or PC. This enables the user to save an unlimited number patches to the host computer and organize them into folders. Each of the 300 patches that ship with UltraNova have been tagged to make it easy to search by category and genre from the hardware synth or the software patch librarian.
Vocoder
UltraNova has a 12 band vocoder and ships with a dynamic gooseneck microphone. In addition to putting your voice through the vocoder (via the microphone) you can also process other sounds by putting instruments - or pretty much anything - into the Novation UltraNova's stereo line inputs on the back panel.
Power Supply:DC Power Supply Unit and separate USB Cable (Included)
These videos showcase some more of the Ultranova's features:
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Novation products.
Hardware - 144 character LCD - Controls: - - 8 detented touch sensitive encoders - - 1 large smooth encoder (with back-lit filter lock buttons) - - 1 large patch select/speed dial encoder - - 2 volume and monitor mix dials - - 39 LED lit/indicated buttons - - Pitch wheel (LED lit) - - Modulation wheel (LED lit) - 37 note keyboard with velocity and aftertouch - Inputs: - - XLR dynamic mic input - - Two 1/4 inch jack inputs - - Expression pedal on 1/4 inch jack input - - Sustain pedal on 1/4 inch jack input - Outputs: - - Two 1/4 inch jack outputs - - Two 1/4 inch jack aux outputs - - One 1/4 inch jack headphone output - - SPDIF digital output on RCA connector - MIDI in/out/thru - 12 volt power input - USB port (UltraNova can be powered via USB) - Kensington Lock port
Synth Engine - Up to 18 note polyphony (dynamic voicing) - Mono-Timbral
Per Patch: - 3x oscillators - 1x noise generator - 2x ring modulators
Filters: - 2x filters per patch - low pass no resonance 6dB per octave - low pass 12dB - low pass 18dB - low pass 24dB - band pass 6:6 - band pass 6:12 - band pass 12:6 - band pass 6:18 - band pass 18:6 - band pass 12:12 - high pass no resonance 6dB per octave - high pass 12dB - high pass 18dB - high pass 24dB
5 Effects Slots per Patch - Distortion - up to 2 instances - Compressor - up to 2 instances - Chorus/Phase - up to 4 instances - Delay - up to 2 instances - Reverb - up to 2 instances - Gator - EQ - 12 band vocoder - Arpeggiator - 33 patterns - Chord function - lock up to 10 notes - Patch storage up to 512 on hardware (ships with 300 factory patches)
What Our Customers Are Saying About zZounds
"I could not believe how fast I got my microphones! I ordered them on a Thursday night and had them by Saturday...WOW! And I just paid for regular shipping. zZounds has wonderful service!" - customer on April 18th, 2012
"This is a great sounding unique VA, packed with features, powerful synthesizer, great low end, and easy to use interface, a qual"
Sound:
Ultranova sounds fantastic. Of course that's subjective, but I like it. It has a great low end and effects with many options. I can add all kinds of panning to my sounds with UN. I can get beautiful pads, thick basses or anything else. I also own DSI Tetra and MicroKorg. Obviously DSI Tetra is phatter than UN, but UN holds its own and actually those two make a great combination. Tetra for the analog and UN for the digital. I think UN sounds better (less artficially bright and flashy) than MK. I like the sound of UN, it does have some character.
Feature:
It is not multi-timbral, but that's not a problem for me. That's what a DAW is for. I would like if the editor were stand-alone instead of a VST, but that's not any big deal.
Ease of Use:
It is very easy to create and tweak sounds and navigate through the features. it is obvious that the designers thought this out. Let's say you want to tweak the LFO. just press the LFO button and the screen is filled with the LFO paramaters. now turn..or just touch..a knob to tweak it. Very easy to program and I picked it up in a few hours. once you understand the basic menu structure you can click any button and do what you want. The manual is clear.
Quality:
plastic, but feels well built and reliable - always works flawlessly and does what I expect it to. knobs have a little movement to them but I think this is by design, it doesn't feel cheap. I would gig with it if I was a gigging musician. The key bed is high quality like they say. it feels good to play on it. The only thing I don't like is that the filter knob sort of flywheels. For example. let's say the 12 o clock position is the top of the cutoff range, turn the knob some and when you come back to 12 O clock, now it's 3/4 of the cutoff range. This is by design, but it would be a little better if the knob locked on a little better. Still not a big deal at all.
Value:
Given the chance to buy a more expensive VA, I would still buy this.
Manufacturer Support:
I asked them a question before I bought it. They could only be reached by email and took about 10 days to respond.
The Wow Factor:
It has the characteristic blue Supernova color showing it's Novation DNA. You know, Nord has the red boards, etc. Blue lighted pitch and mod wheel (you can dim or disable these lights) It looks complex but it's not, that's cool. it's more of a showpiece than Tetra or microkorg. Feels solid and well built.
Overall:
If I could only buy one synth, I'd buy this. If I could buy this and one other, I would get DSI Tetra, and I'd use them together. I also considered Roland Gaia and M-Audio Venom, but I chose this. here is why:
Gaia rocks for its sound and all its knobs and sliders. but Gaia didn't have the vocoder, the awesome looking VST plug-in, the librarian editor, Audio-In, or the extensive modulation and synthesis power of UN, and the keys felt cheap and plastic. I tried it at the store. I didn't want venom because my other M-Audio gear has always had issues. 1. Axiom 49 died before it was two years old. only one key would make a sound. nothing would fix it. I had taken good care of it. 2. Pro fire 610 works great, but sometimes shows a CRC error and requires PC restart to make it behave. M-Audio is new in the synth business, trying to jump on the train. Venom was also marketed for it's abrasive hard edge sound ability, which was not my interest.
Style of Music: Trip Hop
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"WOW"
Overall:
Love it! Great synth and I don't play techno, just rock and classical. I bought the MicroKorg xl first and was dissapointed with it. Very Cheap, so I kept looking for a great synth. I went to a few stores and demo'd some units the Ultranova and the Gaia.
The Gaia felt cheap and the keys were horrible. The unit looked great but sounded average so I tried the Novation, it was a step up in sound quality and touch so I bought it from zZounds and was extremely happy with the sounds and feel of the unit. It is plastic but seems strong unlike the Korg and Roland. The sounds are out of this world!! Pro level!!!
Style of Music: Everything
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for the chance to live up to our lowest price guarantee!
It's fast and easy
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website, an email offer, your local store - and we'll send
you our lowest price offer in a matter of hours.
Simply click the Seen it for less? link
Next to the item you want, or give us a
call at 800-zZounds Open_Monday!.
A temporary customer reference number is assigned to each customer only while they are shopping on zZounds.com. If you call our customer service department for assistance, this number makes it easier for us to answer any questions you have about products, services or purchases.