Novation UltraNova!!!!

[sttjelle]

Just an update.2 weeks in and Still unable to use the RTAS software editor. Seriously Lame tech support and word that the promised artist soundbanks are still in the works. Didnt they release that "Creating the Chucky soundbank" video like 7 months ago. SERIOUSLY? OVER half a year for a soundbank? Gimme a break, Are those guys too busy smokin... whatever it is they smoke? I'll tell you what.. let's release the DMAC80 soundbank. Free to registered users. I'll have it out in 2 weeks, Done. Problems with the headphone out. High pitched 'NOISE' present on every patch through headphones, although the analog outs are clean but still. I have read that this has been a common issue with this board, And tech support acted clueless. Gimme a break. Not very impressed with novation. Although I have used the synth sparingly on a few new tracks I have barely touched it since grabbing a used virus ti snow,Mainly due to editor issues. As I said, It sounds good, feels good and everything else is lame. I give it a 7. Ammended "lukewarm' buy reccomendation.

I was searching the web for anyone experiencing the unwanted high-pitched sounds when playing on the Ultranova. And I was led to you DMAC80. I could'nt see any solution to the problem so I searched some more and discovered that the high pitched noise is only introduced when the unit is bus-powered. If you switch to wall power, the noise disappears.

Maybe you've already found out (I see the post is quite old ), but if it could be of some help to others, that would be fine

God bless you, in Jesus Name.
-sttjelle

[D Midas]

Well...lol, I never thought that my post would be an internet draw towards these issues with the board. To make it short, no, I have not found this solution as I have had the synth back in its box for the last 2 months trying to sell locally on craigslist. Seems as though thats not going to happen so I will bring it back out to confirm if this is a "fix" for the issue. I gave up on tech support as they literally had no viable solution to either the noise or RTAS editor issues in my 3ish weeks of back and forth emails. Seriously the weakest tech support I have ever received. Especially for a product that comes to just under $900 including tax where I'm from. And to update they have apperently just realeased the promised chucky soundbank which only took about 8 moths for.... wait..... 20 sounds!?. When was the last time a "soundbank" was comprised of 20 sounds? 1990? The lameness continues with this board. I regret my purchase and wish I would have spent those $$$ elsewhere.

[breakmixer]

Just an update.2 weeks in and Still unable to use the RTAS software editor. Seriously Lame tech support and word that the promised artist soundbanks are still in the works. Didnt they release that "Creating the Chucky soundbank" video like 7 months ago. SERIOUSLY? OVER half a year for a soundbank? Gimme a break, Are those guys too busy smokin... whatever it is they smoke? I'll tell you what.. let's release the DMAC80 soundbank. Free to registered users. I'll have it out in 2 weeks, Done. Problems with the headphone out. High pitched 'NOISE' present on every patch through headphones, although the analog outs are clean but still. I have read that this has been a common issue with this board, And tech support acted clueless. Gimme a break. Not very impressed with novation. Although I have used the synth sparingly on a few new tracks I have barely touched it since grabbing a used virus ti snow,Mainly due to editor issues. As I said, It sounds good, feels good and everything else is lame. I give it a 7. Ammended "lukewarm' buy reccomendation.

I was searching the web for anyone experiencing the unwanted high-pitched sounds when playing on the Ultranova. And I was led to you DMAC80. I could'nt see any solution to the problem so I searched some more and discovered that the high pitched noise is only introduced when the unit is bus-powered. If you switch to wall power, the noise disappears.

Maybe you've already found out (I see the post is quite old ), but if it could be of some help to others, that would be fine

God bless you, in Jesus Name.
-sttjelle

Do you mean a scratchy white noise because if so I found this on a few presets when using it with the VSTi in the daw(only set it up last week), I will check to see if it is Bus powered or using the mains to see,

Thanks, also if it works I will inform Novation too of this!

Awesome synth though for those on a budget! IMO

[Bosqoue!]

Novation basically says that their architecture is so complex that the price would skyrocket if they made it multitimbral. Really?
The blofeld's architecture is more or less just as complex.
Also (and this is what bugs me ) the mere fact that the Ultranova is polyphonic means it's ALREADY running multiple iterations of it's architecture! It's not that hard to get them to play different patches simultaneously.

I think that one major difference is that the Blofeld operates with shared effects. Traditionally Novation have made multi timbrality while keeping all of the effects for each patch at the same time, thus being much more useable. Making the UN mulit timbral would then require a lot of extra processing power set aside for these effects (could be expensive), a drop in polyphony (what use is multi timbrality then?) or a rewrite of the architecture to include global effects (could be expensive too).

Personally I feel that the UN has a nice spot in the market. To me it seemed that the UN was a bit more intuitive to program than the Blofeld. If you favour this along with portability I don't see why you shouldn't go with the UN. If you really need the multi timbrality go with the Blofeld (or some other synth - maybe a used Supernova )

[synthjunkie]

Ok, Time to chime in. It's interesting to see the discussion. Obviously, a lot of this is very relative and sound is in the ear of the beholder. I have always been a Novation fan. The first time I heard the Supernova I was hooked but I never had the cash on hand to buy one. I have been considering buying a used SN but when I saw the Ultranova announcement I was excited to say the least. I listened to all of the audio samples and youtube videos I could find (most of them sucked!). Have to say, nothing knocked me over but still, I had to have it because it was supposed to be based on the SN sound engine.

I was, and still am not impressed. I get it, the specs are great. The price point, I think, is good. The sounds just seem dull to me. There was some kind of sparkle to the sounds of the SN. I still have an A-Station and the sounds just seem to have more depth than the UN. No offense to any of the programmers either. I will fully admit, I don't do a lot of programming. I just question if this is based on the SN, and has better specs than the SN, why the sounds don't seem to compare? Has anyone created any of the old SN patches with the UN and compared them side by side? I'm hoping it's just an issue of some of these really smart guys spending more time with the synth to develop deeper sounds. If I wasn't such a synth junkie (ie. the username;) I would have already sold this and gone back to searching for a used SN.

I'm hoping I'm wrong though. I'm not on a mission to bash Novation. I really want them to succeed. I, like most out there, want something new and interesting while making it better than the old gear. IMHO, I think the Blofeld blows this away for the price from a sound perspective. The keys and control are nice to have, but as someone pointed out, who doesn't have a nice controller in their rig already.

So, Novation, I love you guys, I have (somewhat wavering) faith in you. Put some more time and effort into the UN and prove this is the powerhouse the specs say it is! Who knows, maybe they'll surprise us all with a multitimbral OS upgrade! javascript:emoticon(':D')

Oh, and no offense to Chuckie...you're more successful than I...20 patches of nothing all that interesting...I hope they paid well because I'm not buying the Son of Chuckie soundpack!

[breakmixer]

Just an update.2 weeks in and Still unable to use the RTAS software editor. Seriously Lame tech support and word that the promised artist soundbanks are still in the works. Didnt they release that "Creating the Chucky soundbank" video like 7 months ago. SERIOUSLY? OVER half a year for a soundbank? Gimme a break, Are those guys too busy smokin... whatever it is they smoke? I'll tell you what.. let's release the DMAC80 soundbank. Free to registered users. I'll have it out in 2 weeks, Done. Problems with the headphone out. High pitched 'NOISE' present on every patch through headphones, although the analog outs are clean but still. I have read that this has been a common issue with this board, And tech support acted clueless. Gimme a break. Not very impressed with novation. Although I have used the synth sparingly on a few new tracks I have barely touched it since grabbing a used virus ti snow,Mainly due to editor issues. As I said, It sounds good, feels good and everything else is lame. I give it a 7. Ammended "lukewarm' buy reccomendation.

I was searching the web for anyone experiencing the unwanted high-pitched sounds when playing on the Ultranova. And I was led to you DMAC80. I could'nt see any solution to the problem so I searched some more and discovered that the high pitched noise is only introduced when the unit is bus-powered. If you switch to wall power, the noise disappears.

Maybe you've already found out (I see the post is quite old ), but if it could be of some help to others, that would be fine

God bless you, in Jesus Name.
-sttjelle

Do you mean a scratchy white noise because if so I found this on a few presets when using it with the VSTi in the daw(only set it up last week), I will check to see if it is Bus powered or using the mains to see,

Thanks, also if it works I will inform Novation too of this!

Awesome synth though for those on a budget! IMO

I found what was causing the noise, I'm running another hardware's audio through my Ultranova, when I turn 'off' this audio(using UN 'Audio' panel) in the noise stops, but it's not the other hardware because it's only on Ultranova's certain presets,the same ones everytime???!!!

Weird double triggering of patches too, like B-Boom, D-Derr, M-Mmmm, turn unit off/on can fix this sometimes, this seems like a midi conflict...

[Prevalence]

The Yamaha AN1X blows this, and most VA's, out of the water. Half the price of an Ultranova too!

Check one out if you get the chance.

[breakmixer]

The Yamaha AN1X blows this, and most VA's, out of the water. Half the price of an Ultranova too!

Check one out if you get the chance.

It's an old synth though!

The reason I bought the UN is because of the modern VSTi intergration, same as with Plugiator which I own also...and Virus Ti - which I don't own...

It can do analog but also other types of synthesis, so far worst feature is I don't like alot of the presets, some good - some not for me!

Novation support is very good btw, they are looking into my problem, it's to do with the FX ins volume atm...(running another synth audio through)...

as for the double triggering it was a USB issue, too many fighting for bandwidth, plugged it in at the back...

[Prevalence]

The Yamaha AN1X blows this, and most VA's, out of the water. Half the price of an Ultranova too!

Check one out if you get the chance.

It's an old synth though!

So is my Alpha Juno 2, but I use it all the time

Old synths definitely have their place, IMO. In many cases they still sound better than newer synths. I appreciate that they do not have all the DAW integration options obviously!

[chk071]

To revive this thread: Just came along this soundset for the Ultra/Mininova, which obviously replicates some Supernova patches: https://soundcloud.com/novationmusic/super Boy, do these sound better compared to the completely toyish factory sounds. Really wonder why they didn't ship it with these sounds. Really like them.

[Sequent]

There was a series of soundpacks that were made available for download over a period of time. You should subsribe to the Novation newsletter if you haven't already.

http://us.novationmusic.com/soundpacks

[chk071]

Nice, didn't know they released so many. Thanks for the link.

[Ingonator]

The blofeld's architecture is more or less just as complex.

I would say it's even more complex than the Ultranova.

Even if the Ultranova seems to have 14 filter modes most just differ in the slope:

• 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

No Notch and Comb filters for example.

Just quoted myself from some years ago as yesterday i finally purchased a Novation UltraNova.

The sounds i could get from this are awesome and it indeed has TONS of features (in parts even more than my Blofelöd, e.g. UltraNova has up to 6 envelopes with adjustable slopes and trigger modes). Also love the "Density" feature in the oscillators that more or less create a kind of "Hypersaw" sound. Additionally the also seem to be some dedictaed Multi-waveform waveshapes and it also has 36 more or less "simple" (compared to the Waldorf synths) wavetables but with adjustable interpolation amount.

Overall it's a great addition to my Blofeld and my Pulse 2 and it was quite cheap for what it could do.

As far as i could see so far there is a hardly a plugin that could fully replace all features of the UltraNova. Maybe Electra 2.1 and Synthmaster 2.7 are somehow close and Largo somehow too but a direct comparison seems to be difficult.

[rod_zero]

How do you compare the sound of Ultranova vs blofeld?

[rob_lee]

As a user of a Waldorf Blofeld i have to say that the synth is nice but doesn't impress me, .

So now it impresses you? What changed?