Members wackawa Posted February 25, 2011 Members Share Posted February 25, 2011 I pulled the trigger on the ultranova and it arrived here yesterday afternoon. I haven't done much yet except toy with the presets, so I don't have any in-depth insight to add. I will say that it does sound a bit better in person than in the videos (which is usually the case). The preset sounds probably aren't going to 'grab' many of you folks here, but there are some good ones in there. The raw oscillator sounds are a bit 'thin' (which may be no surprise), but the final results usually sound pretty good. The only VA that I have to compare it to is the Virus C. It may or may not be a fair comparison, but the virus has a bit more 'depth' overall in the sound, but I haven't really 'rolled my own' on the UN yet though. I would say that it is a 'solid' va, maybe a 'bread n butter' type va? Which I think is a good thing. I ultimately bought it for the total package as opposed to just the VA engine. I'm snowed in here today, so if there is anything anyone wants me to experiment with, or have any questions they would like me to investigate, just let me know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members aztechno Posted February 25, 2011 Members Share Posted February 25, 2011 What's with all the 'quotes'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wackawa Posted February 25, 2011 Members Share Posted February 25, 2011 That's my hero right there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Michael Blue Posted February 25, 2011 Members Share Posted February 25, 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcR7hr4LLQg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Acid Hazard Posted February 26, 2011 Members Share Posted February 26, 2011 I'm desperately trying to ditch some gear to buy one of these! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Quru Posted February 26, 2011 Members Share Posted February 26, 2011 I've had this thing for a while and I'm very pleased with it. It was hard to choose between Ultranova and Blofeld, but since I couldn't affor Blokey, I chose Ultranova mostly because I want to keep my gear pretty simple (no modules, external controllers and less hassle with the cords) and I needed simple audio interface. It sounds much much better live than in the demos and I think the interface is pretty intuitive and fast to program. Only downsides come from the build quality: they've messed something up with the electricity work and when connecter to usb it generates high pitch 'wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii'-sound when not played. And knobs are a bit wobbly, of course because of the touch sensitivity, but I wouldn't call them very sturdy or well built. And if you play it and connect to usb on the fly, it wobbles the pitch for a while. They are not big problems since there is no annoying sound when powered by wall-wart and not connected to computer, and if connected, it doesn't come to the recording. I think the problem is somewhere in the headphone amplifier. And I don't think the knobs are gonna break up by themselves, so good, hard case for carrying solves that. Those are just things where you can see it's not 2000USD "pro-gear". I'm very pleased with this unit and I recommend everyone looking for kinda affordable VA to take a look at this. I've already done few gigs with it and the sound cuts very well through band and it sound great on the mix. I use it mainly for bells and leads with the band. If lack of multi-timbrality isn't dealbreaker, I think this is the best bang for the buck on the market atm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wackawa Posted February 26, 2011 Members Share Posted February 26, 2011 After toying with it a bit more, I do have to say editing from the hardware is actually pretty snappy. The only thing that can get a bit confusing is navigating through all the mod matrix slots on the small screen. It's not horrible, but the more visual vst editor is much better for that. However, some of the drop down selection menus (osc type, filter types, etc) in the vst editor are so small that I would rather just spin the knob on the hardware unit to scroll through them! In regards to the what Quru posted above, I have not noticed any of the high pitched sounds or the wobbling pitch? I have only powered it through USB and have only listened thru headphones. Granted, I haven't turned up the headphones very loud as there has been no need....Less than halfway has been loud enough for me! I would agree with the overall assessment of the build quality. I wasn't disappointed at all though. I figured it would be on par (if not a little better) than the novation remote I also own. The knobs don't feel like they will snap off any time soon... I haven't got too far using the automap features and have not upgraded to the pro version (which you can do for free). I will say that the automap template for reason is much nicer on the ultranova than it is on the remote sl. Don't know why? the way the controls are laid out are much more logical for the synth Thor, for example. I have 'wrapped' a few vst's for automap use, but have not tried them yet.... the default settings were typically pretty confusing (going by how they were mapped to the remote sl), so I haven't been in a big hurry to investigate. You could always change them though. I have used it as an audio interface, but haven't really taxed the drivers yet. Just fooled around with 8 tracks or so. It was about 4 tracks of vsti's and 4 tracks of ultranova audio recorded over usb. The asio control panel is pretty utilitarian. It's just a big slider to change latency. I have lowered it 6ms. In ableton live it still showed the overall input latency to be about 10-12 ms. I think that is more because my computer is far from optimized than a problem with the novation drivers.... I could be wrong though.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members liliththekitten Posted February 27, 2011 Members Share Posted February 27, 2011 Venom does look a bit rubbish though... convinced by the (non- OMGNASTY!!!) videos that it doesn't sound rubbish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Quru Posted February 27, 2011 Members Share Posted February 27, 2011 In regards to the what Quru posted above, I have not noticed any of the high pitched sounds or the wobbling pitch? I have only powered it through USB and have only listened thru headphones. Granted, I haven't turned up the headphones very loud as there has been no need....Less than halfway has been loud enough for me! I would agree with the overall assessment of the build quality. I wasn't disappointed at all though. I figured it would be on par (if not a little better) than the novation remote I also own. The knobs don't feel like they will snap off any time soon... I just thought that the problem might as well be with my computer. I used to have firewire-audiointerface when I recorded something via USB-MIDI to my computer (from my motif) I listened through the external audio interface, not from the Motif. And I had my Motif hooked up to computer via usb only when I was recording. I will check that up later and inform you, Motif is at my bands training base at the moment. Haven't thought about the computer being issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bernard Posted May 8, 2011 Members Share Posted May 8, 2011 [video=youtube;lFObAxO9QQM] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bernard Posted May 8, 2011 Members Share Posted May 8, 2011 You scared him away. His video is private now. We coaxed him out of privacy ... LOL [video=youtube;3wzoainB1ss] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Karma1 Posted May 9, 2011 Members Share Posted May 9, 2011 Bernard - thanks for posting these videos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members liliththekitten Posted May 9, 2011 Members Share Posted May 9, 2011 love the way the Ultra sounds. I thought I was over hardware VAs but found it rather inspiring even. it can make teh bass as well! wish it had 48 keys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Darkstorm Posted May 9, 2011 Members Share Posted May 9, 2011 Ultra nova is very nice. I decided on the maudio Venom over it for couple reasons. First its unsual more edgy sounds. And I liked the arps and phrase loops better. Its really helped reawaken an interest in dark ambient & dub techno stuff to. Second. I do have a Novarion ks4. And if it stopped working Id prob replace it with a ultra nova. But for now, ultra nova was close enough in sound char to my ks4 along with its arps etx. So Venom being a bit of a diff beast, won out for which to get to go with my ks4. utube and other vids demos of venom also more impressed me rather then the ultrnova's. Ultranova was enough similiar to my novation, that it didnt wow me with wanting a 2nd one for 2 keybaord setup. But ultranova really does also need another octave of keys imo. So 2nd reason is not enough keys and too close to my ks4 sound wise. Dont know if this gives any other useful info for deciding between the two synths. Built wise, the novation is a little lighter weight. But I dont see that as a minus. Venoms plastic seems good enough to hold up for gigging and wear. Keybed is nice enough in synth key action style. The velocity sensitivity for keyboard is extra nice imo. Personally Id say that if one was new to getting VA synths. Haveing both a ultra nova and a venom would make for great combo. But if just going for one synth. Ultranova for the more mainstream electronica and venom for the more extreme or edgey. Venom can do mellow and mainstream, but thats gonna ahve a little more very nice modern or digital sound to it compared to novations little more liqued sound char. Lastly ultranova is more knobby rich. Venom more like a rompler with extra knobs and pretty easy menu diving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DJ RAZZ Posted May 9, 2011 Members Share Posted May 9, 2011 Yes I like both of them so far but tried the Venom at GC and thought it was a heck of a deal. I think the GAIA win out by a hair but only with the Sweetwater presets installed. I am an old school kinda guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zoink Posted May 9, 2011 Members Share Posted May 9, 2011 I really wanted to like the UltraNova when I tried it out -- and in many ways I do -- but the 37 keys and monotimbrality killed it for me. It's a nice sounding synth and somewhere down the line I may even pick one up used or on close-out, but I just can't see spending $700 on it. If they had given it 49 keys and made it $100 or so cheaper, it would have made a big difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MuzikB Posted May 9, 2011 Members Share Posted May 9, 2011 I love the Ultranova. It's an excellent synth to go along with a mobile laptop rig and is an impressive instrument in an age when most people want to pump out music on VST's. I plan on getting one as soon as other priorities are taken care of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bernard Posted May 9, 2011 Members Share Posted May 9, 2011 Bernard - thanks for posting these videos. Hey, no problem, many thanks ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NuSkoolTone Posted May 10, 2011 Members Share Posted May 10, 2011 These are cool, but I miss the days when the intended audience were gigging professionals. I just can't take a board like that seriously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MuzikB Posted May 10, 2011 Members Share Posted May 10, 2011 Glad you brought it back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bernard Posted May 11, 2011 Members Share Posted May 11, 2011 Glad you brought it back. Here's more : [video=youtube;4cZpsbyNGwE] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members realtrance Posted September 19, 2011 Members Share Posted September 19, 2011 Just a quick update: finally got my hands on an Ultranova, after reading the manual for months, and it really is a beautiful job. All the early pre-release speculation was, I think, right on the money, and all the post-release "bleh" reaction online is really confusing to me. I'm a big fan of the original SN sound and this keyboard really captures it. Along with that, the touch encoders provide a little bit of the equivalent of a "ribbon"-like function, in that you can map modulations to eight encoders and then turn them on/off with a quick touch, really a different kind of performative functionality. I really like it, I find new ways of interacting with new interfaces creatively stimulating. The chorder and gator are also not to be overlooked, they can lead to some really interesting results and are not "pre-programmed" the way too many arpeggiators are, especially if you use them in combination. The sound, with all the oscillator variations, and with the capability of controlling Hardness, Vsync and Density/Density De-Tune on each of the three oscillators no matter what kind of waveform is selected, really provides an amazing amount of variety for a standard 3-osc subtractive synth. And yes, the wavetables, with Virus-like smoothing functions, can be controlled with modulators, a la both Waldorf and Access synths. The effects section for an instrument this size and type is phenomenal in its versatility; I know Access is going crazy with the evolution of the fx section on the TI, but really, within the limits of the pricepoint and tech built into the Ultranova, it gives them a real run for the money, especially if you use those fx along with the pre-filter distortion capabilities on the oscillators. I don't see "no FM" as a real issue with the instrument, as there are plenty of examples of how to do FM-like sounds on the instrument, and the dual ring-mod is, anyways, I find, a far simpler and far more fun way of handling cross-modulation between oscs. Plus, within-osc sync capability for each oscillator provides plenty of equivalent FM-like sonic capability, if you want more, heck, go for FM8. As a fan of all the NI synth stuff -- Absynth, Reaktor, Massive, FM8 -- I'm not looking for more complexity. I don't think any hardware synth comes anywhere near the above four softsynths for sheer capability at this point. But the Ultranova captures really quite a wide range of options at an amazingly reasonable price point. 37 keys? You could complain, but then again that never stopped anyone from being marvelous with a Minimoog, did it (why Novation started at C instead of F though, I dunno). Which brings me to the last point: Ultranova really is a VA built to be integrated with a laptop; it does wonderfully as a softsynth controller and is easy to integrate. Automap 4.1 is in beta for testing and I believe it will provide OSX Lion compatibility (fingers crossed). Don't even know if you need to use it with NI's marvelous built-in control-mapping capabilities, though. Good for Ableton however. Anyways, I remain astonished at the generally meh reaction to the Ultranova; maybe it's because I've always loved the musicality of the Novation sound, but this really is an inspiring little instrument, I find. It'll be an undiscovered gem in a few years, I'm sure. You should discover it sooner rather than later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ElectricPuppy Posted September 19, 2011 Members Share Posted September 19, 2011 Splendid review, Realtrance, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members realtrance Posted September 19, 2011 Members Share Posted September 19, 2011 Thanks, EP: wanted to start this week with SOMETHING positive, SOMEWHERE. Sigh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Michael Blue Posted September 19, 2011 Members Share Posted September 19, 2011 Splendid review, Realtrance, thanks! +1! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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