SuperNova2: piece or prize?

I've been curious about this synth for a while, so I bought a used rack model the other day. Should arrive this Thursday.

Going down the list of features on the thing, it seems like a killer, and yet I've seen more than a few forumites pan it.

The SN2 is said to have a less aggressive, more smooth glassy sound. Fine. I like that sound.

The oscillators only have two waveforms, but it has that variable "harden" feature which seems much more interesting. Plus the "virtual" sync, skew sync, formant width adjustments, etc. Seems like there's enough to work with there.

I'd love to hear what specifically its detractors don't like about the SN2. In the end, I might not like the sound or UI, but I want to start by testing for myself what are considered its eaknesses.

Thanks!

The Novation stuff always sounded polished to me in a good way. I have a KS5 and enjoy it a lot. Wish I could comment on the SN specifically, but I've never owned one. Although I thought about it when I bought my KS, and still might take a SN out for a spin someday, but my KS is definitely a keeper for me.

Let us know how you like it.

I had a SuperNova II rack for a short period. The synth just never stuck with me. It was easy to use, and easy to get sounds out of, but it just wasnt a compelling sound for me. Also, the modulation options didnt seem to be there when compared to my Z1.

I've always liked the Nova/Supernova line. (much better than any of their newer synths) They sound excellent, have a ton of DSP power (the SNII I believe has 8 56003 DSPs or something of the sort.) The sound is silky smooth, so if you have an application for that, then it will do quite nicely. The newest OS added a LOT of new features to it, so make sure you have it or install it. There is a good SOS review of it, and it tells what the OS update adds as well.

Another Supernova fan! I have a Supernova 2 and love it to death. Some may say it sound a little bit plastic or glassy, but it also sounds silky and deeeep (basses, basses...) to my ears.

BTW. Let it sound somewhere 'plastic'! It's a good thing to have that kind of sounds arround (remember late '80?)

You'll get lots of positive comments about the SN/SN2, they're both marvelous, rich synths. It's no small thing that they're multitimbral and allow independent effects per each channel, which if you know how to use properly, will provide absolutely monster sound. They were seriously underappreciated during their availability new.

So, but you asked about negatives, I'll try to provide some as someone who thinks very highly of the instrument:

1. The individual oscillators by default sound "thin." You really have to work with them, and with the wave sculpting options, and the filters, to coax what the SN/SN2 can do out of them. If you don't have the patience for and/or knowledge about how to do that, you will become easily frustrated. It takes time to get this down.

2. The interface is marvelously elegant, to the point where it is easy to fail to recognize just how much modulation control you have over the sound. The synth is far deeper than it will appear to be, to a new user.

3. It is very easy to overdrive the sound into clipping, again, particularly if you are unfamiliar with what's going on in a patch (or a performance). Careful gain-staging internally in a patch design is critical. There are a number of default patches which are meant to be played with minimal numbers of notes simultaneously, and if you try to play them rompler-style, you'll drive the sound into clipping. Learn when that happens and how to control it, once you do, it's easy as pie ("I love pie"). Similar to the Virus TI that way.

That's all I can think of for now!

excellent realtrance, thanks.

Coincindentally, I was reading a pdf on the Novation site today about SNII gain-staging. Sounds like there's level adjustment at the osc, program and part stages.

Probably the main reason I wanted to play with the SNII is because of its relatively unusual oscillator options. I've been studying the user manual, so I've got a head start on it. Although I don't have a sense of what the "formant width" adjustment will sound like. ?

looking forward to messing with it!

I've had a SNII keyboard since 2000. It still sounds good, has beautiful effects, very rich sound (the onboard eq helps there), and works great in the multi-timbral mode. Too bad they don't continue to evolve the operating system; even so, it is a great synth at its current OS (v.2). The synth is beautiful to look at too; looks cool in the dark!

Yeah I think I'd be interested in a SN3 more than a Virus X.

Originally posted by idiotboy excellent realtrance, thanks. Coincindentally, I was reading a pdf on the Novation site today about SNII gain-staging. Sounds like there's level adjustment at the osc, program and part stages. Probably the main reason I wanted to play with the SNII is because of its relatively unusual oscillator options. I've been studying the user manual, so I've got a head start on it. Although I don't have a sense of what the "formant width" adjustment will sound like. ? looking forward to messing with it!

Novations have a tendency to clip though. This can be addressed by setting all these levels down a little. I believe the novation site had a link explaining how to make sure your Novation doesn't clip.

Back when I was in the market for a new synth, I was taking a serious look at the SN2, but I ran into the same kind of thing: lots of positive, quite a bit negative. Unfortunately, I could never find a place to demo one, so I just went with a Virus instead.

Still would like to try a SN2 though. And if they ever came out with a SN3, I just might have to be in the market for a new toy again.

-G

A local music store had a used SN2 for sale... It sat there for a couple of months. It was a keyboard version - not the rack version - I went in and played it several times. I loved the way it looked, being blue with all of those wonderful knobs and sliders. It certainly wasn't a bad synthesizer, but I just couldn't get excited about it enough to pull out my Amex card.

I think the SN/SN2 had the same problem in the market that the Virus TI is having now. At one level, the synth is chock full of "popular" synth patches, and thus is very playable and usable out of the box, even for people who don't really want to get into the details of using a synth.

At another level, the synth is "just" another Virtual Analogue, meaning that it has a narrower range of emulative possibilities than a sample-based synthesizer like the Roland Fantom series, and is going to be subject to a lot of "well it's not REAL analogue" criticism from people for whom either that really matters, or for whom the distinction is one they've heard about and don't really know much about (the latter is the majority, methinks).

Ultimately, though, the SN/SN2/TI (and Q, for that matter) are all synthesizers with as vast a range of possibility -- IF YOU TAKE THE TIME TO MASTER THEM -- as any analogue modular system, and then some.

I will dare to say that after many years of experiencing both, at this point, with the level of electronic synthesis the SN/TI/Q represent, I find digital (and even sample-based) synthesis a far more delicate, wide-ranging, flexible form of synthesis than analogue, with a much more interesting sound palette.

The only catch is, you really have to know what you're doing with digital to experience what's possible. There's enough complexity with digital that just randomly turning knobs won't get you very far.

And there are lots of options with the above synths; so, unlike say a Juno D, it's easy to get lost, confused or frustrated, unless you are patient and willing to learn.

I think its inevitable that stand alone VA synthesizers will eventually be incorporated into 'rompler' workstations the same way that sampling and sequencing has been. The fusion is already a step in this direction. I'd expect to see more of this very soon.

The SN2 arrived yesterday. I can understand now why people have the perception of it being thin or uninteresting. There's more than a few presets that sound that way. But, there's also more than a few that speak of its underlying power.

There's a few bass patches that are monsters! Figures, since it's built on the bass station technology, but I was surprised nonetheless. And some of the sync sounds are like "wtf is that?" (in a good way!). Not surprisingly, the pads are great.

So.....I'll tinker.

Tony,

In some ways any Yamaha synth with a PLG-150AN installed, or any Korg sample-based synth with a MOSS board, or the V-Synth with its modelled oscillator waveforms, is already in this category.

So far the problem has been that either integration of true, physically-modeled analogue circuitry with sample-based synthesis hasn't been seamless, or that synths have shown up where the distinction between actual modelling and simply using a waveform sampled from such a modelling synth is obfuscated in the documentation and marketing.

I will look forward to the time when clarity is achieved here, and we can get a seamless integration of a variety of physical modelling with sample-based synthesis in a hardware performance instrument (it's already there in stuff like Reaktor, and in other softsynths).

yeah, I had a triton with the MOSS board, and see how the Yamaha PLG boards are kinda an inspiration to how the fusion actually works. Its coming, its just the long slow evolution of hardware that takes the time.