Novation Supernova Synthesizer

Any views? Anyone got one or used one? I remember playing around with one in Turnkey (Tottenham Court Road) about 7 years ago. They seem pretty powerful. You get 7 parellel fx which in my mind is pretty awesome and I think about 8 part multitimbral which I think is pretty reasonable too. Does any modern Synth module beat this? I'm also looking at the Clavia Nord Rack 2 X.

What do you reckon guys? How do they compare or am I asking a stupid question?

There was a bit of a backlash against Novation synths around 2001 - magazine reviews have always tended to be favourable, but they kind of got labelled as having a plasticey sound quality some years later... So there has been this stigma surrounding them - much like the fall Behringer took some years earlier...

I've used the keyboard version, and the KS, and they do have a slightly plasticey sound - a little bit Casio - it's really the big analog-style brass patches where you really notice it... But I think they're great for everyday sounds and big atmospheres and things... Nice bass.

When you strip all the fx off they sound quite a bit like a Virus...

The Nord's obviously quite limited, and benefits from having external fx, but at the end of the day, I do prefer the pads and bass sounds from a Nord to almost anything...

  The Moon said:

The Nord's obviously quite limited, and benefits from having external fx, but at the end of the day, I do prefer the pads and bass sounds from a Nord to almost anything...

I had a Nova. Didn't really like it. The extra outputs are hissy and you need a 3.5 to 1/4 inch adaptor to use them. I also found that the inputs from the synth section to the fx clipped very easily. FX on every part but they're more excuses for FX, not very editable.

The one thing I miss about it was the vocoder. It felt very cheap as a whole, sounded very wishy-washy digital.

I'd go with a nord rack any day, use a dedicated fx unit for where you're going to actually need it. Plus the rotaries are continuous. On the novations you move them and they jump from the set value when you move the knob, have to find your way back to the previous knob position by ear. Plus the nords have a much thicker sound in general.

A friend of mine is selling his Novation on ebay. Around $200-250.

I think Novation k-station synths led to their ill perception. (listen to the v-station vsti if you wanna know what I mean, cause they are 100% identical right down to the factory patches)

Seriously though, with softies like vaz modular being so ahead of their time, if you're going to buy a digital VA synth, get a nord, or a waldorf and you can't go wrong for the price.

The keystation midi controllers are expensive as hell but effective if you need an all in one midi box and don't have alot of desk room to put a couple control freaks and a 61 key or whatever.

yea find a cheap waldorf on ebay.....they sound fantastic......ive used the Q series and the later microwave series and they are infinitely programmable with tons of sound possibilities...