Synth Site |  Novation | Nova II |
Nova II At a Glance |
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Released: 2000
| Specifications
User rating: 4.7/5 | Read reviews (11) Novation News(199) Streaming Video (43) |
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Bruce S. writes: |
This is a synth with 21 knobs, 4 sliders for ADSR and 130+ buttons. It can be more than you can at first comprehend but it is simple to learn and it is also meant to be programmed. There are hundreds of great sounding presets which you can base your own patches on. The arpeggiator is both mono and stereo. Entire arrangements can be programed using Performance mode which allows 6 patches to be played, reasonable for a VA synth. Like the Nova desktop you have 7 effects that can be used per program and up to 6 programs can be used at one time or though midi Each patch has it's own set of effects so you can use any routing and 42 effects. The effects are of good quality too. The keyboard has a great feel with lots of spring on it. For a VA (with FM) you get a large amount of flexibility. I compared the Nova II to a Waldorf micro-Q. They are both great synths but the Nova II and I am quite fond of the uQ but the Nova II edges the uQ with it's instantly understandable control surface. Sound wise they are different synths although the Nova II is warmer sounding and seemingly equal in sonic firepower. Everything is recordable in midi. One negative, if you use a sustain pedal you lose one of the inputs for the Vocoder. If you use another expression pedal it is possible to lose the other input. There is a 3rd dedicated input for assignable pedal but I couldn't get it to recognise a Yamaha sustan pedal. On the other hand, six programable outputs and logical user interface make this hard to resist. It's a great controller too. Comments About the Sounds: Like all worthwhile synthesizers the Nova II has a sound of it's own. Although I associate it with a rich analog like sound the FM section creates the classic bell, EP and mallet sounds. Although the sound is |
Links for the Novation Nova II
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