There's clearly a lot of features squeezed into a synth with a low price tag. My major gripe is the filter frequency knob whose resolution is inadequate in some applications - nothing destroys analog feel like a stepping filter sweep going up with a chirping diddley-diddley-diddley. The effects are also rather low quality. The phaser is unusable and this reverb is not something to write home about. Chorus and delay are quite usable and I kind of like the distortion too (I hear it was improved for OS4). One very positive suprise was the flexible routing the effects section allows. Delay, chorus and reverb can be used in any combination of parallel and serial routings, and you can even "morph" between the standard parallel routing and more eccentric possibilities.

Despite the fact that true multitimbrality in the FX section has obviously compromised the reverb quality, I appreciate the design decision. It minimizes the time I need to start a song: throw some programs into the multi mode and start sequencing, no need to mince around with separate multi mode FX routing stuff. Also, this synth sounds better than one would expect without any effects at all. Apart from the previously mentioned filter stepping (which is a feature of the knob and 7-bit MIDI CC, not the filter itself as envelope and LFO sweeps are smooth) and some dirtiness (maybe alias?) in the oscillators, the sonic quality of Novation ASM is quite pleasant.

It's enjoyable to program with comprehensive modulation possibilities. Somehow, perfectly clean sounds escape me but the way this unit sounds dirty has appeal. It also sounds crisp and digital, especially when you engage distortion, but if you like screaming sounds with edge, it may well be for you.