A really powerful all-rounder

This synth is simply stunning! I love how it transforms from a cold (almost harsh) digital synth to a very warm and soft Virtual Analog. It has loads of waveforms, wavetables and countless modulation capabilities. To this day I haven't even scratches it's surface in terms of sound palette and features! It sports 18 monotimbral voices with six envelope generators , 3 lfos per voice (plus a dedicated one of the mod wheel vibrato) Channel aftertouch and a mod matrix even more powerful than the one on the Peak ! The arpeggiator is cool and the chord function is very handy. The 8 touch sensitive encoders can act as trigger inputs for modulations or fx and as macros. The 9th and bigger "smooth" encoder can be fixed to a specific parameter or as a handy cutoff knob. It has a nice vocoder and also a librarian and a vst editor. It can run off usb bus power and it stores 512 patches.

It's ok

It's an ok synth for the price but I've always found the engine lacking somehow compared to other VA type synths. It just doesn't sound as smooth, classy or rich as many others. Ok, that gives it a certain character, but the K Station had a real dirt and grit and vibe to it that this doesn't.

The capacitive sensing knobs should have given rise to a hugely expressive synth but somehow even that falls short, only doing a limited number of roles on only a few presets.

I always thought this was a synth that promised so much and never really delivered.

From Gear Setup

It promises a bit more than it offers

While the specs an features of this synth seem pretty tempting the actual usability is a bit limited. There is a vst-plugin editor which refuses to work every second time I want to use it. It offers an audio interface and routes the synth directly to into that but it has no connection to the vst-plugin editor. So if you have (you probably do) another sound interface than you have to chose which one will you use. I use it as a stand alone synth and not even bother about the sound interface options. It can work as an automap midi controller... I tried it once and never used it again. All these extra features are almost good, but only almost. It could be a fantastic piece of gear but it is more like an average virtual analog synth. But I like it anyway. :)

Powerful

To be honest the only reason this product isn't 5 stars is I've found it incredibly hard to integrate with any DAW I've wanted to use it for. I haven't had much trouble setting it up as a MIDI controller, but in terms of accessing the Ultranova's power and software into a DAW, it's been unattainable for me so far. I know there's a way to do it through an Ultranova Editor VST in your DAW, but the plugin is very hard to get working on it's own, much less with the Ultranova.

Besides all this, working with the standalone Ultranova has been incredible. It simply has everything and sounds great. In fact, every time I look for motivation and inspiration, my steps are to 1) take a break and listen to music, and 2) play around on the Ultraova. Incredible, interesting sounds are very attainable and in my early years I even found intrigue in simply turning parameters mindlessly. Make very powerful leads, pads, and especially basslines in minutes just by toying with it. A great synth.

Great Sound, but DAW connectivity lacking and a bit cumbersome.

The sound is great on the UltraNova. Many times when I can't find a plugin sound for the job, the UltraNova manages to fill the space I needed. The main and only problem I have, is getting audio and midi working correctly in Ableton. It does work, but its always a hassle. Something changes and I have to reset it up all again, or it breaks the connection inside the daw for some reason. Right now I'm having USB powering issues, so I have to use an adapter to get the keyboard working. Other then that I like it for its capabilities.

A treasure chest of sounds waiting to be unlocked.

I've been using this in a lot of studio projects since I got it and just recently started using it for live gigs. It's a wonderful synth. If you're wanting to ambient, dubstep, glitch, or some jazz. Then the Novation Ultranova can do it. I love it because of how easy it is to use and it's never ending sound bank and modulation capabilities. You can make evolving soundscapes with it and even create some nasty glitch sound effects using nothing, but the many distortions and arpeggio.

Portable VA ideal add-on to any rompler

I use it frequently besides my Roland FA-06 as an universal source for lead and VA sounds. Its lightweight, portable, easy to use and has full size keys! 4 x 127 sounds, which can be searched by category/style. Plenty of front panel controls. Stylish and modern design - looks nice on stage, I can recommend to any active performer.

Great machine!

Many people rag on VA synths saying they sound to sterile or digital. This little beauty is far from that. Nice warm sound, tons of modulation capabilities. Great for pads, stabs, hits, and almost any ambient type sound you want to get.

Looooove it!

This thing sits on my desk as my secondary controller.. i say secondary because i call my Motif my main, but since the motif is under my desk and this one sits on top, this is my go-to controller when browsing sounds from my DAW. I love the internal synth and really dig the fact that it's bus powered. Therefore this is my buddy when i need to make music on the road.

genial

es un maravilloso sintetizador con tres osciladores ,una salida de audio independiente , vocoder , lo hace grandioso para mi acto en vivo . vale 100 % la pena