This video, via Kosmokatze, offers a modern take on the Novation Nova Desktop, a virtual analog synthesizer, introduced in 1999.
The video looks at the Nova Desktop’s sound engine, workflow, modulation depth, strengths, limitations, and how it compares to other late-90s virtual analog classics.
Topics covered:
00:00 Intro
01:00 History & Context
02:00 Soundengine
03:13 Core Sound Demos
04:50 Effects
05:20 Arpeggiator
06:35 Musical Context & Sound Demos
07:30 Key Era Sound // Doublesaw
08:39 Nova – The better JP8000?
10:00 Performance Mode Trance
11:15 Verdict
11:50 Buy or leave?
If you’ve used the Novation Nova Desktop, share your thoughts on it in the comments!
I had a Nova. It felt really nice, like a Porsche 911 for music. I would wish I still had one except now I have a Supernova 2 Pro-X, so… Traded up from a 911 to a 959.
I really, really wanted one of these but the $ didn’t align at the time.
I was lusting over its big brother, the Super Nova, especially after hearing Ozric Tentacles. Now I have a MiniNova. The DNA lives on because the sound engine has serious beef. Its a good digital partner for an analog synth.
Same and I still regret not asking Seaweed to autograph my MS-20. They also had me longing for, iirc, a Waldorf Wave.
It can easily hold its own against the classics of its time.
less of the “vintage” we are not that old … 🙂 .. love my Super Nova still using it today. swapped it for a yamaha a3000 that i had just kicking around my studio.. ..
I petition nothing can be called vintage unless it is at bare minimum 40 years old.