Novation Mininova

Maximum features at a modest price

In recent years, Novation has been a buzzword for its MIDI controllers. However, the division of the company, which develops synthesizers, also eats its bread for good reason. For example, take a look at Novation Mininova, which has a bunch of interesting features (vocoder with built-in microphone, arpeggiator, step modulation, etc.), a 3-octave keyboard with support for polyphony and aftertouch. And all this at an extremely affordable price of $400.

Several types of synthesis in one box

MiniNova was created on the engine of the flagship UltraNova synthesizer and provides the user with 3 oscillators with different types of synthesis to choose from. In addition to the 14 traditional waveforms, the MiniNova has 36 wavetable and 20 digital tones. In addition, the synthesizer boasts as many as 14 types of filters, an advanced modulation matrix (6 envelopes, 3 LFOs) and a built-in block of 5 effects (distortion, reverb, chorus / phaser, delay and compressor, with an equalizer and a gate).

Built for live play

Management of all this goodness and switching of timbres is carried out using a set of buttons, a large DATA controller, 4 knobs and a built-in display. In addition, the synthesizer is equipped with 8 multifunctional pads. Their main task is to quickly switch between different versions of the same preset. That is, you can choose the sound you like (256 ready-made presets are sewn into Mininova), correct it, then assign the resulting variations to individual buttons and then quickly switch them. For a live game, it turns out quite conveniently.

menu diving

However, the Mininova design also has a downside. Namely, the need to constantly delve into the settings menu. Many musicians just buy synthesizers in order to move away from the computer with its endless menus, but just to play, turn the knobs and not interrupt the creative flow. But if necessary, Mininova can be used away from the outlet, thanks to the built-in battery.