Novation MiniNova

PROS: Small form. Nice microphone on a gooseneck is included. The Vocoder patches work well. The arpeggiator has a lot of different patterns. Novation provides a number of free patches for the synth. The layout of the board looks nice and the flow works ok. The sound is just ok. This a model designed in 2012 and sounds like it.

CONS: If good customer and product support is important to you, don’t buy this synth. My experience with Novation’s customer support was absolutely horrible. I contacted them on their customer support web chat and had the misfortune of having a session with a support tech named “Jeffery”. What a rude guy. He never waited long enough for me to explain the problem so he could provide an answer. Instead, he decided to be rude because I didn’t understand the Librarian software used to load patches on the Mininova. Well, the reason I didn’t understand is Novation never published a user guide for it. They have been making this synth since 2012, so they’ve had a lot of time to do it. They just never did. I guess they don’t want to invest time in an older product line.

Since I couldn’t get help from “Jeffery”, I put in a trouble ticket on Novation’s website. 5 days later I still have not received a response. So back to Thomann this goes. Too many mini synthesizers at this price point to have to deal with that level of (lack of) support.

Morale of the story: Customer support is just as important as the product. If the support is crap, the product is crap. Just sayin’…

+ Great sound, filter.
+ Well made with quality. A few exceptions to this though.
+ Very customisable sound and settings.
+ Well integrated with updates and PC software.

- Can be too digitalized for some users.
- Odd build quality on the pitch wheel.
- Steep learning curve. Very hard to get a grasp all the features.

First off, this synth is really beautifully contructed. The quality is really great through and through except in one place. The pitch wheel. Moving it upwards enables you to hear the spring moving with it together with a slight feel of just that. I do worry a bit about the quality of the Data knob due to the fact that it's the tool you will be using to navigate all the menus, and also select the different patches.

Soundwise the synth does really well both with varied presets and options to craft your own sounds. There is a clear emphasis on digital here. Most presets works best for electronic music, making this stellar if you want a more analog feel to your productions. The combination of great overall sound and a stellar filter is a big plus. The microphone appears to do it's job really well. I haven't been able to properly test it out though.

The emphasis on digital continues as you can modify most of the settings and variables through the small screen and the use of the data-knob. You can also bind various effects and values to the four knobs on the right of the synth. There is a total of two rows that can be assigned to your own taste. The amazing filter really helps making this synth stand out, and they know it, adding a huge knob exclusively for the use of it.

There are also a row of eight pads that can either be used to modify the arpeggio or "animate". The "animate" setting enables quick transformations of the sound. For example a simple saw lead could be transformed to play 5ths with the press of a button. It can become distorted, modulated, flanged. Pretty much anything is possible, and it would surely be a great tool for a stage performance. By navigating the screen you can also make your own animations and customize the sound for your own needs.

The Mininova can be plugged in to your PC and via software you can for example import new patches. You can also export the patches making you able to import your saved data to a different Mininova if you so wish. Novation often gives out free packages of preset patches from their other analog synths like the Supernova or Bass Station often filling up the onboard space. You'll probably have to pick among the sounds you want.

Now to the less great sides. This analog synth is very digital. Most of the controls are based on navigating the software menus. For me it was an annoyance because I wanted to move a bit away from the digital tools.

I guess it was a great choice anyway to expand the customisability of the synth while not cluttering the layout with knobs and levers everywhere.

The Mininova is a quality entry level synth. It has tons of pre-loaded patches, which are organised into useful categories.

The vocoder is decent, though you will be limited to about six useful patches. Out of the box, the synth is primarily monophonic, but you can alter all the patches to be polyphonic, which is a great option.

One other great feature is the ability to select eight patches as your favorites and assign them to the Favorites buttons. This makes it really easy to switch between sounds in a live setting.

The synth has two oscillators which can be modified at any time. You also have the option of adding effects and applying filters. There are multiple arpeggiator options in the main menu which can be assigned to each of the patches.

At this price point, your options are the Mininova and the Microkorg. The Microkorg is great for creating sounds, the Mininova has more pre-loaded patches.

Overall, the Mininova is a quality synthesizer and well worth the price tag.