Novation Supernova

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

SuperNova by Novation
Synthesis type:		Virtual analog subtractive
Polyphony:		20 voices (expandable to 32)
Oscillators:		2 oscillators per voice, (saw, variable width square)
Multitimbral:		8
VCF:		1 resonant 12/18/24 db low/high/bandpass
VCA:		1 ADSR
LFO:		2 saw, square, tri, sample/hold
Velocity sensitive:		n/a
Aftertouch:		n/a
External control:		MIDI
Memory:		512 (expandable to 1,024) patches; 256 performances
Onboard effects:		Distortion, reverb, chorus, flange, phaser, delay, pan, tremolo, 2-band EQ, comb filtering
Produced:		1998 - 2000

The Novation SuperNova is a virtual analog synthesizer made by the British company Novation. It was the successor of the Nova and was considered, at the time, to be the company's "flagship" synthesizer.

[edit] Overview

The Novation Supernova was first produced in 1998 in the midst of a highly competitive virtual synthesizer market to compete with the JP-8000, Nord Lead, and the Access Virus. It offers much of the same features as the others, such as accurate digital imitations of analog subtractive synthesizer architecture, a resonate (self-oscillating) filter, as well as having the MIDI functionality of a modern synth. It was only produced in a rackmount format.

Some key differences however are; it featured no triangle or sine wave (simpler waves such as these had to be arrived at using a unique hardness attenuator by softening either the saw or square), it's polyphony and multimbrality was superior to its competitors, and it had a extremely powerful effects engine that could provide 7 simultanious effects with no loss of polyphony. At the time, the Supernova's effects engine greatly surpassed all other synths and was considered a key element in the Supernova's sound.

A second more powerful version of the synth, the Supernova II, was released later then discontinued in 2001.