Novation Supernova
virtual analog synthesizer
The Novation SuperNova, released in 1998, was a 3U rack-mounted virtual analogue polyphonic synthesizer with 16+ note polyphony and multitimbral operation, made by the British company Novation. Unique to the Supernova was the addition of multiple effects options which were retained per part in multi-timbral use, allowing a much richer sound than had generally been possible with a multitimbral synthesizer. The SuperNova and its successor, the SuperNova II, have been used by a wide range of artists including Orbital, ATB, The Faint, Ozric Tentacles, Sin, Jean-Michel Jarre and A Guy Called Gerald.
Overview
The Novation SuperNova was first produced in 1998 in the midst of a highly competitive virtual analogue synthesizer market to compete with the Roland JP-8000, the Clavia Nord Lead, the Korg Prophecy, the Yamaha AN1x, and the Access Virus, among others. It offers many of the same features as its competitors, such as accurate digital imitations of analogue subtractive synthesizer architecture and a resonant (self-oscillating) filter, as well as having the MIDI functionality of a modern synth.
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), its polyphony and multitimbrality were superior to its competitors, and it had an extremely powerful effects engine that could provide 7 simultaneous effects for each part 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 instrument's sound.
In 2000, Novation released the Nova synthesizer module (US$1,499 in 2000). It was a small, desktop, less powerful version of the Supernova, with the notable addition of a 40-band vocoder
The SuperNova II (2000) was available in 24, 36 and 48-voice models with additional 12 or 24-voice expansion boards. Available again in a 3U rack-mount format, the SuperNova II was also available in a 61-note performance keyboard version with velocity and aftertouch, enabling sound tweaking during live performance.
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This entry incorporates text from “Novation Supernova” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.