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.

I would recommend this synth, only depending on what genre of music you are attempting to make.

i never really found any space in most of my compositions apart from some techno

Pros: The build quality is super good high quality, does come with the fake wooden sides however this seems to be the standard for most budget range synths, also the interface is very easy and self explanatory

Cons: As for sound unfortunately this is where the mininova lacks a bit, i found most sounds that where not designated bass sounds to be thin and weak (even after a good 5 minutes of tweaking

overall for its price it does over quite a diversity of sound and patches, the patch editor that is available with the mininova is what makes up for its pre installed patches, being able to use it over your daw and the patches provided by its community of users.

Side note: as usual thomann service was great , after recieving mine damaged in transit thomann changed my unit no questions asked and within 3 days

I am a guitarist first and foremost with minimal experience of synths. I bought this unit for some experimenting in my band (I play in a funk band and a Prog Rock band).

First thing I noticed was how small the keys were! It's like playing a toddlers keyboard toy from Toys R Us expect that the sound is an absolute beast. The Mininova is small but looks beautiful. The quality of the knobs/buttons/wheels etc are fantastic.

The main reason for this purchase was the Vocoder and for me, its perfect. The Mic is very good quality and extremely sturdy whilst connected. The amount of control it gives you over the sound can (for me) be overwhelming at times, but the manual is very clear to understand.

The only thing that has been a struggle for me is to find something koto stand it on as the size won't lend itself to a normal keyboard stand. I have ordered a Projector stand on Amazon and hopefully this should be perfect for what I need it for.

Overall I'd say that this keyboard is an absolute Gem for its price and you can just sit and play for hours. I was worried about getting a power adapter for it but it is possible to just power this off USB (I use an iPhone wall charger) which again is great!

Glad I chose this product! Especially for the price!!!!

When I bought this, I was looking for something to replace the MicroKorg in my setup because I'm not crazy about the MicroKorg's sounds.
The sound of the Mininova is not spectacular but probably better than MicroKorg.
However - I use it live, and now, exactly 1 year since I bought it, the 4 small knobs just change values on their own. I don't touch them, but the Mininova thinks they moved and reads their value every few seconds, therefore changing the parameters of the sound while I'm performing. I even programmed a sound where the knobs have no function to avoid this problem, but still the Mininova falsely detected some other change and cut my vocoder multiple times during a live show.
This is a deal-breaker. If I could return this, I would do it in a second. Stay away from this. As irritating as the MicroKorg is, it still never gave me this problem. And I own the MicroKorg for many years (without a flight case, just wrapped in a towel when I tour).
STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS.

PS: It was kept in a flight case whenever traveling and in a non-smoking studio

Overall, the Mininova is a small, fine musical weapon. The build quality is exemplary. Everything makes a robust - especially pots and pads - impression.

Two critical factors from usage:

1. VST-Editor
I have the Mininova acquired mainly because of its ability to integrate into the DAW via VST plugin. Even if all programmable parameters in standalone mode on the matrix can easily be reached: the more there is on a surface, the better. However, the VST editor is a bit buggy: When changing the presets - and also in the one or other action - extreme fluctuations in processor usage (on several different systems tested) occure. And that produce ugly clicking sounds and short performance dropouts.

2. MIDI clock
The Mininova is capable of sending MIDI clock after a firmware update. But - and this is not forgivable: After the update the pot values ??partly no longer go to 127. Sometimes 126, sometimes 125...end! After repeatedly turning it works sometimes. But everything is random. Especially critical is this phenomenon in combination with the option "pot pickup". So values ??change only when one reaches the preset value. And now everyone can imagine what happens when the default is"127" is. Namely nothing - because you can not pick it up there...

Therefore, it is important to always back site on the novation by beta drivers to keep an eye out and test ...