Trying to decide between LP and Novation Ultranova

[jrewing]

Hey Folks,
As you can see I am new to the forum and I look forward to learning as much as I can here.
So, I am currently in the market for a new synth, and I absolutely love the tone of the Phatty. However, while the tone isn't nearly as good, the Novation Ultranova seems to be a much more versatile instrument. Please tell me what I am missing. I know the Phatty is Analog and that without question is a better tone. I realize I am quite uneducated on the topic so please let me know why this seems to be the case.
Thanks,
JR

[Voltor07]

The difference between analog and digital is that analog synths create their sounds with oscillators, whereas digital synths create their sounds with waveforms that approximate the outputs of analog oscillators. Of course, with digital synths, they can do a lot more than an analog synth, but they can't do it as well. What they ARE good at is piano sounds.

[Kenneth]

If you're coming to the Moog forum to ask whether you should get a Moog or a digital whatsit, you must be looking for someone to tell you to buy the Moog. Thus: Buy the Moog.

No, really. In all seriousness, buy the Little Phatty. You will not regret it.

[Sir Nose]

The other big difference is, the phatty is monophonic (one note at a time), like a trumpet or human voice. The other synth is polyphonic and you can play chords on it.

Like it was said, getting an objective answer here is not likely. Go for the moog, it'll blow your tits off.


If you give a bit more info about your intended use, we might be of more help.
played keys Vs sequenced
live use/ studio
style of music (least important)
how important is tone to you
Ease of programming (the phatty is a dream to learn subtractive synthesis on if you are a beginner to synthesis)

[Kenneth]

(the phatty is a dream to learn subtractive synthesis on if you are a beginner to synthesis)

Agreed, 100%. My Little Phatty taught me nearly everything I know about synthesis.

[~Sinedrifter~]

Indeed, the LP will teach you everything you need to know about analog synthesis. The manual is absolutely superb, as is customer support. Novation, on the other hand, offers some of the worst customer support I have ever encountered. Thus, my only Novation product (a controller called SL Zero or something like that) became a gift for a friend.

Now Voltor is right about how analog and digital sound different, though to me, I don't think that one sounds better than the other. They are simply "different." Some digital synths have audible stepping when you turn knobs slowly, aliasing (like my Waldorf Microwave XT, which I think sounds great but others disagree on the "virtues" of some synths guilty of aliasing), and somewhat slower envelopes (i.e. they don't sound as snappy at some stages... again, the Waldorf Microwave XT has very gentle envelopes, whereas the LP envelopes can snap like a whip... and the sharpest I've heard are on the Voyager. Those envelopes can make the Voyager truly strike the notes!)

Usually, but not always, digital synths have a lower cost-per-feature than analogs. Think about what your priorities are regarding your music right now (Sir Nose made valid points) and plan accordingly.

Nowadays, I have just about every base covered: analog monosynths, analog polysynths, analog mixer, digital polysynths, digital wavetable synth, digital percussion, digital atmospheres, digital effects. When I started 13 years ago, though, I wanted a digital polysynth that allowed me to work with a variety of sounds. Not the best way to learn - with the LP's simple interface, you'll learn synthesis much more quickly - but it got the job done, and the MIDI/Electronic Music courses I took in college helped a lot.

I hope you don't mind the long answer, but I suppose it's better than being trite. Good luck with your decision... by the way, why don't you check out the Elektron Analog 4 or Elektron Monomachine? Both are brilliant pieces - I own the former and it is amazing.

[ricknboogie]

If this is your FIRST synthesizer, definitely get the Little Phatty. You will learn the ins and outs of subtractive analog synthesis, which you can later apply to any number of "virtual analog" synths like the UltraNova, though there are far better choices for a digital synth than that particular one. But, for the time being, go with the pHATTY AND EXPERIENCE THE MAGIC OF PURE ANALOG.