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Visually the UltraNova is a bit of a '90s throwback.

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In recent years, Buckinghamshire's Novation have been best known for their excellent range of MIDI keyboards and controllers, but trace the company's history back a few years and you'll uncover a much-loved range of synths.

The UltraNova is the company's first new synth since 2007's Xio, but to understand its heritage we need to go back another decade. In many respects, the UltraNova is a modernised version of the SuperNova, an early virtual analogue classic.

However, the UltraNova is much more than just a repackaging of the old SuperNova technology. This keyboard has plenty of tricks up its sleeve to help it compete with the best of the 21st century market.

Hands on

"It has no major weaknesses, making its main strength the fact that it's a genuine all-rounder."

Pulling the UltraNova from its packaging, it's pleasing to see that the finish and build quality are well up to scratch for a synth in this price range. Aesthetically, it's something of a nineties throwback, the blue plastic construction and red illuminated buttons vaguely bringing to mind techy classics like the Korg Prophecy and Triton.

With an enclosure that's light enough to transport to gigs but solid enough to withstand a bit of abuse, the build quality strikes a nice balance.

Firing up some of the presets, the velocity and aftertouch-sensitive keyboard is immediately impressive, offering a nice semi-weighted feel with good expressive control while the wheels are the smooth, rubberised type that are favoured by Novation on the Nocturn Keyboard and Remote SL.

Synth architecture

The UltraNova's synthesis engine is entirely digital, but is built around familiar subtractive, virtual analogue architecture. Three oscillators, two ring modulators and one noise source per voice are mixed and fed into the filter section and then on to the amp.

Envelopes 1 and 2 are routed to the amp section and the filter section respectively, while envelopes 3-6 and the three LFOs are used for modulation. From the output of the amp, five FX slots allow the sound to be processed before it gets passed to the stereo outputs.

What's very impressive for a synth in this price range is the scope of each section. Each oscillator offers a staggering 70 waveforms, from basic analogue standards through to digital waves and wavetables.

Two filters can be selected from a choice of 14 (essentially 6, 12, 18 or 24dB/oct low-pass and high-pass plus six combinations to form band-pass filters), each one with a distortion control on its input.

Twenty modulation sources (envelope generators, LFOs, aftertouch, velocity, keytracking, mod wheel and expression pedal) can be routed to 66 destinations, including modulation sources themselves.

For what's potentially a very complex synth, it's also refreshing to see that Novation have considered the fact that not every buyer will be as well versed in the principles of synthesis as someone with years of sound design experience under their belt.

The UltraNova's manual contains a clear and concise five-page tutorial on basic sound design principles, providing a focussed introduction for beginners or a good recap for experienced musicians.