MiniNova is a nice synthesizer, capable of creating some great sounds. The mini keys have a surprisingly pleasant feel to them, and the overall construction feels sturdy enough. Most of the preset sounds are quite terrible, and the default sound you get when powering on for the first time gives quite a bad first impression and can be somewhat off-putting. Luckily, free additional patches are available to download from Novation (among others).
However, once you get the hang of learning the wide variety of parameters and navigating through the menus, you'll be able to create some awesome sounds. Not sure if I can whole-heartedly recommend the MiniNova to beginners as making your own sounds can be quite a hassle, slow-ish and counter-intuitive (= need more knobs), and something of a plunge straight into the deep end, as many of the parameter names are not too self explanatory. Fortunately, the user guide supplied provides a thorough explanation and description on the menu structure and the parameters plus a brief introduction on the principles of sound synthesis as well.
Pros:
- Capable of producing some great sounds.
- Good keyboard (for a mini).
- Novation Bass Station VSTi received as a bonus.
Cons:
- Quite a lot of menu-diving required to make your own sounds. The dedicated software available is none the better, with a somewhat poor user interface; flow of inspiration dies the moment you need to start a separate piece of software in the middle of tweaking knobs.
- Weak preset sounds.
- Short AC adapter cord.