I agree, the presets, even in the extra soundpacks found on their website, are way too effect laden (especially in terms of reverb). Another issue I've noticed with many of the patches is that PreFXLvl is inappropriately set far too high. The result is an overdriven and gritty sound. Granted, sometimes that is what you want, but other times not so much. The issue is that this gritty, non-musical sound is on patches you would think you'd want to sound clean. The last bit of advice is to make sure to use the noise appropriately. Many of the presets neglect using it. Used in the right away it can either bring space and breath to a sound or a nice bright edge to plucks. This helps get rid of the muddiness people complain about with the MiniNova. Really, it's a great little synth, but people tend to not wander far enough away from the presets. There is nothing wrong with presets per se, but in this case they aren't all that refined and should be treated as starting points to craft your own sounds.