Novation Peak

No you read that wrong. There is no FM on the Ultranova.
Are you sure you have used them both a lot?
I owned a Supernova II for about 5 years as a master keyboard for my studio, and owned a Ultranova for a few weeks before selling it. It was such a disapointment after being accustomed to the quality of their earlier products.

I really wanted to like this synth too. I went with two Modor NF-1 miniā€™s instead because its FM sounds and lofi-ish nature are more appealing to me. The Peak is a bit too polished sounding to me.

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The Peak looks really well constructed from what I can tell, and makes sense seeing as though they are charging it at a premium price as opposed to all their recent cheap line of products. It looks like a good direction Novation are back on

Just got this and I think itā€™s brilliant. Itā€™s deep without being overwhelming, with a great interface and nice effects. The distortion gives the filter loads of character and it does linear FM too! It kicks out some serious bass! Iā€™m also enjoying running a CV mod into it for an extra LFO. Whatā€™s not to like? Itā€™s a versatile 8 voice poly hybrid at a reasonable price. It looks great, sounds great, it is great!!

I reckon theyā€™ll sell a lot of them. It really isnā€™t expensive in my book.

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Really curious about the FM, and the types of unique sounds it can produce.

The FM is great. The latest firmware update greatly increased the FM modulation amount so you can now get those glassy DX style tones. You only have 3 operators but it sounds great. I also send audio rate sinewave modulation from my Pro2 to the CV mod input for an extra operator.

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Oh wow, now that sounds promising.
Any demos around of the new FM?

I think this could be worth a good look when they start appearing on the second hand market.
On paper it is quite comprehensive, the 3 op fm particularly as possible with the wavetables also, should result in very diverse sound possibilities.
Would be great to be able to demo it personally but not possible where I am here in Oz unfortunately

Oh, now you have convinced me to try one somewhere. Does anyone have a Bassstation 2 and Peak by any chance? Iā€™d be interested knowing the similarities on bass department.

Those fm options sound great. Iā€™d like to get Peak to get some superb otherwordish pads and basses, somehow I have a feeling that I should get it really.

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Yeah think Iā€™ll have to give this one a go also.
Still not convinced by the demos, but on paper it looks good so quite sure it should offer enough diversity

Greatly meansā€¦times four, btw.

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Well, I can only say that Iā€™m very happy with it. I didnā€™t think I would, but I love itā€™s sound and I love the filter. The interface is really intuitive and quick to work with. Itā€™s a keeper for me.

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What about the menus?
Does it slow down the process accessing the more advanced features like FM via the mod matrix?
Would be great if there were physical knobs on each osc for FM, rather than menu diving, but I guess you canā€™t have everything

Here are the latest firmware details confirming FM now 4x stronger, among other things :thup:
This is really tempting now

ā€œRelease Notes for Firmware Updater 1.1 (Firmware revision 262, FPGA revision 255)ā€

New Features:

  • Oscillator FM paths now 4x stronger in the modulation matrix
  • Oscillator FM paths can now be stacked up by using multiple mod slots for further FM modulation
  • Selecting ā€œMoreā€ wave type will display and select the ā€œWavemoreā€ option on the menu for quick selection of the wavetable
  • Volume range setting in menu allows reduction of the master volume to 0db, -3dB and -6dB
  • 3rd Saw wave added on Saw Density for thicker sawtooth when combined with Saw Density Detune
  • Synced Delay will now wrap to max available synced time opposed to longest delay time at low tempi
  • With arp off, Key latch will sustain notes. New MIDI notes will replace any current sustained notes in a similar way to Key Latch with Arp On
    -For Series FX routings, intelligence has been added for optimising levels and returns for each FX send. When FX levels are not at max, an amount of dry signal (dependent on levels) will pass to all the FX allowing all FX to be heard on the initial signal.

Fixes:

  • Reduced noise when oscillators are at low volume in the mixer section
  • Pot pickup works for switchable controls e.g. Mod Envelope faders
  • Reduced screen anti fight timer time
  • Clock status will not overwrite screen when moving a parameter
  • Reduced
  • Improved filter response with slow manual movements
  • Improved FPGA update process
  • Removed clicks on certain series FX routing settings
  • Fixed returning exported settings

Release Notes for Factory Banks 1.1 to be used with 1.1 firmware/FPGA update

Fixes:

  • Oscillator FM modulation reduced by 4x for improved FM modulation depth
  • All Patches balanced for new volume range setting default (-3dB)
  • ā€œAnalogue Kickā€ & ā€œAnalogue Snareā€ changed from ā€œPolyā€ to ā€œmono2ā€ voice mode
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Regarding the menu diving i had the same thoughts, but then in Front of the unit it is very straight Forward top use. Doesnt hinder the workflow of soundcreation for me. Try yourself.

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The menu diving is no hassle to me at all. You soon get the hang of the button presses and stat doing it without thinking. The fact that there are not too many mod destinations (wish there were more actually) makes navigating these pretty fast. Iā€™ve had a Prophet 12 and still have a Pro 2 and the interface Novation have come up with here is just as good as the DSIā€™s. I fully expect that more mod destinations will be added in the future.

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I actually found the Pro2 mod matrix a tad less intuitive to Work with. But thats just me.

About to bite the bullet on this thing I think.
Frustrating there are no demos showing the updated extended FM ranges though. Hopefully it has rectified the original anemic FM.
Want it to reach those ripping FM metallic leads

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Ordered the Peak yesterday
Will give an opinion when it arrives. Fingers crossed
This was a really hard purchase, but not from a financial point of view.
For the money, this thing is a great buy considering what theyā€™ve crammed in.
Specs wise this thing pretty much ticks every box, it can do a hell of a lot, with lots of rather innovative stuff e.g. FPGA, NCOā€™s, 3 OP wavetable FM etc.
Just not 100% sure on the sound yet from the available demos.
Ironically I think it sounds too analog, I have yet to hear a lot of the harsh digital metallic wavetable and FM stuff that I am hoping this thing can spit out.
We will soon see

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Congrats. I absolutely want a Peak at some point, but someone had to list a MachineDrum in good shape, so that came first. :sunglasses: Enjoy! Post up samples at some point.

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