Novation Peak

Yeah took me a while to work it out also.
I use the components web browser, haven’t downloaded it stand alone yet.
Was sceptical at first but it works really well for OS updates and organising / saving / downloading patches

Thanks. I remember seeing this but thought it only applied to Circuit for loading and saving samples. Interesting to see them take this route with all of their new gear. I wonder if this means my Chromebook can manage my Peak using the browser Components! It sounds like it can but I will report back after I try it.

I saw this in a prior post and I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea that Peak doesn’t have a slop like feature. There are two options you can apply simultaneously that give this effect:

Diverge
Peak is an eight-voice synth, and each voice has three oscillators. Diverge applies very
small pitch variations independently to each of these 24 oscillators. The effect of applying
this is that each voice will have its own tuning characteristic. This adds a further interesting
colouration to the sound quality and can be used to bring the synth alive. The parameter
sets the degree of variation.

Oscillator Drift
Peak has a dedicated very low frequency oscillator which can be used to apply a very
slight meandering detune to the three Oscillators. This is to emulate the oscillator drift of
traditional analogue synths: by applying a controlled amount of detuning, the oscillators
become slightly out of tune with each other, adding a “fuller” character to the sound. Unlike
Diverge, the drift effect changes over time.

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Yeah you can also apply the divergence to the filter as well

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Wow, awesome sound !

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Here’s another Peak patch

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That’s great! Should have read the manual, I guess! :slight_smile:

Briliant again, sounds so clear, very good mixing skills. Also very sounding synth, complete different palette from the sounds compared to an A4. I got a Prophet 12 (similar concept, digital osc - but analog filter), could you describe what you modulated here ? (Especially the first Patch.)

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the synth sound is too loud compared to the rest of the arrangement. thats not a proper mix, sorry :wink:

Ok, its still sounding very clear to my ears, it shows the synth quality quiete a bit. Yes, its a bit too loud.

Haha thanks guys.
It’s not a track. It’s a synth patch I am trying to show here. That’s why ithe synth is much louder. Probably shouldn’t even have the bass, but I like hearing things in context :wink:
The patch is basically a wavetable being scanned with an lfo. Filter being modulated with another lfo while also having FM applied to the filter.
Using the onboard reverb, delay and chorus.
Recorded straight into Ableton with no external processing except for some compression in Live.
Oh and the Peak is very similar to the Pro 12 in architecture as it has digital osc’s and analog filter also (maybe you knew that though :thinking:)

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has it hold up the expectations btw? how complex is the wavetable section? and: are they really wavetables? or just complex waveforms? :slight_smile:

i was stoked a little by the Peaks Demos at NAMM, but after that i havent heard anything really amazing and powerful so far. i have an old X-Station around - with a destroyed keybed :frowning: - and its architecture seems to be pretty close to what they did with the Peak. Apart from these Oscillators, Filters and … yeah, the components are obviously different for sure! but the x-station also had some sort of Wavetables, but they were limited in that they werent actually Wavetables, but just complex Waveforms :slight_smile: So i wonder … Has the Peak REAL Wavetables in the sense of multiple Waveforms inside a Sample (the Wavetable) that you can morph in between? Or is it actually just scanning a complex Waveform? :wink:

Yes they are proper wavetables. Not the most complex I have used though.
Each of the 17 wavetables consists of 5 waveforms that are morphed throughout via the shape knob. The standard analog waveshapes can also be waveshaped via the shape knob for extra variation.
Who knows they may add even more with an OS update.
The Peak is a great synth. I haven’t had much time with it and haven’t really gotten deep yet, but the core building blocks are all there. The potential is huge.
The complex digital osc’s with analog filter is a great combination for sure.
I’m not the type of guy that will say anything is the best thing the world, actually have soft synths that sound as good, but what they lack is the incredible user interface and analog filter.
It could be better, but what couldn’t? I like it a lot

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Thanks for posting the demos, they sound great. I have to say, I am definitely interested in this box.

fascinating architecture

The more i look at the peak, the more i begin to like it. Compared to the P12 Module, it has a lot more knobs, and ADSR faders. Looks like its really hands on, even LFO via regulators.

The Interface looks really good.

The P12 sounds awesome (at least in ears.) but they left out the touch strips on the module, and the controllers are really sparse in comparison to the keyboard. Lots of select menu here, and then this knob controls that.
At the end i program a macro knob anyway, which i remote control - but with the peak it could be different. Ok, and the P12, can ring modulate its oscillator which is something i haven’t seen elsewhere yet.

The peak looks more fun though. Having more wavetables or beeing able to import user wavetable would be cool. Serum modified wavetable -> into peak would be killer, then everyone can make the synth truly his own. If they add something like this it would be hard to resist.

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I haven’t owned a P12 but did own a Pro2 briefly when it was first released.
I do prefer the sound of the Peak over the Pro2 from what I remember, but saying that the P12 received the linear FM update that the Pro2 never received. I have been wanting to hear that.
I was actually going to buy the P12 module myself before they announced the Peak module. They seem quite similar in specs.
The Peak interface is great. I think it’s actually the best I’ve used since the mighty Nord 3 with those awesome led knobs. The only menu diving necessary really is accessing the mod matrix which isn’t too bad.
Not sure if it’s what you are referring to on the P12 but the Peak does have ring modulation between osc 1 and 2?

thats good to know, thanks! :slight_smile:

its somewhat hard to explain, the oscillators work in a circle, i.e. one modulates, two, two modulates three, three modulates four, and four modulates one again.

That is somewhat like ring modulated FM synthesis. Its a broad spectrum one can attain with it.

There is also a shape knob where you can morph through the different wave shapes, with LFO and ADSR.

They have really a lot in common. I think never the less the Peak is a very good choice, Novation also tends to have a good support, and with the circuit really delivered.

Not sure this is ring modulation you are talking of here in the update :thinking:
From what i can gather you are talking of the linear FM update the P12 received?
The linear FM of the P12 seems the same as the Peak though peak only has 3 Op FM to the P12 4 Op FM
i.e. on the Peak FM is osc 1 modulates 2, 2 modulates 3, and 3 modulates 1 again.
But the Peak can also then FM the filter from Osc 3 on top of this so that is great also. The P!2 may be able to FM the filter also?