Novation Peak Polyphonic Synthesizer

Novation Peak Polyphonic Synthesizer

Peak sounds warm and rich with filthy, biting overdrive. It's an eight-voice desktop polyphonic synthesiser with three New Oxford Oscillators for each voice. The synth has a resonant multi-mode analogue filter for each voice, and three distortion points in an analogue signal chain.

Analogue where it matters - digital where it counts
Peak’s design consultant was none other than Chris Huggett, the man behind Bass Station, Supernova, OSCar and many more legendary synths. Peak has its origin in the Bass Station II analogue monosynth, and Peak’s oscillators sound completely analogue by being high-quality NCOs (Numerically-Controlled Oscillators), but gain the flexibility of the digital domain with 60 digital wavetables.

Build and refine new sounds from scratch
Broaden out your electronic music, draw in new influences and take artistic risks. The modulation system puts the most frequently used assignments right at your fingertips in the main controls. More elaborate movements and secondary ‘via’ assignments are made just a few menu button presses away.

Connect to just about anything
You can plug Peak into your Mac or PC via USB and start playing. It also has MIDI I/O on five-pin DIN ports, so you can connect your other MIDI gear. Oh, and did we mention it connects to modular systems via a CV modulation input?

Where does Peak fit in your set-up?

Wavetable Editor
The Wavetable Editor unleashes the power of the wavetable oscillators. It features drawing tools and a Live Edit mode, so you can draw your own oscillator shapes and preview them in real time. Audio import lets you load in your own audio to be used as the oscillator waveform. Included is a curated selection of space-themed audio from the NASA sound library, plus exclusive content from production giants Noisia.

Key Features

• Two ways to create waveforms
  Analogue-sounding NCOs (Numerically-Controlled Oscillators) and 60 digital wavetables.
• A colossal amount of distortion
  Three distortion points for each voice - pre-filter, post-filter and global - in an analogue signal chain.
• Control expression
  Peak is capable of receiving polyphonic aftertouch, which puts expression right at your fingertips.
• Cross-modulate oscillators
  The three New Oxford Oscillators for each voice can become a linear FM source using either the analogue-sounding NCOs (Numerically-Controlled Oscillators) or digital wavetables. They are also able to cross-modulate in a recursive loop.
• Huge modulation system
  16-slot modulation matrix and 16 direct assignments controlled from the front panel, cleverly arranged for intuitive patch design and sound editing. Three ADSR envelopes and two LFOs for each voice.
• Easily switch modulations
  Two animate buttons give live performers instant one-touch transformation of patches.
• Mind-blowing sounds on-board
  Reverb, delay and chorus at your disposal, and there’s also an arpeggiator.
• Connect to hardware and software
  Connect and sync to your music software and MIDI-compatible hardware. CV modulation input used to slot together modular systems.
• Store unlimited sounds
  Keep as many patches as you like on your Mac or PC using the Components software.

Technical Specifications

Product Hardware Specifications
42 Control knobs
8 35mm Sliders
1 Volume knob
2 Data encoders
Rubberised knob caps with spun metal discs
30 Function buttons (not lit)
16 Function buttons (lit)
2 Animate buttons plus hold button
90 Indicator LEDs
OLED display
Kensington Security Slot
Power switch
Power supply connector
USB B 2.0 / MIDI comms only (no bus-power)
MIDI In / Out / Thru
2 1/4" jack socket for continuous or switched pedals
3.5mm jack socket for CV in
1/4" jack sockets for left and right outputs
1/4" jack socket for headphone output
Metal chassis with American walnut wooden end cheeks
Metal magnetic inset end pieces
Synth Engine
8 voice polyphonic (voice modes available unison etc.)
Mono-Timbral
5 Voice Modes - Mono, MonoLG, Mono2, Poly, Poly2
Per voice
3 oscillators
1 noise generator
1 ring modulator
2 LFOs
1 Amp envelope and 2 mod envelopes
1 Filter
Waveforms include
Sine, tri, sawtooth, square / pulse plus 17 wavetables of 5 waveforms per row
Filter
1x State variable OTA filter per voice
12/24dB slope
Low-pass / band-pass / high-pass
Pre-filter overdrive
Post-filter distortion
Modulation
16 modulation slots per patch
Each slot has 2 sources to 1 destination
Mod sources (17)
Direct (depth)
Modulation wheel
Aftertouch (polyphonic and channel AT)
Expression pedal 1
Expression pedal 2
Keyboard velocity
LFO1 positive
LFO1 bi-polar
LFO2 positive
LFO2 bi-polar
Amp envelope
Mod envelope 1
Mod envelope 2
Animate 1
Animate 2
CV mod input bi-polar
Mod destinations (37)
Oscillator 1-3 frequency, v-sync level, shape amount and level
Noise source level
Ring modulator output level
Overal synth output level
Filter drive, distortion, cut-off frequency and resonance
LFO 1 and 2 frequency
Amp env / mod env 1 / mod env 2 attack, decay and release
FM Osc 1 -> osc 2, osc 2 -> osc 3, osc 3 -> osc 1 and noise -> osc 1
Osc 3 -> filter cutoff frequency
Noise -> filter cutoff frequency
Effects
Analogue distortion
Chorus - 3 types
Delay with 16 types of delay sync, LP and HP damping, slew and stereo
Reverb - 3 types
Misc
Arpeggiator w/ key latch - 33 patterns
Patch storage - up to 512 on hardware (ships with 256 factory patches)
Glide
All knobs (excl. volume), sliders and most buttons transmit and receive MIDI cc commands for external control and mapping
Software Compatibility
Ableton Live Lite 9 is included
Peak is a USB-MIDI class compliant device
Power Requirements
Maximum power consumption 12V DC 1A
Product Dimensions
233mm (9.17") width x 464mm (18.27") depth x 70.5mm (2.78") height
OS Compatibility
OS compatibilty not relevant for this product range/type