Novation Summit 61-Key Polyphonic Synthesizer

Novation Summit 61-Key Polyphonic Synthesizer

Summit’s digital New Oxford Oscillators offer subtractive, FM and wavetable synthesis, and feed into genuine analogue dual filters, distortion and VCAs. The multitimbral engine enables merging and combining of two complete and independent patches, while up to 16 simultaneous voices deliver enough harmonic depth for even the richest of pads.

The best sounding synthesiser Novation has ever made
Summit doubles the power of Peak’s digital New Oxford Oscillators up to 16 voices and two parts, and adds a wealth of new features and a premium-quality five-octave keyboard. A synth much greater than the sum of its parts, it gives the serious producer or performer everything they need to design and play stunning basses, leads, arps, pads, effects and beyond.

Totally tactile sound design
Summit takes Peak’s architecture and workflow to new heights, with a swathe of extra front panel controls for hands-on wrangling of FM, effects, LFOs and more; dual filters with six LP/HP/BP combinations; audio input for processing external sources with the onboard effects; and auxiliary audio outputs.

Analogue where it matters
The true stereo analogue signal path comprises dual analogue multimode filters, analogue VCAs and three stages of analogue distortion - pre- and post-filter, and post-VCA. With roots in the legendary OSCar, via Bass Station II, Summit’s analogue credentials are truly impressive.

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 Peaks in one synth - and then some
  The 16-voice, multitimbral engine combines two simultaneous patches. Split or stack them for keyboard-divided or layered sounds, or switch the entire synth between two separate and independently controlled setups, perhaps using one as an effects processor for an external input source.
  Also, Summit can use all your Peak patches
• Our best keyboard ever
  Five-octave, semi-weighted, velocity-sensitive keyboard with aftertouch - the same premium-quality keybed as introduced with our SL MkIII controller keyboard.
• New Oxford educated
  Digital New Oxford Oscillators are capable of subtractive, FM and wavetable synthesis. Waveforms are generated directly on the FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) chip, using 24MHz bitstream processing; and adjustable drift and divergence emulate the inherent and often desirable instability of analogue circuits.
• True analogue filters and distortion
  The New Oxford Oscillators output to true analogue filters, with origins in the classic OSCar synth, and three stages of analogue distortion give you ample saturation options.
• Dual filters
  Summit’s dual filter is switchable between six paired combinations of low-pass, high-pass and band-pass modes at 12dB/octave, or any single mode at 24dB/octave, for a broad range of sonic possibilities.
• Hands-on sound design
  Packed with modulation sources for deep sound design - LFOs, envelopes, Animate buttons and more. Extended controls see
  FM parameters, envelope loop switches and LFOs 3/4 moved from Peak’s menu system to the front panel, for easy programming and tweaking.
• Audio in and auxiliary audio out
  Hook up external instruments for processing with Summit’s onboard effects, while using it as a synth at the same time.
• Powerful effects
  Onboard reverb, chorus and delay effects are hosted on the FPGA. They’re also controlled directly from the front panel, and available as modulation targets in the dedicated FX Mod Matrix.

Technical Specifications

Synth Engine
16 note polyphony (dependent on voices used per note)
2-part-timbral
Layered, Split, Dual Bi-Timbral Modes
5 Voice Modes - Mono, MonoLG, Mono2, Poly, Poly2
Per Voice
3 oscillators
1 noise generator with HP filter control
1 ring modulator
2 LFOs
1 amp envelope and 2 mod envelopes (ADHSR + looping)
1 filter
Waveforms Include
Sine, tri, sawtooth, square / pulse, plus 43 wavetables of 5 waveforms per row
Filter
1 state variable OTA filter per voice
12/24dB slope
Low-pass / band-pass / high-pass / dual filter (separation of each 12dB filters)
dual filter: LP > HP, LP > BP, HP > BP, LP + HP, LP + BP, HP + BP, LP + LP, BP + BP, and HP + HP
Pre-filter overdrive
Post-filter distortion
Modulation
16 modulation slots per patch
2 sources per destination per slot
Mod Sources
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
Bend Up
Bend Down
Mod Destinations
Oscillator 1-3 frequency, v-sync level, shape amount and level
Noise source level
Ring modulator output level
Overall 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
FX are per part
Analogue distortion
3 chorus types
Delay with 16 types of delay sync, LP and HP damping, slew and stereo
FX Mod Matrix Source
Direct (depth)
Mod wheel
Aftertouch
Expression pedal 1
Expression/breath pedal 2
Velocity
Keyboard
LFO 1 +/-
LFO 2 +/-
LFO 3 +/-
LFO 4 +/-
Amp envelope
Mod envelope 1 & 2
Animate 1 & 2
CV +/-
Bendwheel +/-
Bend up
Bend down
FX Mod Matrix Destinations
Distortion level
Chorus level
Chorus rate
Chorus depth
Chorus feedback
Delay level
Delay time
Delay feedback
Reverb level
Reverb time
Reverb low pass
Reverb high pass
Misc.
FM controls on front panel
Global LFO 3 & 4
Arpeggiator with key latch - 33 patterns
Patch storage - up to 512 on hardware (ships with 256 factory patches)
All knobs (excl. volume), sliders and most buttons transmit and receive MIDI cc commands for external control and mapping
Microtuning with Scala table import and table tuning creation
Manual mode
Multi pot mode: Relative, Pot pick-up, Snap
Product Hardware Specifications
50 control knobs
8 45mm sliders
1 volume knob
1 data encoder knob
Rubberised knob caps with spun metal discs
55 function buttons
2 Animate buttons plus hold button
OLED display
Kensington Lock
Power switch
IEC power supply connector
USB socket for system (MIDI comms only, no bus power)
MIDI In / Out / Thru
2 1/4" jack sockets for continuous or switched pedals
1 3.5mm jack socket for CV in
2 1/4" jack sockets for left and right outputs
2 1/4" jack sockets for left and right auxiliary outputs
2 1/4" jack sockets for left and right inputs
1/4" jack socket for headphone output
Metal chassis with American walnut wooden end cheeks
Metal magnetic inset end pieces
Software Compatibility
Ableton Live Lite is included
Summit is a USB-MIDI class compliant device
Power Requirements
Maximum power consumption 1A