Novation Peak Polyphonic Synthesizer Overview
Powerful and immersive 8-voice desktop synth with analogue filters, flexible FPGA-based NCO oscillators and studio-quality onboard effects.
Eight-voice polyphonic synthesiser
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?
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.
Peak Firmware Update v2.0
In Novation’s biggest update for Peak, firmware update v2.0 brings a multitude of features across stereo controls, modulation and unpredictability, and effects, that give you powerful tools to shape your sound.
Create more intricately textured soundscapes with updated stereo controls. Experiment with expansive sound design with modulation and unpredictability. A range of effects improvements bring new tonalities with the addition of Chorus Modes, Flanger, Phlanger, new effects modulation destinations and Lo-Fi delay.
- Innovative New Oxford Oscillators using two waveform generating techniques: NCOs (Numerically-Controlled Oscillators) and 17 digital wavetables
- Pre-filter and post-filter distortion per voice, plus global distortion. Polyphonic aftertouch and linear FM. High-quality reverb, delay and chorus effects, and onboard arpeggiator
- Extensive modulation system, with 16-slot modulation matrix and 16 direct assignments controlled on the front panel. Three ADSR envelopes and two LFOs per voice, plus animate buttons
- CV modulation input for integration with modular systems
- Compact desktop module design with optional die-cast aluminium stand for positioning (not included)
- Ableton Live Lite
- Novation Peak polyphonic synthesiser
- USB cable
- Power supply
- 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 socket for system / 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: 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: 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 type
- 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
- Wherever you happen to be in the world, you can rely on a three-year warranty if any Novation hardware needs repairing or replacing due to a manufacturing fault.
