SuperBooth 2017: Novation Announced Peak Hybrid Synthesizer!

April 19, 2017 SYNTH ANATOMY Hardware, News, Synthesizers 0

Novation Peak is a 8-voice hybrid Synthesizer that offers modern analog and digital technologies in one super versatile desktop instrument!

SuperBooth 2017 is starting tomorrow but Novation already released their big news for this year. With the Peak, they has announced a new 8 voice polyphonic hybrid desktop Synthesizer with digital oscillators, analog filters and more. Each voice features 3 oscillators (new-oxford oscillators & wavetable), 1 noise generator, 1 ring modulator, 2 LFO’s, 1 amp envelope & 2 mod envelopes as well as a filter. For the modulation section it comes with a 16-slot modulation matrix and 16 direct assignments. To refine the sounds, Peaks Synthesizer comes also with a nice effect section that offers an analog distortion with three points for each voice: pre-filter, post-filter and global in the analog signal chain.

In my opinion, Peak is a very interesting new hybrid Synthesizer that offers a radical different concept for a modern Synth. Not pure analog, not pure digital. It benefit from the technologies from both worlds and offers interesting new sounds. Also a big point here is that it’s a desktop version that doesn’t take to much space in the studios.

Overview

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.

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 17 digital wavetables. 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.

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?

Features

8-voice polyphonic analog synthesizer module
Rich analog sound from numerically controlled New Oxford Oscillators
Each oscillator features 4 analog waveshapes plus 17 digital wavetables
Per-voice analog multimode resonant filter
Expansive modulation capabilities, with 16 direct-access modulations and a 16-slot mod matrix
Supports polyphonic aftertouch
Lots of hands-on control including physical sliders for envelope shapes
Pre- and post-filter distortion available per voice, plus a master distortion effect
High-quality reverb, delay, and chorus effects eliminate the need for external effects processors
MIDI in/out/thru for integrating with hardware sequencing rigs
CV modulation input for use with modular synth systems
Animate buttons allow you to add advanced modulation with the press of a button