41 thoughts on “Novation Peak Synthesizer In-Depth Demo”

1. Liking the sounds out of this – seems like it can do smooth, warm sounds but also very aggressive and abrasive sounds, too.

2. He mentions an editor – what would you need that for? It looks like this has knobs for about everything.

   1. The Peak certainly is filled to the brim with knobs, but there are still tons of parameters hidden in menus…

      …hmmm…a peak of the ice berg….

3. Thanks for sharing – this is a great intro to the Peak.

   Novation has a video on their Youtube channel that goes into a lot of detail on their new oscillator design, too, which makes me want to spend some time with this.

4. Great overview, thanks for sharing this. I like the way Martinez is low on hype and just shows what it can do.

5. Librarian and easier to automate if using with DAW, that’s if it’s VST / AU not standalone.

6. amazing, peak has 3 news items on the synthtopia home page…well done novation!

7. Nice move from Novation. Also pretty good form factor. Still not sure whether I would rather invest in this or a DM12 though…

8. $1299 seems a bit pricey. For $200 more you can buy a new DSI 8 eight voice REV2 complete with a five octave keyboard. I know they are different synths, but the point is you get a lot more synth real estate with the REV2 for not much more money.

   If this Peak has digital oscillators and is an expansion of Bass Station II technology, it should sell for much less than $1299. Heck, you can buy a used Bass Station II for under $300.

   1. can we all stop these comparison posts. the arguments never land anywhere. Its a never ending conversation between a bmw and a mercedes.

      1. But there’s products that my wallet has to choose between!! How else do I make decisions, but by comparison??

   2. Exactly!

      I think the Peak is heavily over hyped but it doesn’t take count of reality. We can get a Rev2 for very little more and it’s real analog. There’s even the DeepMind 6 now for $699 which is only 2 voices less but almost half the price and real analog too.

      And most of it, I’m not really impressed by anything I heard so far. I’m not falling for the hype, this is the kind of synth we will find used few months from now when the hype will pass and people will realized they did pay too much for what it is.

      Quite sad when the only thing Novation had to do to make most people happy was to bring a new SuperNova at a low price…

      But this Peak? No thank you!!

      1. What makes a “real analog” polysynth better? A VCO’s pitch is controlled by a DAC anyway, and VCOs have a relatively limited range of waveforms that have been used over and over and over.

   3. @ TimS
      I stand corrected!

      1. The REV2 will be available in two versions, an 8-voice version for $1499 and a 16-voice version for $1999.

   4. Is uses a Field Programmable Gate Array to ensure no aliasing. You should check out the Sonic State coverage. I think it’s pretty reasonable!

      1. And it’s gonna alias still because it’s Wavetable based oscillator

         1. Not at any sort of audible frequency. The sample rate of a FPGA is up in the MHz.

         2. Perhaps “no” aliasing is too far. My point is that this newer tech can justify the cost. As pointed out by R7 the FPGA is up in the MHz. A sine wave still looks like a sine wave at higher frequencies. I mean.. that’s cool!

9. any mention of MPE?

10. I’m really sad it doesn’t have mini keys…

    1. Lol The synth market as a whole is devastated by this omission but we found it too painful to say aloud. Thank you for your bravery.

11. This price means only that this synth module will gain less buyers than cheaper concurrents, thats all. But it will be selling good anyway and get its adepts… the price is not so exaggerated as we have with, for example, Modal synths. Just a little bit more than the majority of us can pay. Me too, i choose DSI rev2 btw, but i want this.

12. Cool synth and all, but is it a BEAST?

    1. this affordable analog monster is built like a tank, i’m sure …

       1. what-alog? methinks you should recheck the specs.

          1. lolz

          2. i guess you mean the Novation marketing team should recheck the specs

       2. She’s a real beauty

13. Very impressed by this thing, they really stepped up their game and made a modern hybrid poly synth with actual new technology under the hood, not just a rehash of the old analog poly stuff with modern components. Looking forward to hearing this in person.

14. So you can only have one sound, mode out of 8 voices, but you can’t, like an Analog 4/K, have say 2 sounds made of 4 voices?

    I.e. Multi-Timbral

    That seems like an odd choice for this price point.

    1. agreed

    2. multi out and multi timbral on this baby = immediate buy for me

15. FAIL! Doesn’t even have a quartz-glide field generator. What were they thinking? You can’t discuss online synths if you don’t have one of those. And does it even confabulate analog fistulas? I think not! Novation is clearly not into the critical analog 2.0 revolution. Why make music when you can talk about the tools. Spanners UNITE!!!!

16. Personally, I’m more excited by the MFB Dominion Club.

17. Good sounds. This isn’t re-inventing the wheel enough to be priced like that though.

18. This thing sounds great!

19. After going Eurorack it’s hard to get excited about synths.

20. I’d love to see a drum machine from Novation based on the same technology. And maybe if the Peak is successful they can follow-up with some similar synthesizers with significant variations, such as different filter types (SSM!), TVA/TVF-style envelopes (great for pads/strings), different wavetables (maybe even for specialized interests, one for orchestral, one for rock, etc.)

21. Regardless of the high quality of the components, it still sounds very dull, limited and uninspiring to my ears I’m afraid. With a second filter it might have been a lot more interesting. Given Chris Huggett’s amazing pedigree, this one is a real disappointment.

22. I tested the Peak at the Superbooth in Berlin for more than one hour. My opinion: it is absolutely great sounding. It is awesome, I love it! The interface is straight forward. For me it was very inspiring, the highlight of the Superbooth this year!