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

• Two ways to create waveforms: analog-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 analog signal chain
• Mind-blowing sounds on-board: reverb, delay and chorus at your disposal, and there’s also an arpeggiator
• Control expression: Peak is capable of receiving polyphonic aftertouch, which puts enhanced expression right at your fingertips
• 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
• Easily switch modulations: two ANIMATE buttons give live performers instant one-touch transformation of patches
• Cross-modulate oscillators: the three New Oxford Oscillators for each voice can become a linear FM source using either the analog-sounding NCOs or digital wavetables

Firmware v2.0

In Novation’s biggest update for Peak, firmware update v2.0 brings essential improvements and a multitude of features across stereo controls, modulation, unpredictability and effects that give you powerful tools to shape your sound.

Stereo

New spread modes, panning per voice and panning in the mod matrix give additional control and allows for sound design in the stereo field. Now you can create bigger, wider and more intricately textured soundscapes.

Modulation and unpredictability

Create deeper and more experimental sounds with new mod destinations, noise as a mod source and additional LFO 3 and 4 parameters. Animate Envelopes and Arpeggiator Chance open more creative performance possibilities.

Effects

New effects including Chorus Modes, Flanger and Phlanger add new tonalities. Additional effects modulation destinations open up more experimental sound design. A new Lo-Fi delay mode enables a more vintage style sound.

Analog 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 other legendary synths. Using an FPGA (field-programmable gate array) chip, Peak’s NCOs (numerically-controlled oscillators) generate digital representations of analog waveforms at such high resolution that they’re almost identical to analog. Peak’s oscillators sound completely analog by being high-quality NCOs, but gain the flexibility of the digital domain with 60 digital wavetables and the ability to create or import your own.

Build and refine new sounds from scratch
Broaden out your electronic music, draw in new influences and take artistic risks. Peak’s 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 interacts with modular systems via a CV modulation input? Where does Peak fit in your setup?

Wavetable editor
Peak’s wavetable editor unleashes the power of its 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 an oscillator waveform. Included within the editor is a curated selection of space-themed audio from the NASA sound library, plus exclusive content from production giants Noisia.

Components
Keep as many patches as you like on your Mac or PC using Novation’s free Components librarian software, which also gives you to access to free preset expansion libraries from Novation. Components will update your firmware as necessary and includes Peak’s wavetable editor as well as the ability to import custom microtuning tables.