Novation Summit Two-Part 16-Voice Polyphonic Synthesizer

Building upon the success of the Novation Peak synthesizer, the flagship Novation Summit is a two-part multitimbral, 16-voice polyphonic synthesizer with a premium five-octave, semi-weighted keyboard (with velocity and aftertouch); it is well suited for musicians, sound designers, and synthesizer enthusiasts.

Summit effectively puts the power of two Peaks at your fingertips, enabling two completely independent patches to be split or layered across the keyboard, or switched between on the fly. It also expands on Peak’s layout, with many hidden controls and functions made accessible on the front panel including FM routing, LFOs 3 & 4, all arpeggiator parameters, and dedicated pitch and mod wheels. What’s more, the Summit features numerous new filter options, and an audio input for processing external sources with its reverb, chorus, and delay effects.

The instrument features analog-sounding NCOs (numerically controlled oscillators), which include 3 new Oxford oscillators per voice, as well as a flexible digital domain with 43 digital wavetables of 5 waveforms per row. The instrument also features an analog, multimode, state-variable OTA filter with high-pass, band-pass, low-pass, and dual-filter selections with 12/24 dB slopes. The dual filter offers several routing configurations including LP to HP, LP to BP, HP to BP, LP + HP, LP + BP, HP + BP, LP + LP, BP + BP, and HP + HP. Summit’s sound engine is rounded out by analog distortion, overdrive, and digital effects including chorus, delay, and reverb per part.

At the heart of the synthesizer lies the high-powered processor component called a field programmable gate array (FPGA) chip, which far surpasses traditional DSP chips. Each of Peak’s 16 voices has an independent oversampling digital-to-analog converter (DAC). These DACs are oversampling at over 24 MHz (24 million times per second), using a simple RC (resistor-capacitor) filter on their output in the analog domain. Peak’s ability to generate waveforms at the oversampling frequency (up to 512 times the traditional rate) ensures that Peak’s waveforms are pure at all frequencies and free from digital artifacts, no matter how aggressively the pitch is modulated.

The front panel of the synthesizer provides a variety of controllers for 1:1 control over most of its parameters. There are 50 control knobs, 8 sliders, 1 data encoder, 1 volume knob, 55 function buttons, 2 animate buttons, and a crisp OLED display. What’s more, most of the control knobs, switches, and sliders transmit continuous controller data for recording and playing back automation from your sequencer of choice.

The rear panel offers a 1/4″ headphone output, stereo (left & right) 1/4″ outputs, two auxiliary 1/4″ outputs, two 1/4″ inputs, two 1/4″ pedal inputs, and an 1/8″ CV modulation input for incorporating modular synthesizers. Additionally, the instrument features MIDI In, Out, and Thru via standard 5-pin DIN connectors. The onboard USB port is class compliant and transmits system and MIDI data. The Summit includes a power cord, USB cable, and a download card for Ableton Live Lite 9 and Loopmasters sample content.

Note:
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Summit Key Features
Peak Powered Up: 16 voices, expanded front panel controls, new filter options, a five-octave keyboard and more
Two Sounds at Once: Multitimbral engine for splitting, stacking and switching between two simultaneous patches
Digital Where it Counts: Digital FPGA-generated New Oxford Oscillators for analog-style, wavetable, and FM synthesis
Analog Where it Matters: Dual analog filters, analog VCAs, and three stages of analogue distortion per voice
Per-Part Effects and Arpeggiator: Process each part or an external audio signal with reverb, chorus, and delay effects, and create riffs and melodic lines with a variety of arp modes, adjustable gate time, and preset patterns
General Features
FPGA-based numerically controlled oscillators (NCOs) running at 24 MHz generate waveforms in the style of those produced by analog oscillators
16-voice polyphony
Three multiwaveform oscillators per voice
Waveform shaping on all waveform types
Analog signal path (filters, distortions, VCA)
Traditional, dedicated-function rotary controls
LP/BP/HP filter with variable slope, resonance, overdrive, and modulation options
Two independent LFO sections
Separate Amp and Mod envelope sections with ADSR fader controls
Ring modulator inputs (Osc 1 and 2)
Versatile arpeggiator with wide range of patterns
Glide (portamento) with dedicated time control
Preloaded with 256 brand new patches
Memory for 256 additional user patches
Two animate buttons for adding spot effects in live performance
Powerful effects including distortion, delay, chorus, and reverb
Class-compliant USB port (no drivers required), patch dump, and MIDI
OLED display for patch selection and parameter adjustment
Standard IEC power cable
External CV input for integration with other analog equipment
Headphone output
Supports any two pedals (sustain or expression)
Kensington security slot
Synth Engine
Structure
16-note polyphony (dependent on voices used per note)
2-part multitimbral
Layered, Split, Dual Bitimbral Modes
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 43 wavetables of 5 waveforms per row
Filter
1 state-variable OTA filter per voice
12/24 dB filter slopes
Low pass / band pass / high pass / dual filter
Dual Filter: LP to HP, LP to BP, HP to 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
Each slot has 2 sources to 1 destination
Mod sources
Direct (depth)
Modulation wheel
Aftertouch (polyphonic and channel)
Expression pedal 1
Expression pedal 2
Keyboard velocity
LFO1 positive
LFO1 bipolar
LFO2 positive
LFO2 bipolar
Amp envelope
Mod envelope 1
Mod envelope 2
Animate 1
Animate 2
CV mod input bipolar
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 to osc 2, osc 2 to osc 3, osc 3 to osc 1, and noise to osc 1
Osc 3 to filter cutoff frequency
Noise to filter cutoff frequency
Effects
FX are per part
Analog distortion
Chorus – 3 types
Delay with 16 types of delay sync, LP and HP damping, slew, and stereo
Reverb – 3 types
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 pas
Miscellaneous
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 (excluding 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 modes: relative, pot pick-up, snap
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In the Box
Novation Summit Two-Part 16-Voice Polyphonic Synthesizer
USB Type-A to Type-B Cable
Power Cord
Download Card for Ableton Live Lite 9 and Loopmasters Sample Content
2-Year Warranty