Novation Peak- not impressed

[zerocrossing]

Just keep in mind the init patch has a cranked oscillator into a wide open filter with a cranked vca and no velocity reducing the vca level. Playing big chords with that is definitely going to get you close to clipping and adding another osc will quickly push you into clipping. So really it’s already about as loud a preset as you can expect to get away with.

Last thing, I suggest zooming in to find out what gain stage is causing clipping. Is it at the osc level stage in the mixer? Is it the pre filter OD? Is it from filtercresonance? Is it post filter drive? Is it VCA level after the filter and drive stages? Once you get comfortable you’ll be able to predict what different osc types, mono/poly settings, gain and filter settings are likely to cause clipping in a given patch.

That’s probably it, but I did experiment a bunch by pulling down the osc levels and VCA level. Maybe I was too tired last night, but it seemed odd. Also, I’m having trouble wrapping my head around why the init patch isn’t exactly a wide open filter, but instead the filter doesn’t open all the way at all if the keyboard tracking is set to full. I personally prefer a cutoff parameter that’s got more range.

[mjudge55]

Just keep in mind the init patch has a cranked oscillator into a wide open filter with a cranked vca and no velocity reducing the vca level. Playing big chords with that is definitely going to get you close to clipping and adding another osc will quickly push you into clipping. So really it’s already about as loud a preset as you can expect to get away with.

Last thing, I suggest zooming in to find out what gain stage is causing clipping. Is it at the osc level stage in the mixer? Is it the pre filter OD? Is it from filtercresonance? Is it post filter drive? Is it VCA level after the filter and drive stages? Once you get comfortable you’ll be able to predict what different osc types, mono/poly settings, gain and filter settings are likely to cause clipping in a given patch.

That’s probably it, but I did experiment a bunch by pulling down the osc levels and VCA level. Maybe I was too tired last night, but it seemed odd. Also, I’m having trouble wrapping my head around why the init patch isn’t exactly a wide open filter, but instead the filter doesn’t open all the way at all if the keyboard tracking is set to full. I personally prefer a cutoff parameter that’s got more range.

I typically find it’s vca level that needs the most attention because the filter/distortion section has so much potential to add gain.

The way keyboard tracking works in Peak, any tracking added reduces cutoff below middle C, so to have a fully open filter in the lower octaves you need to reduce tracking to 0. Some synths work this way and others only open fully with tracking cranked. I’m fine with either way but I wish Peak let us modify the init patch so tracking could be set to zero - I rarely want full tracking and I want to hear an open filter so init with no tracking makes more sense for me.

[zerocrossing]

Just keep in mind the init patch has a cranked oscillator into a wide open filter with a cranked vca and no velocity reducing the vca level. Playing big chords with that is definitely going to get you close to clipping and adding another osc will quickly push you into clipping. So really it’s already about as loud a preset as you can expect to get away with.

Last thing, I suggest zooming in to find out what gain stage is causing clipping. Is it at the osc level stage in the mixer? Is it the pre filter OD? Is it from filtercresonance? Is it post filter drive? Is it VCA level after the filter and drive stages? Once you get comfortable you’ll be able to predict what different osc types, mono/poly settings, gain and filter settings are likely to cause clipping in a given patch.

That’s probably it, but I did experiment a bunch by pulling down the osc levels and VCA level. Maybe I was too tired last night, but it seemed odd. Also, I’m having trouble wrapping my head around why the init patch isn’t exactly a wide open filter, but instead the filter doesn’t open all the way at all if the keyboard tracking is set to full. I personally prefer a cutoff parameter that’s got more range.

I typically find it’s vca level that needs the most attention because the filter/distortion section has so much potential to add gain.

I honestly have no idea what my issue was, but I went back at it this afternoon and I couldn’t reproduce it no matter how hard I tried. Sunspots? Nah, it was night! I’m going to say “cosmic gamma rays.” They’re nasty little f’ers.

The way keyboard tracking works in Peak, any tracking added reduces cutoff below middle C, so to have a fully open filter in the lower octaves you need to reduce tracking to 0. Some synths work this way and others only open fully with tracking cranked. I’m fine with either way but I wish Peak let us modify the init patch so tracking could be set to zero - I rarely want full tracking and I want to hear an open filter so init with no tracking makes more sense for me.

Agreed!

I’m finding the Peak somewhat difficult to navigate in the sense that it seems to work a bit differently than what I’m used to in the hardware and software synth world. Parameter ranges seem off... I could easily see someone coming from an all sweetness and warmth synth to this one and getting turned off. I think I also thought I’d be getting a poly Bass Station 2 with wavetables, and it sure isn’t that. I can go to my 002 and get amazing results with almost no effort, but I’m finding that I have to work harder with the Peak.

[zerocrossing]

OK, I actually figured out what was happening. Not gamma rays. Well, not entirely gamma rays.

I was using a sound with a fair amount of resonance and it seems like that was the source of distortion. I’m not quite used to that, but now that I write it, I do remember the Bass Station 2 having a pretty screamy filter as well. I guess it was a combination of high resonance and a healthy amount of oscillator feed that was causing the break up. Crisis averted!

[mjudge55]

I’m finding the Peak somewhat difficult to navigate in the sense that it seems to work a bit differently than what I’m used to in the hardware and software synth world. Parameter ranges seem off... I could easily see someone coming from an all sweetness and warmth synth to this one and getting turned off. I think I also thought I’d be getting a poly Bass Station 2 with wavetables, and it sure isn’t that. I can go to my 002 and get amazing results with almost no effort, but I’m finding that I have to work harder with the Peak.

Yeah I'd obsessively read and reread the manual and a zillion forum posts by the time my Peak arrived in the mail so I was already inured to some of the weirdness

I have an MC-202 and a Behringer Model D and those are maybe my instant gratification synths. Peak's nowhere near as easy to sit down with but then it's capable of so much more there's just bound to be more opportunity to F up your sound design. Then again, I love the "puzzle" aspect of these monster synths -- almost to the point of distraction.

[mjudge55]

OK, I actually figured out what was happening. Not gamma rays. Well, not entirely gamma rays.

I was using a sound with a fair amount of resonance and it seems like that was the source of distortion. I’m not quite used to that, but now that I write it, I do remember the Bass Station 2 having a pretty screamy filter as well. I guess it was a combination of high resonance and a healthy amount of oscillator feed that was causing the break up. Crisis averted!

Yeah I think my first real encounters with clipping were high filter resonance too -- I was like "is this filter screaming on its own or does the problem exist between synth and chair?". I suppose the nice thing is, like on the bass station 2, this isn't one of those filters where turning up the resonance automatically sucks out the bass or decreases the volume to avoid clipping.

[zerocrossing]

OK, I actually figured out what was happening. Not gamma rays. Well, not entirely gamma rays.

I was using a sound with a fair amount of resonance and it seems like that was the source of distortion. I’m not quite used to that, but now that I write it, I do remember the Bass Station 2 having a pretty screamy filter as well. I guess it was a combination of high resonance and a healthy amount of oscillator feed that was causing the break up. Crisis averted!

Yeah I think my first real encounters with clipping were high filter resonance too -- I was like "is this filter screaming on its own or does the problem exist between synth and chair?". I suppose the nice thing is, like on the bass station 2, this isn't one of those filters where turning up the resonance automatically sucks out the bass or decreases the volume to avoid clipping.

Yeah, good point. Dangerous though.

[db3]

Picked up a Peak yesterday...absolutely loving it!
DAW integration was key, and Sigabort's VST editor works a treat: http://www.sigabort.co/midisynth

[zerocrossing]

Picked up a Peak yesterday...absolutely loving it!
DAW integration was key, and Sigabort's VST editor works a treat: http://www.sigabort.co/midisynth

After 5 minutes f’n around with the oscillator menus I was sending Sigabort my money like millennials Venmoing their friends for avocado toast.

[zerocrossing]

I’m finding the Peak somewhat difficult to navigate in the sense that it seems to work a bit differently than what I’m used to in the hardware and software synth world. Parameter ranges seem off... I could easily see someone coming from an all sweetness and warmth synth to this one and getting turned off. I think I also thought I’d be getting a poly Bass Station 2 with wavetables, and it sure isn’t that. I can go to my 002 and get amazing results with almost no effort, but I’m finding that I have to work harder with the Peak.

Yeah I'd obsessively read and reread the manual and a zillion forum posts by the time my Peak arrived in the mail so I was already inured to some of the weirdness

I have an MC-202 and a Behringer Model D and those are maybe my instant gratification synths. Peak's nowhere near as easy to sit down with but then it's capable of so much more there's just bound to be more opportunity to F up your sound design. Then again, I love the "puzzle" aspect of these monster synths -- almost to the point of distraction.

I realized that my problem with the Peak wasn’t really anything about the Peak, but more about what I was expecting from it. I guess I was expecting to get a sound that was closer to its ancestor, the OSCar. Like a hardware impOSCar 2. It’s not that. It’s not like any Waldorf style wavetable synths, either. I stopped trying for certain sounds and instead let it guide me to where it wanted me to go. ...and there it was. I actually find its strength in bass and lead sounds, which wasn’t what I bought it for, but a pleasant surprise.

[NatLife]

for the topicstarter. I was enough of youtube demos to hear that strange distortion or noise in the sound engine, and i didnt liked it..i was a bit shocked how they can release such expensive instrument with such sound...and yeas - it's even not close to Supernova.

[EvilDragon]

It doesn't try to be Supernova, it's a completely new thing (for starters there's no aliasing like there is on Supernova). And yes, considering you can distort the signal in multiple places in the signal chain, there's a lot of potential for overgaining the sound. It is all entirely under your control as a sound designer. Peak (and by extension, Summit) sound absolutely spectacular when you actually play it in real life. I know because I played a Summit on Superbooth.

So rather than basing your entire opinion solely on Youtube, go out and play one.

[cousin_itt]

Picked up a Peak yesterday...absolutely loving it!
DAW integration was key, and Sigabort's VST editor works a treat: http://www.sigabort.co/midisynth

can i ask which vst host you're using for the editor?
i've tried the demo and it's constantly crashing Reaper and Cantabile.

[db3]

Picked up a Peak yesterday...absolutely loving it!
DAW integration was key, and Sigabort's VST editor works a treat: http://www.sigabort.co/midisynth

can i ask which vst host you're using for the editor?
i've tried the demo and it's constantly crashing Reaper and Cantabile.

Live 10 Mac
NB) also worked fine when I tried in Bitwig 3

[cousin_itt]

Picked up a Peak yesterday...absolutely loving it!
DAW integration was key, and Sigabort's VST editor works a treat: http://www.sigabort.co/midisynth

can i ask which vst host you're using for the editor?
i've tried the demo and it's constantly crashing Reaper and Cantabile.

Live 10 Mac
NB) also worked fine when I tried in Bitwig 3

thanks,
i think the dev uses Ableton. i've emailed him.
i've got an old version kicking around, will have a try. and i guess i'd best test on a different pc.

..........yeah, seems rock solid in Ableton

cheers.