Summit/Peak 2.1 firmware out!

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Looks like this has resolved the major issues in 2.0, and just 4 months later. That's a very good sign.

Fixed: Poly voice stealing, envelope cutoff, slower mod rates on envelopes and LFOs, sustain pedal affecting engine when local was off, as well as UI control issues.

No, it doesn't change Summit's wet/dry FX behavior, because unfortunately, that would require a hardware change.

https://fael-downloads-prod.focusrite.c ... ish_en.pdf

On the issue with slower mods:
VCA clamping behaviour

In Firmare version 2.0 the mod destination, VCA level, was clamped in the mod
matrix when exceeding certain thresholds. However, this caused the mod routine to
slow down so we have had to remove this in version 2.1.

When the VCA level is reaching the upper threshold, through additional modulation
in the mod matrix, you may hear brief changes in phase (most notably as a short
click and changes to the stereo spread) and the VCA level may drop entirely when
exceeding the upper threshold. Similarly, the VCA may go from silent to audible
when passing the lower threshold.

Similar behaviour has been in present in past firmware releases. Of the possible
outcomes noted above, we expect a small amout of users to experience slight phase
alterations. If this is the case, use the VCA Gain control on the front panel and the
PatchLevel parameter in the Voice menu to make adjustments.

In most cases reducing VCA Gain and increasing PatchLevel will resolve the issue
and keep the patch at the same level.

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What is everyone's opinion on the synth in 2022? I'm thinking about swapping around some gear and the Summit has been in the back of my head for a bit now but I could also wait and save for a Iridium keyboard.

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I love mine- the look, the feel and the sound...I paid £1300 for mine new which seems like good value to me, probably the only synth I need (but I don't take that literally ;-))

Its 'hands on' analogue style layout is perfect for me and to me it has all the advantages (ie sound) of analogue without the limitations, Oxford Oscillators are are good (better!) than analogue oscillators in my opinion. Its (stereo) analogue where it matters, analogue multimode filters, VCAs and multiple stages of analogue distortion...probably the best FX of any synth as well (with hands on and fully mod matric etc)

So, its a big yes from me- make room :-)
X32 and 24C mixers, S88MK3, Live + PUSH 3, Osmose, RedShift 6, Pro3, S4, Tempera, Syntakt, Digitone, OP1-F, OPXY, TR-1000, Eurorack, TD27 Drums, Guitars, Basses, Amps and of course lots of pedals!

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teilo wrote: Mon Aug 01, 2022 4:06 pm
No, it doesn't change Summit's wet/dry FX behavior, because unfortunately, that would require a hardware change.
can you explain what this refers to? I am unfamiliar with this issue.

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Aqua1014 wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 8:02 am What is everyone's opinion on the synth in 2022? I'm thinking about swapping around some gear and the Summit has been in the back of my head for a bit now but I could also wait and save for a Iridium keyboard.
I have a Peak. It's a solid and capable synth. It also doesn't inspire me. Not that the sound quality is poor, but it always sounds a bit constrained or boxed in to me. Lacking a kind of present, dynamic quality. I've never found myself playing a patch for an hour just cause it sounds so good to me.

By contrast, the Waldorf M just does it for me. The sound is dynamic and gorgeous. It's startling how present it sounds. It has lots of beautiful nuances and subtlety and nearly every time I do sound design with it I end up with some new sounds that I sit and play just cause of how lovely they sound... and that is often without FX as the M has none built-in.

I also have a Waldorf Quantum. Were it my choice, I would save up and get the Iridium over the Summit. The sonic range of the Iridium/Quantum is huge. Sound-wise, the M is my favorite though. There is something magical about it.

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JamminFool wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 10:38 am
teilo wrote: Mon Aug 01, 2022 4:06 pm
No, it doesn't change Summit's wet/dry FX behavior, because unfortunately, that would require a hardware change.
can you explain what this refers to? I am unfamiliar with this issue.
Unlike on the Peak, there is no wet/dry control for effects. You can set the FX level of each effect. You can never eliminate the dry signal. Because of the way the FX are mixed, you will always have at least a 50% dry signal, no matter what you set WetLevel and DryLevel to in the menus. The only way to get a full wet signal is to route the FX and the pre-FX mix to separate outputs. You can then mix them yourself in a mixer, though likely not without phasing effects.
Last edited by teilo on Tue Aug 16, 2022 2:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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@teilo, thanks!

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SLiC wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 8:24 am I love mine- the look, the feel and the sound...I paid £1300 for mine new which seems like good value to me, probably the only synth I need (but I don't take that literally ;-))

Its 'hands on' analogue style layout is perfect for me and to me it has all the advantages (ie sound) of analogue without the limitations, Oxford Oscillators are are good (better!) than analogue oscillators in my opinion. Its (stereo) analogue where it matters, analogue multimode filters, VCAs and multiple stages of analogue distortion...probably the best FX of any synth as well (with hands on and fully mod matric etc)

So, its a big yes from me- make room :-)
:tu:

Agreed. I have the Peak, not the Summit, but everything said here applies to the Peak as well IMO. I had always wanted a Waldorf Q+, which shares some similarities to the Peak/Summit (in terms of being an analog/digital hybrid), but was always outrageously priced, seemed to be plagued with some pretty serious bugs and issues, and was not very readily available. I really feel like the Peak/Summit are modern classics.

Re: the Oxford oscillators, I can't say that I disagree with you. They sound analog, but also go well beyond the standard analog sound when you want them to. I remember back to the days when people would wish for analog filters on the Supernova, but the Peak/Summit went far beyond that when they also designed these osc's.

Oh, and let's not forget that arp! :love:
pdxindy wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 1:11 pm
Aqua1014 wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 8:02 am What is everyone's opinion on the synth in 2022? I'm thinking about swapping around some gear and the Summit has been in the back of my head for a bit now but I could also wait and save for a Iridium keyboard.
I have a Peak. It's a solid and capable synth. It also doesn't inspire me. Not that the sound quality is poor, but it always sounds a bit constrained or boxed in to me. Lacking a kind of present, dynamic quality. I've never found myself playing a patch for an hour just cause it sounds so good to me.
It's funny, I saw a lot of these types of comments when I first started considering the Peak. Also, lots of comments about it lacking character, sounding vanilla, etc., which was somewhat understandable from the basic youtube vids I was seeing that mostly just featured boring play-throughs of the presets. But, the more I dug into the vids by guys rolling their own sounds with the Peak, the more I was convinced that it was the right synth for me. Once I got it, there was no doubt in my mind that it was a synth with endless possibilities, a total sound design workhorse. In my studio, it sits to the left of my Virus TI 61 (modern digital) and to the right of my Prophet Rev2 module (modern analog), which is pretty much how I view the Peak, as a modern hybrid that fits nicely between these two synths.
Logic Pro | LUNA Pro | OB-X8 | Prophet 6 | OB-6 | Rev2 | TEO-5 | Pro 3 | SE-1X | Minitaur | Deepmind 12D | Slim Phatty | TR-1000 | Analog RYTM mk2 | Digitakt 2 | TD-3 MO | TD-3 | Maschine+

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teilo wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 2:20 pm
JamminFool wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 10:38 am
teilo wrote: Mon Aug 01, 2022 4:06 pm
No, it doesn't change Summit's wet/dry FX behavior, because unfortunately, that would require a hardware change.
can you explain what this refers to? I am unfamiliar with this issue.
Unlike on the Peak, there is no wet/dry control for effects. You can set the FX level of each effect. You can never eliminate the dry signal. Because of the way the FX are mixed, you will always have at least a 50% dry signal, no matter what you set WetLevel and DryLevel to in the menus. The only way to get a full wet signal is to route the FX and the pre-FX mix to separate outputs. You can then mix them yourself in a mixer, though likely not without phasing effects.
If you route the synth and effects to separate outputs on the Summit with the effects in serial mode and mute the synth output (eg synth to main, effects to aux & mute the main) then the effects level controls operate as normal wet/dry controls without the phasing.

Unfortunately you lose an output this way as there is no way to mute the synth output from the Summit, it has be done from your soundcard or mixer. It would be nice if they added main/aux/none in the synth output routing settings.

Great synth though, I really like it.

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Aqua1014 wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 8:02 am What is everyone's opinion on the synth in 2022? I'm thinking about swapping around some gear and the Summit has been in the back of my head for a bit now but I could also wait and save for a Iridium keyboard.
I love mine. Some people say it's "not inspiring," which is fine because what inspires people varies from person to person. For me, it's really great. I've come up with some (IMO) beautiful and unique sounding patches. One thing I like it about it, is that -due to the really great mod matrix- you can have a ton of subtle modulation going on which really helps to make things more interesting.

Recently I was in LA and got to make a visit to Perfect Circuit. I got to try out a bunch of other new poly synths. The polybrute, the hydrasynth, all the Dave Smith stuff, the Waldorf Quantum, and I have to say that the Summit compared to them more favorably than I would've guessed. Most synths now do have a very clean and precise sound, so they actually sound more similar to one another than you would guess. The summit was one of the ones that I felt had it's own character. This surprised me because I have been known to be a victim of GAS and "the grass is always greener."

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I agree, I compared the Summit to quite a few before buying (although I already had a Hydrasynth) and thought it was the best of the bunch of modern polysynths, there really isn’t much it can’t do and the integrated and hands on FX are some of the best I have heard (and the audio in can make use of that). I just don’t seem to like the Waldorf synths, though it seems many do…Prophet X may also be an option, but I have never heard it live (and you really need to hear and operate these synths live to know if you like them)
X32 and 24C mixers, S88MK3, Live + PUSH 3, Osmose, RedShift 6, Pro3, S4, Tempera, Syntakt, Digitone, OP1-F, OPXY, TR-1000, Eurorack, TD27 Drums, Guitars, Basses, Amps and of course lots of pedals!

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SLiC wrote: Mon Aug 22, 2022 4:37 pm I just don’t seem to like the Waldorf synths, though it seems many do…
Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the modern Waldorf synths, either. I love my Pulse 2, but the rest of the current lineup does not interest me at all. Same goes for the Hydrasynth.
Logic Pro | LUNA Pro | OB-X8 | Prophet 6 | OB-6 | Rev2 | TEO-5 | Pro 3 | SE-1X | Minitaur | Deepmind 12D | Slim Phatty | TR-1000 | Analog RYTM mk2 | Digitakt 2 | TD-3 MO | TD-3 | Maschine+

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cryophonik wrote: Mon Aug 22, 2022 5:53 pm
SLiC wrote: Mon Aug 22, 2022 4:37 pm I just don’t seem to like the Waldorf synths, though it seems many do…
Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the modern Waldorf synths, either. I love my Pulse 2, but the rest of the current lineup does not interest me at all. Same goes for the Hydrasynth.
The Poly AT and ribbon sucked me in with the Hydrasynth…it’s definitely about the way it plays, a performance synth.
X32 and 24C mixers, S88MK3, Live + PUSH 3, Osmose, RedShift 6, Pro3, S4, Tempera, Syntakt, Digitone, OP1-F, OPXY, TR-1000, Eurorack, TD27 Drums, Guitars, Basses, Amps and of course lots of pedals!

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SLiC wrote: Mon Aug 22, 2022 7:58 pm
cryophonik wrote: Mon Aug 22, 2022 5:53 pm
SLiC wrote: Mon Aug 22, 2022 4:37 pm I just don’t seem to like the Waldorf synths, though it seems many do…
Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the modern Waldorf synths, either. I love my Pulse 2, but the rest of the current lineup does not interest me at all. Same goes for the Hydrasynth.
The Poly AT and ribbon sucked me in with the Hydrasynth…it’s definitely about the way it plays, a performance synth.
I bought both. Recently got a Hydrasynth Deluxe. I use the Hydra to drive the Summit quite a lot to take advantage of poly AT. It also makes a fantastic controller for the Arturia CS-80 V4.

It is definitely the most expressive synth I have played. The ability to use Poly AT to crossblend in the second layer in a Multi is extraordinary. I've tried to achieve the same effect in the Summit, and it's not easy to do.

The Deluxe also has Release Velocity, which I have yet to play around with.

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