Other synths like Novation Summit

[Korg Supporter]

Unclear why people are suggesting analogs as alternative to a hybrid, but if you’re looking for something with similar types of waveform morphing, you are looking for a hybrid. Several great hybrids that are currently being sold are…

Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave. A modern take on the classic PPG Wave 2, but also lots of high resolution oscillator functions and samples. One of my favorites.

Waldorf M. A modern take on the Microwave rev1. Another great sounding synth, but more limited to a vintage style of sound.

Prophet 12. No longer in production, but a powerhouse of a synth.

Prologue. Programmable oscillator section and VCOs.

Nina. Wavetables and VCOs. Patch morphing. Kind of a vintage Moog meets Waldorf vibe.

Fred Labs Tooro.

Xena: a new build of the Mutable Instruments Ambika. Cheap, but sounds awesome. Kind of low-fi into classic filters, but more than just wavetables. A recent firmware update really improved the sound, IMO.

UDO Super 6. A “binaural” synth. It doesn’t do wavetables in a Microwave/PPG style or even wave morphing like the Summit, but it’s got a fair number of great digital and analog style waveforms and it sounds awesome. I would have bought one had it not been for a stupidly low preset memory amount, and no software editor-librarian.

I wouldn’t bother with a Virus. I’m in the camp that thinks they were great in their day, but surpassed by plugins like Dune 3, Icarus, Current, Massive X, etc. Plus, you a download the chip emulation version from The Usual Suspects and basically have a free TI plugin. The Microwave XT is coming soon, as is the Nord Lead 2.

Speaking of plugins, here are a few that I think give the Summit a run for its money:

Spire. Fantastic sound, and per-voice distortion that’s on par with the quality of the Summit’s, and has a lot more variety of drive types.

Dune 3. Lots of great filter types and a fantastic oscillator unison engine.

Current. Really fun stereo filter modes and generally good sound.

MSoundFactory. More like a modular system than a standard synthesizer, but it can do almost anything. The downside is that its flexibility comes at a price. It’s not intuitive to use out of the box, but once you realize the basics, it’s clear and easy to create your own patches or use one of the many factory presets or user authored presets. It also has really great per voice distortion like the Summit’s but more variety, and you have to make sure you have the rendering quality high and add oversampling to make sure it’s smooth.

Icarus. Best audio file to wavetable conversion I’ve come across, and it generally sounds great and has a bunch of oscillator morph types that really open things up for cool sounds. Good analog filter models included.

Which firmware update for the Ambika, YAM?

[zerocrossing]

Xena: a new build of the Mutable Instruments Ambika. Cheap, but sounds awesome. Kind of low-fi into classic filters, but more than just wavetables. A recent firmware update really improved the sound, IMO.

Which firmware update for the Ambika, YAM?

Yeah.

[Uncle E]

Which filter do you recommend?