Novation Summit or Rev2

[Amorr]

Update: After taking a few days to make some more complex patches and really sit down and try and learn the synth, I gotta say there's some awesome sounds that can be made with the rev2. It may not be my go-to for 80% of my sounds like Diva, but I can definitely see myself using it on everything in one way or another. Also, the keybed on it is just gorgeous to play. Definitely happy with the purchase.

Good thing you gave it a second chance. From the sound demos, I thought that it sounds really good. And, I'm imagining that I'm pretty demanding in that regard.

I wasnt particularly blown away by any demos of the Rev2 I heard, to be fair. Creativespiral’s VCM ideas saved the rev2 for me personally.

[_leras]

When I finally get my System-1, I’m going to send you all a picture of it and the JD-XA lighting up my room with red and green Christmas lights.

<- this is you green with envy

I have scruffy masking tape over every too bright led on my mono evolver.

How can you dim those lights on these Roland synths?

[_leras]

I mainly use Diva, by far my favourite softsynth out there. I knew I wouldn't be able to get them exact due to the filter differences etc, but I figured with the rev2 being a DCO synth with a square wave subosc it would get pretty close. And it does, to be fair, but to my ears it sounds thinner and takes a lot more work to get there than Diva does. I have also found the subosc on the rev2 unusable for most sounds that I would usually make with a squarewave subosc. Not the biggest fan of the envelopes either (I find Juno envelopes much nicer to use).

Divas pretty nice for sure, but I would think you can get a bit more bite from the Rev 2.

I think with some hardware synths it can take a time to learn the sweetspots. I would think for the rev 2, you just have to give in to the synth and find the sounds it has to give. Its own sound/character just won't make some types of sounds.

[_leras]

I wasnt particularly blown away by any demos of the Rev2 I heard, to be fair. Creativespiral’s VCM ideas saved the rev2 for me personally.

Update: After taking a few days to make some more complex patches and really sit down and try and learn the synth, I gotta say there's some awesome sounds that can be made with the rev2. It may not be my go-to for 80% of my sounds like Diva, but I can definitely see myself using it on everything in one way or another. Also, the keybed on it is just gorgeous to play. Definitely happy with the purchase.

Good thing you gave it a second chance. From the sound demos, I thought that it sounds really good. And, I'm imagining that I'm pretty demanding in that regard.

This stuff?
https://sounddesign.sellfy.store/p/figz/

I hadn't seen this. Some great sounds coming out of the synth from these patches!

[Amorr]

I wasnt particularly blown away by any demos of the Rev2 I heard, to be fair. Creativespiral’s VCM ideas saved the rev2 for me personally.

Update: After taking a few days to make some more complex patches and really sit down and try and learn the synth, I gotta say there's some awesome sounds that can be made with the rev2. It may not be my go-to for 80% of my sounds like Diva, but I can definitely see myself using it on everything in one way or another. Also, the keybed on it is just gorgeous to play. Definitely happy with the purchase.

Good thing you gave it a second chance. From the sound demos, I thought that it sounds really good. And, I'm imagining that I'm pretty demanding in that regard.

This stuff?
https://sounddesign.sellfy.store/p/figz/

I hadn't seen this. Some great sounds coming out of the synth from these patches!

Yeah, thats the stuff. I didnt use any of his specific patches, just employed his idea of using the gated sequencer to provide per-voice offsets. Gave a lot more life to the rev2. He does have a couple free patches too.

[vurt]

When I finally get my System-1, I’m going to send you all a picture of it and the JD-XA lighting up my room with red and green Christmas lights.

<- this is you green with envy

I have scruffy masking tape over every too bright led on my mono evolver.

How can you dim those lights on these Roland synths?

sharpie.

[Uncle E]

How can you dim those lights on these Roland synths?

The LED knob rings can be turned off. Roland could have made them dimmable or, better yet, made them be brighter or darker based on the knob level. Total missed opportunity there.

[rod_zero]

I had a Peak for a few months, definitely liked it more than DSI stuff i had tried, specially the build quality, potentiometers and screen. And well a Summit/Peak will have a wider sound palette because of the oscillators. I also think the effects are much better.

[lfm]

I wasnt particularly blown away by any demos of the Rev2 I heard, to be fair. Creativespiral’s VCM ideas saved the rev2 for me personally.

Brilliant tutorial he did show off the versatility of the four gated sequencers and thereby REV2 real nice.
And easy to forget, you got two layers fully equipped like that.




Other neat ways are to use one gated sequencer to smooth out values in another so you get all kinds of interesting continuous movements in whatever you modulate.

One sequencer can use other length than the other and yet create a randomness when they are all clocked by tempo.

But you don't have to go that far real nice sound, use two layers and set osc slop knob different and voice pan different and you are home with two voice unison. 16-voice now is only €100 more expensive, so a no brainer.

[gExpectations]

i didnt read the full thread but i was basically dealing with the same decision, or lets say i wanted a big poly as my main keyboard and i ended up with deciding that rev2 and summit are the best options. i bought the summit because its more flexible and im not super drawn to the prophet sound; so far i absolutely love it. theres an insane amount of stuff you can do with the summit. i dont think theres a good way to rationally decide "which one is better", just order one for trial or just pick the one you feel more drawn to, both are great instruments.

[gExpectations]

I did briefly consider the System 8 but I've heard awful things about the keybed and not the biggest fan of how it looks.

I have a JD-XA, the keybed is pretty bad and it looks like a Tron rack track. At the same time, it weighs nothing and doesn't need to be babied, it's by far my easiest analog keyboard to take around.

eyyy i have a jdxa next to my summit :> it looks ugly and sounds great