Novation Peak - an analog-hybrid synthesizer, featuring 8-voice polyphony, with 3 New Oxford oscillators for each voice. Being NCO (Numerically-Controlled Oscillators), they sound completely analog but benefit from digital flexibility with 17 digital wavetables. These oscillators can become a linear FM source through NCOs or digital wavetables - providing intermodulation in recursive loops.
The advantage of NCO is that compared to traditional oscillators, which tend to destabilise over time and generate false frequencies, the NCO is very stable and you will always have a harmonic sound, while also providing the warm and rich sound characteristic of analog.
The synthesizer has a resonant analog filter, multi-mode and 3 distortion points for each voice - pre-filter, post-filter, and global - in an analog signal chain. Peak is capable of accepting polyphonic aftertouch for better control over expression. Reverb, delay, and chorus effects are available, and it also includes a built-in arpeggiator.
The arpeggiator has 7 operating modes, adjustable gate length, and a range of 6 octaves. With 33 rhythmic variations, variable resolution, and swing (all synchronisable to internal or external tempo), it can complement musical ideas or animate musical movements in a piece.
The modulation system contains a matrix of 16 slots and 16 direct associations as main controls, arranged intuitively for patch design and sound editing. Peak has 3 ADSR envelopes and 2 LFOs for each voice.
The Animate function is familiar to UltraNova and MiniNova users: the animate button can be the source in the modulation matrix for up to 16 simultaneous routings. The depth of the effect can be adjusted from the menu. Animations can also be triggered via pedals.
A progress in sound quality is also represented by the FPGA chip, in which the digital-to-analog converter (DAC) is implemented: compared to standard chips available on the market, which operate at preset frequencies (usually 48 or 96kHz), the FPGA has realised a resistor-capacitor ladder converter running at a sampling frequency of 24MHz (i.e., an oversampling of 512x). This eliminates the aliasing problems of standard converters, which is especially audible in high-frequency sounds.
Connection to modular systems can be made via CV modulation input, MIDI I/O. Through USB, Peak can connect to Mac or PC where patches can be stored via the Components software.
