Novation Summit Review & Tutorial - the best digital synth?!?

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Hey guys, got a great response from the last synth review so thought I'd do another. Enjoy!

[@pubdigitalix]

The distinct characteristic behavior of the summit oscillators are not only by the analog section but in fact because they are digital generated with less aliasing than other synths. This is only possible because they use FPGA for the electronics oscillator at frequencies far away from Nyquist theorem. I think is more than 1 Mhz of oversampling. This is better quality than DSD audio. In fact the analog circuitry only introduce more distortion and inaccuracies that most analog users love.

[@johnadams5489]

The Summit is best sounding synth to come along in decades. It is also the biggest VALUE in a poly synth to come along in long time too. A 16 Voice Bi Timbrel synth with split KB capability with analog components in addition to a 3 Digital Osc 5 octave keyboard is amazing, Very musical sounding with a well thought out control system that makes this a must have synth! Good review!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

its a great one for sure! thank you!

[@jeffblack5024]

I was in the market for a flagship poly and this is the one that grabbed my attention. Been playing with synths since the early 80s and there’s not much that makes me sit up and take notice. The analogue purists bore me as I had all that 40 years ago. The bang for the buck you get with this synth is incredible compared with the more fashionable names (Moog for me are rather overpriced for what they do). Plus Novation are English like me, so I probably get a price advantage there. One thing I like to do is link it to Omnisphere, which has a hardware profile for it. Basically you can use the Summit to control any hardware Spectrasonics has modelled (your Prophets, Moogs, Roland’s, etc). if you mix the onboard sounds with Omnisphere’s you stumble across the most beautiful combinations. I can spend the whole evening exploring new sonic possibilities.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thanks for the great comment! It really is an excellent value synth. I’d just say you really have to enjoy sound design (which most of us do) to get the most out of this synth, as the raw tone isn’t quite as nice as some of my other synths. But if you enjoy that exploration it’s an easy recommend and totally, similar in a sense to omnisphere!

[@kiko1935]

Great run-through man, I'm subbing after this. I am torn between this and the hydra. I really like the sound of the summit but I am in love with the workflow of the hydra and the poly aftertouch. I owned the peak and the reverb on that synth was INSANE, glad to see its the same one here. I'm just wondering if the Hydra is more versatile? Since it's fully digital and on the level of a hardware serum (in a manner of speaking), not to mention way cheaper. For someone who makes R&B, pop, synthwave, funk, those kind of genres, what are your thoughts on these 2 choices?

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thanks for the sub KIKO! Great question, so I haven't used the Hydra in person yet (looking to rent/borrow one to do a review) but from what I've seen the workflow and power looks insane. Poly AT is a dream too and it almost seems worth getting one just for that. However, I've yet to hear a demo of it where the sound inspires me like the Summit (or my Moogs & Korg for that matter) do. It sounds good for sure - but the sound doesn't seem much different than Serum (which I already use regularly). The Summit on the other hand inspires me to write every single time I turn it on. It's my second fave synth after my Matriarch. For the genres you listed, my humble opinion would be get the Summit - it's so deep for sound design and the filter is among the best around. The Hydra can on paper do more, but I will 10/10 times go for the machine that inspires me with its tone over which has the larger featureset!

[@kiko1935]

@@MilesAwayOfficial that's makes sense, good logic there. Thanks for taking the time to respond. Ideally I'd love to get the UDO Super 6 but hoooo boy that is more expensive than both! Maybe if I see a summit used I'll go for it, I'm currently trying to sell my Yamaha MODX to fund a new synth 👍

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

@@kiko1935 the super 6 looks so cool, but yea so pricy. What did you end up getting? :)

[@ScottsSynthStuff]

I have had the Hydrasynth for a year and a half, and I've had the Summit for about 3 weeks. Hydrasynth over the Summit: BEAUTIFUL polyphonic aftertouch keybed, best I have ever played. Extremely expressive. Best layout for sound design I've ever used, makes it very simple to discern and define sound paths. Five envelopes and LFOs, freely assignable in the massive, flexible mod matrix. Eight very flexible macro controls with infinite control knobs. Mutators give you many ways of changing sounds and make it extremely flexible and capable. Great wavetable/wavescanning capabilities. Ribbon controller is very usable, very musical. Best UI on a synth I've ever had in 30 years of synths. Summit over the Hydrasynth: Filters. The filters are so creamy and wonderful sounding. The Hydrasynth has good, flexible filters, but they are more clinical and precise. The Summit's effects are ASTOUNDING. Hydrasynth effects are...competent. FM sound design is far easier and less of an afterthought than on the Hydrasynth. Arpeggiator is very good on the Hydrasynth, but the Summit's edges it out slightly in terms of flexibility and creativity. I still prefer the Hydrasynth keybed overall, but the Summit keybed is better for very fast playing. The Summit sounds lush and analog, and you can get it to sound harsh and digital if you want. The Hydrasynth sounds harsh and digital, and you can get it to sound lush and analog if you want.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

@@ScottsSynthStuff just saw your comment, love your channel Scott! Spot on with your review here. Are you gonna do a Polybrute video? Want to get one 😊

[@TheC0G]

Hi Miles, great review. Is your selector dial , next to the screen on the peak, a little wobbly compared with the rest of the dials? Mine is, and since I have just bought the Summit I just want to confirm this is normal. Thanks!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thanks Rob! My knobs are all very sturdy on the Summit. But, my encoder for presets would glitch out and skip so I reached out to Novation and their service was amazing for replacing it for me for free! Definitely reach out if you want!

[@TheC0G]

@@MilesAwayOfficial thanks Miles!

[@wesleyforman8391]

How many of your songs have been created with the sounds from the summit? How do you find best to record in the DAW for retaining MIDI notes for patch of different tracks? Do you bounce to audio for everything?

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Summit was used as support on most of the songs on my last record! open.spotify.com/album/65NNkC1BRl8EtWViffifSX?si=gsAegkggRWGCWjmOCycW0A But the song that used the Summit the most I did was Void Drifting, every synth part is Summit: open.spotify.com/track/73nPEE8hhJBM4HnkKs3gRQ?si=865d67a345c64972 I recorded it DI in as audio. Most of the time I left the excellent reverb on unless I was doing for heavier sounds I wanted to process and layer after

[@wesleyforman8391]

@@MilesAwayOfficial wow great I will check those out. So you just record the raw audio? What if you had to go back and edit cords or something like that do you record the MIDI in or do you just go back to the patch and re-record it? Also are some of those sounds available on your preset pack? Thanks for responding

[@paulackerman2800]

for novation NOISE...did you try this to fix it (from novation forum)? Firmware version v1.1 (262.255) introduces an attenuation that can be selected

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Haven't updated the firmware yet actually! Thx!

[@thiagodalpoz]

Hi guys, I’m literally a few hours before I purchase one.... could you please detail about the noise floor? I’m worried when I’ve heard that some recordings had to be redo.... tks!!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

@@thiagodalpoz it shouldn't be a deal breaker you just have to learn proper gain staging and use a good quality audio interface with good quality cables I use the summit on all my songs regularly and don't have any issues with mix quality

[@Tyetheberious]

Hey Miles, have you got your hands on a Polybrute yet? If so, how would you compare it to the Summit?

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Hey tyler ! Been wanting to check one out for ages now but they are hard to grab where I am. The one time I played it it sounded amazing. Bigger sweet spot than the summit but less flexible. Kind of like an in between of a prophet and a summit. Not quite as lush as a prophet but more flexible. A bit more lush than summit but not quite as deep. Hope that helps!

[@Tyetheberious]

@@MilesAwayOfficial Thanks - I think we are in the same area, and there are a couple set up to demo around town currently. I have a Peak, and enjoy it, but the Polybrute is really appealing for the ambient stuff I am working on currently. Thanks for the response, and great vids.

[@nexussky4135]

Cool vid, man! How do you rate the key bed of the Summit?

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

8/10! It's better than the Korg Prologue, better than Sub 37, better than any Behringer, worse than OB6 and Matriarch.

[@synthury1858]

Thanks for this video ! Liked it a lot ! I have a Summit on order since last November. I don’t know if i should wait for it or chose either a Hydrasynth + Peak or a Nord Wave 2. I have a Sequential Pro3 and I don’t know which combination would suite best. Would love something as direct and simple as possible. Any help appreciated !

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

If you like simple and direct, check out my review of the Korg Prologue 16. A very amazing sounding and underrated synth. Not as versatile though, but your Pro3 should have that covered. I've never played any Nord synths so can't comment there, but if you like the sound of the Hydra, that's a deadly combo with a peak. Personally I went for the Summit since I find it sounds significantly richer and warmer than the Hydra, but if you got the Hydra and Peak you'd have the best of both worlds for sound design.

[@kwaping]

Thanks for this, I'm trying to decide between this and a Prologue 16. Great timing on the review!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

I have a review of the Prologue 16 as well, check it out! What are you mainly wanting out of your synth? I can give a suggestion if you like.

[@kwaping]

@@MilesAwayOfficial versatility, not too much menu diving, 61+keys, and 16+ voices. Basically, the sound of the Prologue 16 with the interface of the Summit. 😕

[@kwaping]

@@MilesAwayOfficial if you could keep only one of those two, which and why?

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

@@kwaping That's a hard question, it depends what you want out of a synth. The Prologue 16 sounds a bit better, has a much bigger sweet spot, and is honestly hard to make sound bad, but it's limited because of modulation. The Summit requires more work to sound as good, but is a much deeper instrument for sound design, and can make sounds the Prologue never could. For me, I'd pick the Summit, because I love sound design more than instant gratification, but you can't go wrong with either.

[@kwaping]

@@MilesAwayOfficial I usually lean towards sound design but I got a little frustrated with my Matrixbrute the other day, so now I'm leaning towards something I can just fire up and sound good with right away.

[@jfishnotes9177]

Hey Miles, excellent video! Very descriptive. So, I have years of piano background and am currently trying to figure out my Fantom 8. Technology is sometimes more difficult for me than most. I don’t think I’d want the limitations of the Prologue. What do you think of the learning curve for the Summit? I am the kind of guy that NEEDS to know what every knob/button does. Would be using this for solely at home studio composing. Would you consider online training for a fair $ ? 🙂 Thanks so much,

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Learning curve is good! Definitely a very logical synth. However, for the easiest synth to learn on I recommend the Korg Logue series (Prologue, Minilogue, Monologue). They are all extremely well laid out for beginners and have oscilloscopes. Check out my Prologue review to see if it's up your alley!

[@jfishnotes9177]

Thanks for your informative reply Miles! I just ordered the Summit; I figured between studying the manual and watching YT tutorials, I will be able to learn. Keep up the great videos!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

@@jfishnotes9177 Congrats! An amazing purchase :) I've actually got a 25 min Summit tutorial uploading this week so stay tuned!

[@jfishnotes9177]

Miles Away looking forward to watching that tutorial!

[@FR4NKRC]

Woow! It's a very good tutorial, you really know that you make, thanks for your beautiful music, Love Ü from México:)

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

My pleasure! Thanks for watching my friend!

[@FR4NKRC]

@@MilesAwayOfficial Today for you, tomorrow for my bro, I hope some day to meet you and produce something together, I am starting and I really admire your work, and the one that I liked the most is Nightmare by Halsey, the remix you did together with Nurko, greetings bro, to continue with the success❤

[@RayyMusik]

Excellent review. I think I‘m gonna replace my Rev2 by the Summit as a workhorse synth. The latter is just more versatile.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thanks for watching! Stick around for more Summit content. And I personally think that's an awesome idea, no disrespect to fans of the Rev2!

[@TheOneMonk]

Miles Away I always wanted a Rev2. Then I heard the Summit and went out yesrerday to get it. One of the most versatile synths out there. Regarding noise fllor: are you sure it‘s the synth and not your audio chain? I couldnt test it yet properly but in case it is the synth I would hope for a firmware upgrade to correct this.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

@@TheOneMonk it's not my audio chain cause the headphone amp is even noisier! it's just a synth where gain staging is really important - you can't just turn master volume to full, then expect a low noise floor. A rule of thumb I've found for gain staging the summit is: put everything at 12 o clock to start (osc volume, vca level, master output etc). The synth sounds the best like this. Then add more or less depending on what the sound calls for. Thanks for watching and congrats on the Summit! it's my desert island synth!

[@TheMachinesWon]

let's see more novation summit videos please, great stuff!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

More in the works!! Have you seen my Pad Sound Design video on the Summit?

[@TheMachinesWon]

@@MilesAwayOfficial not yet but I did see the prologue comparison. Interested in any summit sound design vids so I’ll def check it out! You mentioned great e piano patches, would be cool to see more on that or some deeper fm bass patches-more aggressive fm patches would be great if that’s possible-like in the doom soundtrack. 🤗

[@MadelnMachines]

Great review. The oscillators are better than i've head in other demo of this synth. Normally I think they are pretty average VA kind of soft synth sounding but they seemed to have a bit of grit and power. The filters sounded great too. Have you tried importing single cycle waveforms of vintage oscillators into it and using the oscillator slop? I'm curious how that would sound. I think it's worth it over the peak just to get more immediate front panel controls. I'd like to see how it sounds with subtle overdriving of the oscillators. I guess the only thing comparable in terms of modulation in the price range is the rev 2 but you swap digital oscillators / wavetables for analog oscillators.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thanks! And I agree - when I did the side to side comparison with my Matriarch, Prologue, Sub Phatty and Neutron, the raw oscillators of this at first ranked dead last. But the more I used it, I realized that if you add about 20-30 osc diverge and 5-15 osc drift, then about 25 post or pre filter drive, this thing sounds more analog than almost anything. It's got a really unique sharp but warm sound, wheres moog is creamy and warm, and Korg is dark and warm, this is like a lazer in it's accuracy, but still equally warm once you do the above tips. It's an amazing instrument.

[@MadelnMachines]

@@MilesAwayOfficial Yes I was wondering how good the pre filter drive was at creating subtle warm saturation rather than harsh cranked distortion. I do really like pre filter distortion. Any chance you could do a video using oscillators imported from vintage synths to show how it sounds? Echo Sound Works do a free pack called Core Tables -that have Jupiter 8 and Prophet etc

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

@@MadelnMachines Cool, i just downloaded - will defs consider making a video like that!

[@kylew706]

Best review I’ve seen! Great job man!!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

thank you for watching!

[@TinoFiumaraBeats]

I had a Novation SL MKIII and I sent it back because I didn't like the keybed, maybe it was my unit, but for some reason it had a feeling of stiffness on first press that it didn't feel natural. I'm interesting on buying the Summit but I heard it has the same keybed as the SL MK3 and that threw me off a little bit. Great channel.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thanks! Never used that SL keybed before but for the Summit I'd say it's better than average but not on the DSI / Moog Matriarch fatar keybed level. Feels very synthy, your call if you like that.

[@nexussky4135]

@@MilesAwayOfficial Does „synrhy“ mean light, meaning very soft to press?

[@kylew706]

Between the summit and Jupiter x which would you choose? Can’t decide!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

hey! just saw this. Summit all day every day for me personally. I'm not a fan of all in one synth workstations, and I always prefer getting items that are amazing at 1-2 things (sound design in this case) vs just average at a bunch.

[@benny5167]

How versatile would you say this synth is compared to something like the Prophet Rev2? I would make my own sounds, but would mainly want to recreate Jean Michel Jarre's songs. Thanks for the advice!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

This is the most versatile synth on the market currently IMHO. It's got a stupid amount of front control for stuff like ring mod and fm that's usually hidden or excluded, it's got digital oscillators that with slop can sound so analog, but also custom wavetables, and the fx (analog distortion + digital mod/space) can either warm it up to sound Jarre, or leave em off to get into DX-7 / Serum territory. You can also modulate basically any parameter with any parameter, and can mod the FX as well. Compared to a Hydrasynth and Rev-2, this is like a mix of both. Less digital but still versatile, more analog but not limited.

[@benny5167]

@@MilesAwayOfficial Thank you for your response. I would be most interested in recreating his Rendezvous and Equinoxe albums. I already have a Yamaha Reface CS and Arturia's V Collection 6 with their 88 key Midi controller (which includes a Prophey V vst and the SEM vst in addition to a dozen other vintage synths) so I think that the Novation Summit will fill in that gap in my setup to have a hardware performance synth that can closely reproduce those sounds.

[@joeyxl3456]

just what i was looking for. thanks bro!.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@TRABITY]

So cool Devin! It looks so complicated. It probably is 😂

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

A bit but it's not too bad to learn! Very logically laid out :)

[@TRABITY]

@@MilesAwayOfficial Nice!

[@thedrivereraworld6033]

hey! I was wondering what's your processing in your bass mute guitar for the song "Horrors"!!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

I'm going to do a Horrors project breakdown so stay tuned :)

[@thedrivereraworld6033]

@@MilesAwayOfficial thanks!! that'll be fire af!!

[@datisookzo]

Dude, first patch is amazeballs, custom or preset?

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

All custom patches! I'm gonna release a soundset in the coming weeks

[@datisookzo]

Miles Away ordering the summit as we speak

[@chateaudeblog]

@@MilesAwayOfficial Could you tell me the name of the preset?

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

@@chateaudeblog custom, I made it!

[@fuenstock]

Only thing missing for me is I wish it had an onboard sequencer. Besides that it’s perfect!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Agree that would be nice! Thx for watching :)

[@mattbayley284]

Hey! So I’ve been shopping for a poly for the past few months and am stuck between the Matriarch (which isn’t true poly), The Hydrasynth, and now this beauty.... haha. In the past I have been an analog only type of guy but I’m realizing nowadays the technology is getting so good that it’s hard to not take notice. I love that warbly type sound and I’m trying to have just one poly synth that I can get the most out of because I’ve been down that Rabbit hole of having 10 different synths.... haha. Is there one that you would say A

[@mattbayley284]

* is better

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Based on what you want I'd recommend the Summit!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

@@mattbayley284 the Hydra is very digital and won't be able to get that warbly sound very easily. The matriarch is pure analog goodness but not that versatile. The Summit is an excellent in between: while you sacrifice a little bit of the character from the Matriarch, you more than make up for it by being able to do almost literally anything - but still sounding damn warm and analog. It's really a jack of all trades

[@nickyates9820]

Silly question as I know that genres do not define synthesizers, more, the musician behind the gear shapes what genre they want to play with said gear. Regardless: Do you think that the summit does well for techno/tech house/house music?

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

not a silly question! certain synths do certain genres better than others. The Summit will absolutely do techno well, however it doesn't have a sequencer. My recommendation for the best techno synth is the Moog Sub 37 (a review of mine is coming soon). This is the synth Stefan Bodzin uses on all his songs!

[@nickyates9820]

@@MilesAwayOfficial Very nice! I'd never seen his material before, but I really like it! Us both being matriarch lovers, couldn't we get a similar effect with that...just maybe a little bit prettier sounding coming from the Matriarch? haha

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

@@nickyates9820 matriarch could definitely get really similar sounds, just not quite as gritty! the only other thing is the Sub 37 has very easily synch-able 2 envelopes and 2 LFOs which are great for rhythmic techno sounds. Im sure you could sync up all of those on the matriarch with many cables, but it would be more work. All in all, either one would be a great pic :)

[@nickyates9820]

@@MilesAwayOfficial Nice! I'd always considered the Sub 37, but I jumped on the Matriarch as soon as I'd heard it. Just an incredible sound that you get from the Matriarch...I'll never let it go. I currently have a Prophet 6, OB6, and Matriarch. I just didn't have that workhorse synth like the Summit yet. The summit sounds very modern, yet still has an analog signal path, so I think that it would be worthwhile having it as an ultra versatile piece of hardware in addition to Serum/Ableton...where other Analog synths could add more character that you can't achieve with Software/digital...and of course vice versa.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

@@nickyates9820 that's a sick set up! What do you think of the OB-6? It's my next synth I'm thinking - torn between that and the new rev 4 Prophet 5. And yea for what you are after, Summit is perfect - it's my most used synth now even more so than the Matriarch, just cause of how versatile it is. I think you made a solid choice, the Sub 37 is so sick, but the Matriarch still sounds better to my ears. Also the analog delay on the matriarch is God tier.

[@itstonejones]

Do you think it’s worth having the Summit in addition to a Prolouge 16?

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

I definitely think so. They cover very different ground. The Summit is very versatile and creative, but doesn't have that much unique character, vs the Prologue has a few limitations but an amazing character and a unique sharp but warm sound.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Hey - not sure if you saw yet but I just released a side by side comparison of the two synths on my channel, might help you decide!

[@vaiman7777]

Great video thanks! You've just cost me 2k :) Can't wait for Friday though!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Enjoy! You are gonna love it 😁

[@pauljackson8282]

How do you think this synth compares with the Moog One?

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Moog One is a dream synth in the sense that it's a 100% Analog signal path, but sonically this can actually get places the One cannot (Wavetables/Better FM implementation). If you had to have me pick though I'd take the One but they are both great synths!

[@sayantanroy6111]

And Moog Ong is just 3x of summit's price

[@moetarded7757]

I would like to know more about your logic work flow.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Will make sure to do more logic tutorials!

[@Sainovfx]

Nice man let's make it big❤

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thanks for watching

[@Sainovfx]

@@MilesAwayOfficial if you have time ive made a video using your recent song i would really appreciate your feedback.

[@sayantanroy6111]

Will u teach me sound designing?

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

I teach lessons to several clients, email teammilesaway @ gmail. com