The Novation Peak (Walkthrough and Review)

Novation loaned me a Peak synthesizer. It's really good. Here is a walkthrough and review of the synth.
01:00 Intro
02:45 Oscillators
10:55 Filter
15:30 Arpeggiator
19:00 Envelopes
21:20 LFOs
25:00 FX
33:29 Mod Matrix
48:17 Outro
I also have a pack of 65 presets for the Peak available now.
Get the pack: gumroad.com/l/rmrpeak01
Watch the preset demo video: • Novation Peak (and Sum...
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[@RedMeansRecording]

01:00 Intro 02:45 Oscillators 10:55 Filter 15:30 Arpeggiator 19:00 Envelopes 21:20 LFOs 25:00 FX 33:29 Mod Matrix 48:17 Outro

[@SpeldosaMusik]

0:57 - Hello! I'm from the future. As you already know, you can now load your own wavetables into the PEAK. Just wanted to leave this update here.

[@Alphonso_026]

“Please nerf this knob, it’s too OP!” - Jeremy Blake. 😂😂😂👌🏼

[@OliverMooney]

Looks like version 2.1 of the Peak firmware solves some of your pain points, Jeremy: envelope sustain is now a mod destination, and 'patch cue' separations patch selection into a two step process where you confirm it. Some other nice stuff too - they've added a delay stage to the envelopes so they're now 6-stage (delay -> attack -> hold -> decay -> sustain -> release), some more mod FX destinations and a HPF for the noise oscillator

[@erko_music]

Always a pleasure watching your videos. Was initially mostly watching the OP-1-videos but these walk-throughs are also great. Thanks for sharing!

[@crolodon8024]

The Peak is so cool, I'm here lusting after it and I already own one!!!

[@jumpontheroof]

Great review! I really think that the reverb on the Peak and Summit deserves a freakin' medal.

[@Soundwrecker]

Thank you! I've had my Peak since release and it is always fun and fresh.

[@hawk194]

Hello Jeremy. This is a really great video and I love your walk through tutorials. This is one of the best peak videos I’ve seen so thank you. I’ve been trying to decide if I should buy a Summit. This has helped and I’m going to order a Summit today. All this wonderful power twice, now that will be a beast of a synth! Thank you.

[@dnylsun]

Excellent walkthrough/tutorial! My Peak is on its way. Thanks for helping me to hold on a little longer :o)

[@Waldemar_la_Tendresse]

Of course, it's all in the woods ... ^^ Thanks for an interesting video of this wonderfully warm sounding synth.

[@G0nz0uk]

Wonderful video and synth, I've just got one and I'm blown away.

[@lauritarkiainen1858]

Superb video, really vivid exlanation of features.

[@leftovernoise]

Just picked up the summit today. I'm completely blown away. Thing is massive and beautiful and it sounds absolutely amazing. Love your videos man! Hope you get that summit if you haven't already!

[@NathanChisholm041]

Just got mine last week and what a synth! This will become a classic...

[@leftovernoise]

@@NathanChisholm041 enjoy! It's been 2 months and the summit still amazes me every time I play it!

[@Giga1023]

Loved that deep note type thing at the beginning

[@alchimerical2613]

I love your energy in this 😊

[@fattyboombatty7736]

Ta daaaa! They now have user wavetables. The filter drive, when turned up, sounds so moog'ish. I love it....

[@synthplayer1563]

Thanks. One of the best walkthrough.

[@hawk194]

Thanks for this Jeremy. Really good video. Using it to learn my Summit.

[@digitaldiezel5870]

Great information! This was fun! Thank you!

[@davidsteffens3952]

Thanks for this, I was planning to order next week

[@darksentinel082]

Absolutely top-notch, spendid, wonderful, fantastic, etc

[@donaldpriola1807]

One of the few synths I'll never give up. It's brilliant.

[@winddealer1]

The overall quality of the sound, physical construction (knobs, buttons & faders) and hyrbid mix of analogue and digital make it a must have classic.

[@wraymogg]

The new wavetable editor is nuts! I love it!

[@Kyle-wb7wx]

Thank you for this in-depth review. Now I need to check out the Summit as well.

[@IndividualName]

Your videos are super helpful, thanks a lot!

[@paaftube]

Thank you Novation for concidering wood ❤️ and thank you RMR for doing this video.

[@BackspinZX]

A+++++++++ THX homage in the intro.

[@tsooooooo]

Just got my Peak! So stoked

[@StephenBaird]

What do you mean I have to buy a Peak now. ...fiiiiine.

[@raidkyu]

On Pro 3: down + latch button for an init patch. Thanks for this dope video!

[@catcho1994]

This video was great. It’s funny how much material there is to cover before even getting to the mod matrix. I’ve had the peak for twice as long as you and didn’t notice the settings to loop the envelopes - which is something i’m definitely going to checkout for some ambient tracks. My complaint/wishlist: I wish there was an audio-in like the summit. I love the filter and the near infinite reverb and wish I could use it with other equipment.

[@winddealer1]

Knowing Novation I wouldn't be surprised that in a future firmware release other "hidden" features magically appear :) You are so right, it is a journey exploring all the capabilities of this elegant box.

[@leftovernoise]

The reverb on my summit is still one of my favorites reverbs of all time. They really did amazing with the effects

[@ToyKeeper]

Definitely one of the best synths ever made, even years later. There isn't much I'd want to change, except as you noted... making it a bit harder to nuke an unsaved patch. Also, would be nice if the animate buttons were knobs or wheels like the Hydrasynth's performance controls, but I suppose that can already be done using mod wheel / foot pedal / etc. Would be great to have a super-Peak module with 4+ timbres.

[@paulmapp8306]

Just watching because.... Ive had my peak about 18 months now, but just like watching demos wash over me - this is one of the best ones for peak. You mention a Virus - ive just added a used Ti2 desktop to my live rig alongside peak.

[@RedMeansRecording]

thanks a MASSIVE combo. have fun. :)

[@vidz4free]

Nice sounding and inspiring machine, just discovered here it has polyphonic portamento, I want one

[@terrestrialaccessnetwork8456]

LOL the THX intro was epic

[@metabeard3788]

One of my favorite studio purchases. I deliberated over a few different poly synths and settled on the Peak. I've been incredibly pleased with it.

[@winddealer1]

I love that it combines both digital (wavetables now) sources with an analogue signal path. The filter/amp and effects warm up the sound.

[@fattyboombatty7736]

It makes a great mono synth too :)

[@atmajpasalkar9225]

Mate great work

[@7177YT]

lovely! cheers! also: first!! (: btw: the few times I messed with a peak, I was struck with the exact same thought: 'Woahh that thing sounds way better than I remember.' (;

[@xpump876]

Been watching PolySynth vids (keyboard-less) for 4 months now, debating what to get and this last vid motivated me to order one tonight! I almost spent +3x the $ on a Black Corp synth but the Peaks layout looks very acceasble and I suspect the sonic quality will be just fine. ( I think I am going to carefully glue a little plastic rectangular wall around those patch select buttons to make a patch change keypress a focused effort and avoid mult explicative expressions ) 'All Hail the Omnissiah'!

[@RadicalOwl493]

Excellent demo, appreciate how far you guided us into this synth! Blue means peaking? : ).

[@techpsy]

THX certified. :D Great review!

[@Hysteric_Subjects]

Dude when you flipped the arp on you got some almost Alan Parsons vibes going right off

[@KarlClarkeMusic]

Love the THX intro

[@skreeep]

YOU BETTER BE PLANNING ON MAKING A PATCH BANK BRO

[@hooch8395]

man those 1st 2 umfs were spot on

[@AlexCBrandon]

See now I want to see you do this with a Studiologic Sledge...! Simpler, but quite a powerful yellow synth.

[@TheRealCatBurger23]

"Tone wood is just such an important thing!" :D:D:D

[@zachlyons]

Big Deep Note energy on the opening.

[@not-hank-s]

i can't imagine it would be THAT difficult to add some sort of lock to the patch knob through a software update...

[@jeremy8936]

Can I just say that opening sound is enough for me to buy this thing :P

[@iVardensphere]

You can INT the pro3 from the front panel

[@tendingtropic7778]

thanks for this video! very cool synth, but just a bit too much menu diving/screentime for me. I prefer the prophet rev4 module in this aspect

[@mikebuerger]

That is some nice wood.

[@alanshewitt]

And now, user wavetables in the latest update.

[@Jason75913]

the built-in effects are nice, but I have better external choices, like a lot of people, it's not like they are inaccessible at any time, and I have to hook it up to any keybed I've got in order to use the Peak, too, hence I, too, don't care for built-in effects that aside, that lovely built-in reverb is so nice, makes me wish the reverb didn't sound like it is being squashed to death with an inaccessible compressor

[@MIbKMunk]

I suppose that LFO 1 and 2 can't modulate 3 and 4 since the former are per voice and the latter are global. Just a thought. Anyway, great video!

[@MonitorVonSynthesizer]

Hi Jeremy, lovely video. How do you like the Launchpad Pro MK3? Will you do some review of it? Who is it good for?

[@RedMeansRecording]

good for ableton users and hardware users. it was some really advanced features for both. if i have time i'll do a walkthrough of it.

[@danpreston564]

My complaints about the Peak - Not enough mod destinations. I want everything to be available like on the Sub37. The envelopes are a bit of a weird shape. The attack is really hard to dial in to a nice amount. When trying to program a 'Shine On' style lead sound the BS2 and the Sub37 were much easier to get a pleasant attack phase. Maybe it’s linear vs exponential, I don’t know. I’d love to be able to bypass the VCA envelope and just have a gate so it’s easier to dial in different amp shapes for different oscillators, and also to be able to bypass the filter by oscillator. Aside from that I really enjoy. Spend hours just making lots of sounds that I’ll never use but are fun to create.

[@coachsteve.]

Great overview. Just a quick correction, the "Overdrive" on the front panel is pre-filter drive. In the menu, "FltPostDrv" is post-filter pre-amp drive and "Distortion" is post-amp. Little confusing.

[@RedMeansRecording]

Oh!

[@valdir7426]

so no post-reverb overdrive? that's a pass (this is a joke just in case; this thing has 3 freaking different overdrive points)

[@Steve-Tr1Bz]

Just a correction, It's an eight-voice analogue-hybrid design with a total of 24 oscillators, a multi-mode filter, analogue distortion

[@rozz3r]

Great video. Just FYI, you can INIT on the Pro 3 by hitting Transpose Down and Latch buttons simultaneously 👍

[@RedMeansRecording]

Cheers

[@timothydavis3348]

What_are_outputs?_sorry_my_space_bar_broken._are_they_balanced_or_unblanced?_gutar_cables)work?

[@ltdhangout9528]

Weird - Filter Diverge doesn't seem to create that acid effect for me when i turn it up to 127 on the int patch. Doesn't change anything about it actually, did I miss something?

[@raytbrown2]

That knob bump @41:00 talked me out of it - thank you!

[@atmajpasalkar9225]

Hey Jeremy can you please make an op 1 tutorial cause you are like the best teacher ever

[@RedMeansRecording]

I plan on it this year

[@skirkybaby]

Red Means Recording as Cat please :/ so my 4 year old can giggle like a maniac while I enjoy learning at the same time! His newest catch phrase is “Yay, Cat Cat Cat Cat”

[@atmajpasalkar9225]

Thanks Jeremy cause I own an op 1 now and I don't know what the hell should I do with it

[@macronencer]

That glide doesn't have constant time, does it? :( At least, that's how it sounds to me. It's baffling - Hydrasynth makes this glaring mistake too. Ideally glide should have a selector that allows either constant or interval-dependent time, but if you're going to provide only one of them, at least make it constant time because that's more musically useful, especially when running sequences. EDIT: My apologies! I just read the manual, and it seems to say that the time control is independent of the interval. I must have imagined it. Anyway, I'll be able to experiment for myself in two days' time, as I've just ordered one :D

[@OscillatorSink]

The resonant bump is on my bottom.

[@RedMeansRecording]

Giggling

[@WellsOliver]

Lovely. It always kills me, all this newfangled synth tech and stuff and someone kicks a arpeggiated chord progression through a verb and slight delay and I could just listen to that for a long long time.

[@RedMeansRecording]

Right? Same.

[@mb2776]

I wouldn't call it a VA synth. It is rather a hybrid synth, kinda similar to a waldorf microwave more or less...

[@dontaewinslow]

How did it compare to the summit? Did u get that as well and feel it was better… since it is 2 peaks? Or was that overkill, thanks

[@heavenorhell2024]

summit has features that mentioned in this video which are lacking in peak, plenty of bugs fixed, novation pc library is cool thing too. Summit killed the need to for other synths, learning curve is steep, I spent hours learning and I feel like need to watch every tutorial on youtube :)

[@valdir7426]

so it's feb 2023 now; did they sort this preset knob thing? that's a pretty big problem

[@armintam5arian]

i thought you can use your own wavetables???

[@GrootsieTheDog]

My fav synth but I’m with you - the patch knob is redundant - I wonder if they could make it assignable? And more mode destination/sources....But I feel like an ungrateful spoiled brat complaining because it’s such a great instrument. The manual arp mode is incredible - it nearly behaves like a sequencer - remembers note repeats so you can create complex patterns e.g.ab-aabb-aaabbb-aaaa-bbbb etc. very cool. Lol - Yes your right, the wood is absolutely integral to the sound - the aluminum peak stands force you to lose the wood to attach them ....no way - I put the wood on with a special screws and it looks great...sounds better with the wood for sure 😂

[@lefunghi6151]

Ugh I really can’t decide between the summit and peak. Both are so good. On one hand I could save some money and get the peak and spend the extra that would’ve went into the summit on other gear, but why buy other gear when you have a summit..

[@LukezyM]

You can buy the Peak and the Hydra desktop for the price of the Summit. I think that’s a nice compromise.🙂

[@robsanchezaus]

I had the same dilemma. I ended up choosing a Peak and a Prologue 8 voice. Cost roughly the same as a Summit. Pretty happy with the combo. The Prologue and Peak both sound excellent and can each do things the other can’t, that’s what swayed me. I don’t think you can go wrong either way, though.

[@malikdavis6091]

If you had to choose what would it be the hydrasynth or this

[@RedMeansRecording]

Peak for quick good sounds, Hydra for sound design

[@gregoryschimanski7689]

Top

[@MicroDemi]

Tron flashbacks

[@yeppy013]

Can't you recreate similar sounds digitally in the box?

[@RedMeansRecording]

yes

[@TiberianFiend]

I've got the feeling I could own one of these for years and never learn everything about it.

[@Jason75913]

it's no Wavestate or Krome EX, you'll be fine with it for years nevertheless

[@MrBothandNether]

I waited until NAMM was over to see if they came out with a desktop Summit or a Circuit PolyStation. Getting a Peak desktop shortly.

[@NathanChisholm041]

They have the Peak i doubt they will make another version off it!

[@yeppy013]

Is it better to go stereo out?

[@RedMeansRecording]

yes

[@AceHardy]

📝

[@andresfernandezmtl]

Why do you have a huge glass of water next to your gear?

[@RedMeansRecording]

Because staying hydrated is important

[@andresfernandezmtl]

@@RedMeansRecording I hope that your gear is not drinking! 😅

[@MrMarcLaflamme]

And you just had to go and post this when I'm trying to convince myself I don't need to buy a Peak....

[@RedMeansRecording]

but you do

[@MrMarcLaflamme]

Red Means Recording so I bought a Peak...

[@RadicalOwl493]

I’m in the same boat. I think this video was the final tipping point. By next week, I should be introducing my recently purchased Digitakt to Peak.

[@jayonbaby]

Do you still feel the same way about the Peak?

[@RedMeansRecording]

Yup

[@IgnacioChavez]

Did you really say "friendo" at 1:15 ? lol

[@Nightingale1887]

I want one so bad. This isn't helping.

[@discomyass]

the only sad thing for me about this synth is that you can't put it in a rack!!!!

[@nkozi]

Hmm, thought you didn't like loaners!

[@RedMeansRecording]

This was more of a trial run to see if I like the synth. Spoiler: I do.

[@nkozi]

Red Means Recording you and everyone on earth!

[@OscillatorSink]

You're saying it wrong.

[@Val_Cla]

yeah it should be prononced "NovaSion Peeaque" just like that Red means recording guy said at namm. smh -_-

[@sumchi3690]

Get a Deep Mind 12

[@RedMeansRecording]

Behringer sucks

[@LukezyM]

The synths are kinda good actually.

[@Jason75913]

that's a different beast

[@jacobbrown1690]

this review aged well.....not just buy an asm hydrasynth....ten times the synth.

[@larsolesimonsen]

And here I am in the process of replacing my HS desktop with a peak. To each his own, I guess. HS has more features, yes. Peak just sounds better to my ears.

[@heavenorhell2024]

aged perfectly, + summit came out like two years ago, majority of bug fixes fixed + plenty of new features, summit/peak is future classic and great investment. asm is cool synth but not on par with novation, totally different sound.

[@bobcatt2294]

Dude, at: 3:36 you mention vibrato - that what you are showing is not vibrato. Do you know the difference? You are about oscillating not vibrato. Thumbs up.