...basically Peak changing knob and slider values all on its own...

This was a topic back in May and I haven't seen any updates since. I just opened a ticket on the same topic with Novation last night and they claim to not have heard of the issue. I referenced the gearslutz threads and posted a few videos of the behavior.

Did anyone get any kind of response from Novation in the past few months, either acknowledging the problem or recommendations of a solution?

I had a peak on a 30 day trial and had that exact problem - random parameter changes. Mine seemed to happen when the screen was in "sleep" mode after a period of inactivity. Suddenly the screen would switch back on and a parameter value had changed...

I liked the sound, build quality and layout of Peak (not the presets)... but decided to return it within the 30 days, and keep an eye open for updates. I referenced Gearslutz too...but to the retailer, not Novation directly.

Great! I’m sure that’ll really help Novation to fix that problem.

/sarcasm

Seriously, I wonder as a percentage: how many people on here buy gear, find that it has a bug and then immediately return it without submitting a bug report to the manufacturer yet magically expect that given enough time the manufacturer will just somehow be aware of how big an issue that problem is and decide to fix it one day on a whim?

If I had to take a guess I’d say... 90% of people.

You know what makes great companies great at fixing bugs? Great customers. Next time that happens with a piece of gear, please consider taking the 67 seconds out of your day it takes to report it.

/rant

I have to second this. This is the response I had from Novation about the Patch/Value dial issue I'm having ....

With the knobs, can you provide a video to show the problem you have? If this is an issue with the quality of the built, we may have to investigate further and see if there is a need for a knob replacement for your unit. We may also have to contact our manufacturer to conduct an investigation. If you are not satisfied with our product, we can look further to connect you with our distributor at your purchase location. Can you kindly provide the serial number of the unit?

A bad reputation can spread so fast and kill a company so quickly these days. They take these things very seriously.

The Patch/Value knobs are the only encoders on the synth and probably have a different shaft material. I assumed they went bolted to the chassis like the others. They feel totally different than all the other knobs because they click, have a different physical resistance, and they wobble a bit like the shaft is plastic.

Is this what you’re describing?

The wobble was there on the first unit I had. I had no problem with that.

This unit, especially the Value knob, feels completely different. Both Patch and Value look off-centre when rotated, but at least I can rest my finger lightly on top of the Patch knob and rotate it a full 360. I can't do that with Value. It catches and stutters. To rotate it cleanly, I have to use thumb and index finger, hold firmly from the front and rotate. Even then it catches sometimes. In other words, I have to be conscious all the time of how I operate it.

That doesn’t sound right.

I think my first unit had a little drag on the Oatch knob as it touched the panel. I don’t notice anything out of line with my second unit.

Sorry man, I would return it to the retailer if you can.

I like multistage or spline envelopes for some things. Traversing wave tables or FM values is nice. Honestly though, I really prefer having several simple envelopes (hopefully they can cycle) and a way to mix the peaks. Linear A/D or AHD slopes are my favorite. Ala Serge USG, Buchla 281, etc. even in more classical applications like amp and filter.

Cycling envelopes?

This bares repeating imo.

I've been using a Korg Monologue recently which has a AD/AHD/Gate envelope and a one shot LFO for AD duty and you can get stuff done without a lot of fuss.

Yamaha DX envelopes on the other hand...

@ j3rk how do you go about mixing the peaks of multiple envelopes?

More Minimoog ADS(D) type envelopes wouldn't be a bad thing too.

But not linear for my VCAs please (JX-8P, Nord and Yamaha SY-1 I'm looking at yous) Control voltages perhaps.

In the case of the Buchla 281 (and possibly the Serge DUSG, I've only used the VCS and TGO versions of the USG) there is an "Analog OR Mixer" which is basically a transistor based DC mixer that combines the shapes. I took that and ran with it a little bit for one of my own designs. I do the OR Mixer, but make both inputs variable, and make both slope generators AD / AR (retriggerable AHD) and have a cycle switch for both slopes. So for example, you could cycle one and mix that with a one shot, so you get this small spike pattern that you can then accent with another gate. (this is for modular mainly, but I've also included this same setup in a little fixed mono-synth that I've been working on) Or you could have one slope slow, and low amplitude, triggered at the same time as a short spike, and get a more complex shape almost like an ADSR. There are a lot of ways to mix a pair of these.

Or, you could just use a DC mixer, which works fine too, and would allow more channels. For some reason though I like the way the little transistor based two channel OR-style setup works. It's simple and predictable. The bottom image on this page: Untitled Document shows a simple version of the types of things you can do with this type of configuration.

I have no idea if this is something you could do somehow on the Peak, so it's off-topic. I just saw the envelope comment above my response, and love to nerd out about that stuff.

If you want to try it on any old modular, just run two envelopes into a DC mixer with no negative offsets. It will have the same basic effect. Actually, if you used one inverted envelope, and DC shifted that one up to mix with the non-inverted envelope, you could get some interesting shapes.

Sounds worthy of another thread with audio examples ( : Nice one

Thanks! I actually just sent out a large system that I was building, but I’m about 3/4 of the way done with a panel that contains four of these slope generators with a peak mixer. I should have it in shape for making sounds in the next few days or so, I would happy to post some things.

Novation's feeding audio in the CV input:



I've seen people do this in Eurorack-land but hadn't realized you could do it with the Peak too

I just bought Peak and I'm excited but I have just a little concern about filter knob. All the other knobs are very tight and precise, except filter (frequency) knob. There is a small delay when I change a direction of rotation. It seems to be a bit loose. Definitely not the same feeling like the others knobs. Anybody else experienced that?

Mine is just as solid as the other knobs - no give at all, perfectly tight. There is probably something wrong with your unit - sorry to say...

Filter knob solid on the two units I've had.

Just got mine a few days ago. All knobs are tight and feel great - no noise issues here either!

Thanks, everybody for info. I will send Peak back to store for exchange.

People who've bought the Peak recently - did it come with the latest firmware installed or did you have to do it yourself?

I got mine a few months ago, and I seem to remember updating - I remember things happening in the display after I hooked it up one time. Haven't noticed any material difference though. HTH

Considering flipping my bs2 to help finance this fella. Generally speaking am I right to assume the peak can do everything the bs2 can deliver...and then some? Or is it just a totally different beast? Anyone with both units care to comment?

Having had a BS2 in the studio, currently with a Peak:

the BS2 oscs have a certain buzzy sharpness that is distinct. They remind me a bit of a 303 - not a 303 osc run through a filter to be "squelchy", but just hyper buzzy and razorsharp. The Peak's oscillator reminds me more of a classic Roland poly. Nothing about the Peak oscs seem "digital" as you would typically think of it, and the two parameters for "slop" are much more natural than the slop control on the DSI/Sequential gear. The filter is exactly like the BS2, but with more analog distortion points you can target specific frequencies to accentuate. The oscillator FM is great for simple additions, but don't expect Yamaha DX7 type sounds. As with any FM synth, you get better results from simple shapes than complex ones. Don't expect the wavetables to be as big an asset for FM synthesis as you'd think. I find I get great results from the folded sine wave wavetable.

The wavetables are great to use, but don't expect a wide variety like a Waldorf. The advertising about the wavetables is off - Novation claims that each wavetable is made from five different waves. While thats true, there is tons of blending between the five waves in every table which is just like a Waldorf. A number of the Waldorf wavetables just sound like four or five waves with blending between them. The only difference between a Peak and Waldorf gear is the variety of tones - the Peak wavetables all lean towards more industrial/harsh tonality.

What stands out the most about the Peak is how much tonal control you can get without using a filter for cutoff. On most synths you can set osc level, but if you want micro control in sound a filter sweep is pretty much it. With the many levels of control - independent wave shape on every osc wave, poly ring mod, three distortion points, effects - its great. One patch that I love uses an envelope to modulate the wavetable scanning, and I adjust the Release on the envelope to control the envelope fade-out. I couldn't do that on any analog.

The effects are the best sounding built-in digital effects I have heard from a synth. Full stop. The effects in the modern DSI/Sequential gear doesn't sound right - the DSI gear has decent effect algorithms, but the Peak's effects have that magic "glue" that makes them sound like a whole piece. However they handled the DAC/analog circuitry for the effect out was well done.

The menu system for parameters is super easy to use. I was scared before getting hands on with it, especially since the Blofeld menu system was a nightmare. The Peak feels super natural.

I think the Peak is phenomenal, an equal to pricier synths from Modal/DSI/Waldorf, and if they drop an update with more wavetables and features it would make this synth a true classic.

Really love my Peak. It's probably one of the best modern poly synths. I, too, thought the menu would be a pain, but it is super easy to use, and not a bazillion hidden features. Also agreed about the on-board effects being great.

In terms of sound design, my Peak is for poly as my Matrixbrute is for mono. IOW, tons of sound shaping in there, and really fun to use.

Here's something I recorded a few weeks ago. The effects are all from the Peak. Every sound is from the Peak. I mention in the video description that *some* of the distortion was intentional. Not all of it, though. :D

Some sounds I designed, some are presets. The video description explains which are which.

Oh, and someone asked about the supersaw. IMO, it's good, but not the same as a JP-800 Supersaw. Few are.

Here are three examples I recorded for a Facebook thread. They are in flac format.

Three osc poly supersaw High pass and Band pass filters.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AnUJ1LAGIrMDzKg3zwRfxvSPXuk9XQ

Three osc supersaw four-voice unison reso sweep
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AnUJ1LAGIrMDzKg4ULGRYwIbYJqJLw

Three osc poly supersaw
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AnUJ1LAGIrMDzKg2zd80xqwNCGE2CA


Again, distortion is my fault. I'm overloading something in the peak. I think I have the osc mixer up too high. I just haven't had a chance to debug it. Pretty sure it's not my audio interface inputs overloading. It's not all that unpleasant, but I know someone will point it out if I don't.

Pete

The supersaw is good enough that I don’t care if it’s a Roland VA copy.

One thing I forgot to mention - there is not a traditional oscillator sync, where you sync two oscillators together. In the Peak, each osc has its own virtual sync osc that you can pitch up or down as you like. While it’s not as harmonically rich as a regular osc sync, you can do up to three of them per patch, which ultimately gives more creative patching. Using the vsync on multiple detained supersaws, each with their own sync levels, is its own kind of supersaw

Thanks.
I got a replacement Peak and the old firmware was on it. Which just made me a little suspicious of the route it took to get here.

Nice one. It's a great machine for those kind of atmospheres.

One of the things I've noticed about the Peak .... other synths, especially those with effects, often sound richer with headphones. You get to hear into every corner of the sound. But the Peak seems to be the other way around - it's possible I wouldn't be that impressed if I'd just demoed it on headphones in a shop. Once that sound's coming out the speakers and filling the room though, it's a beauty.

Headphone outs are typically lower quality, and use a cheap amplification of the signal to power the headphones. They are not frequency-neutral and color the sound. Other than giving a very basic ability to understand what you're doing I would never rely on a synth's headphone out as reliable. A good headphone monitor being placed after the line level out would be the only way I'd use headphones if you are wanting to critically understand what you are doing.

A Brief Synth Comparison - Novation Peak / Roland JD-XA / Behringer DeepMind / Model D