Get to know our team of experts! This article wasWritten By Our Product Research Team Get to know them! Built on the formidable foundation of Novation’s renowned Peak synth module, Summit is a 2-part, 16-voice synthesizer with three oscillators per voice, aimed at the professional or semiprofessional musician seeking a powerful, inspiring 61-note keyboard synth for onstage and studio deployment. Summit puts the power of two Peaks right at your fingertips, letting you split or layer two completely independent patches across the keyboard, or switch between them on the fly. Summit also expands on Peak’s layout, with many additional controls and functions accessible on the front panel — including FM routing, LFOs 3 and 4, complete arpeggiator parameters, and more — plus pitch and mod wheels. Summit also features numerous new filter options and an audio input for processing external sources through its reverb, chorus, and delay FX.

Gloriously vibrant analog sound

The beating heart of Summit is its three digital New Oxford Oscillators per voice, hosted on the FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) chip. As well as generating authentically analog-sounding waveforms at ultra-high resolution, this architecture also facilitates FM and wavetable synthesis that delivers rich, harmonically complex, and highly textured raw tones. Each voice has a true stereo signal path with dual analog filters, three stages of analog distortion, and analog voltage-controlled amplifiers; while a wealth of modulation assignment options and colorful per-part effects (distortion, chorus, delay, and reverb) add movement, verve, and polish to your patches!

Powerful new Wavetable Editor 

Novation has come out with a powerful new Wavetable Editor for Summit that unleashes the full power potential of its wavetable oscillators. The Wavetable Editor is packed with functionality to speed up your creative process, including intuitive drawing tools and a Live Edit mode that let you literally draw your own oscillator shapes and preview them — all in real time! Quickly create your own oscillator waveforms from imported clips with the Audio Import function. You'll also find an expertly curated collection of space-themed audio direct from the NASA sound library, plus exclusive content from top EDM producers Noisia. The Wavetable Editor makes Summit more powerful than ever — inother great reason to add this advanced synth to your sonic arsenal!.

The latest firmware: v2.0

Ever the innovators, Novation pride themselves on the work done by Chris Huggett, who lent his iconic design expertise in sculpting synths and sounds with the company, including the Peak and Summit. As such, firmware updates expand the already-robust features for greater creative freedom and flexibility. Navigate stylishly texturized soundscapes of any scale with new stereo shaping tools, including per-voice panning as well as panning in the mod matrix, letting you cultivate the sonic land as you see fit. Modulation opportunities abound with the addition of new mod destinations, using noise as a mod source and more parameters for LFO 3 and 4. Use these tools to harness a rich unpredictability, augmented by the introduction of Animate Envelopes and Arpeggiator Chance features. New chorus modes, flanger, and phlanger are included in the expanded effects, with additional modulation destinations letting you experiment with sound design in previously unavailable ways, like the vintage panache of the Lo-Fi delay

What Novation Says...

Built on the innovative foundations of our critically acclaimed Peak synthesiser, Summit is a three-oscillator-per-voice, 16-voice keyboard synth that aims to inspire, empower, whether on stage or in the studio. Its Digital New Oxford Oscillators combine the best of analogue sound and digital flexibility – including inbuilt and custom digital wavetables. Effectively placing the power of two Peaks at your fingertips, Summit allows two completely independent patches to be split or layered across the keyboard or switched between on the fly. It also expands on Peak's layout, with many additional controls and functions now accessible on the front panel.

The best sounding synthesiser

Novation has ever made Summit doubles the power of Peak’s digital New Oxford Oscillators up to 16 voices and two parts, and adds a wealth of new features and a premium-quality five-octave keyboard. A synth much greater than the sum of its parts, it gives the serious producer or performer everything they need to design and play stunning basses, leads, arps, pads, effects and beyond.

Totally tactile sound design

Summit takes Peak’s architecture and workflow to new heights, with a swathe of extra front panel controls for hands-on wrangling of FM, effects, LFOs and more; dual filters with six LP/HP/BP combinations; audio input for processing external sources with the onboard effects; and auxiliary audio outputs.

Analogue where it matters

The true stereo analogue signal path comprises dual analogue multimode filters, analogue VCAs and three stages of analogue distortion – pre- and post-filter, and post-VCA. With roots in the legendary OSCar, via Bass Station II, Summit’s analogue credentials are truly impressive.

• Peak powered up — the acclaimed Peak architecture taken to the next level, with 16 voices, expanded controls, new filter options, and more
• Digital where it counts — digital FPGA-generated New Oxford Oscillators for analogue-style, wavetable and FM synthesis
• Analogue where it matters — dual analogue filters, analogue VCAs and three stages of analogue distortion per voice
• Two sounds at once — multitimbral engine for splitting, stacking and switching between two simultaneous patches
• Wavetable Editor — featuring drawing tools and a Live Edit mode, so you can draw your own oscillator shapes and preview them in real time

Wavetable Editor

Summit firmware update v2.0

In Novation’s biggest update for Summit, firmware update v2.0 brings a multitude of features across stereo controls, modulation and unpredictability, and effects, that give you powerful tools to shape your sound. Create more intricately textured soundscapes with updated stereo controls. Experiment with expansive sound design with modulation and unpredictability. A range of effects improvements bring new tonalities with the addition of Chorus Modes, Flanger, Phlanger, new effects modulation destinations and Lo-Fi delay. Have a look at the full details of firmware update v2.0 for Summit in the Release Notes.