Audiopilz: *slaps roof of YT channel* Full Tracks, Extended Jams, Sample Packs: www.patreon.com/audiopilz Follow me on Instagram: instagram.com/audio.pilz/
I love the Peak dearly. It’s my go to machine for all things sound design and paddy and it never fails to make a noise I like when i sit in front of it. The amount of new stuff added in updates has been brilliant, especially them finally adding envelopes to the animate buttons for fading the modulations in and out. I also have never had a problem with the menu system, which I find to be really well implemented, logical and easy to use.
It's Novation's best hardware synth, hands down. Wavetable and extreme digital freaks might want to look elsewhere, but if you want a warm robust malleable subtractive poly synth, Peak / Summit is glorious. And the filter overdrive sounds like an ms-20. 👌
For me, he's reviewed the TR-8S. That's it.* He does have a Jomox AirBase 99, but he's never reviewed it, as far as I'm aware. And given that some of my gear is quite esoteric, it'll be a while before he's reviewed them all. * Not counting variants. He reviewed the Bass Station 2, and I have the Super Bass Station, for example. Or the AN200 vs the AN1x.
When Chris Hugget died i was very upset, he was the last person known to be able to program the Fpga based signal system in these devices and to think it would not have had a second update was concerning. It has been fixed now, but even the early operating system was still very good in my opinion. Keep in mind, 2 of my favorite synths are the DX7 and the S2000... so a synth like this only serves to make me so very happy. No one i know who just loves to tweak the knobs on a moog loves the deep menu diving functions of hardware like me...
Same here. Switched from Peak to Summit. Both are awesome but Summit isn't just a double Peak, it ha some awesome extra features and since fw2.0 it is rock stable for me. Lovely gear which I will never sell for sure. (I am very satisfied with all my Novation stuff tbho. The AFX station, Circuit Track and Mono Station, Mininova and the Summit. There are some other synths in my collection like the DX7, the M1 or the Deepmind12 and the MPC key61 even some Pocket Operators and the TherapSID as well. I like them all but it seems I am a Novation fan at the end, I like the sounding of their synths both FM and analogue . :D
@@MaverickM1 I find criticisms of Peak sounding 'digital' to be a product of someone not spending enough time with the synth to figure out how to coax a warm sound out of it. It certainly can sound digital if one wants to make it so, but there are times I've designed sounds where I sit back and think, "wow." Definitely keen on whatever Novation decides to make next. These days I do sit at the Summit first whenever I'm thinking through patch or song ideas.
Oh man, Peak was at the top of my shopping list for ages, tied with the Hydrasynth and Pro 3. The choice eventually came down to which one went on a good sale first., and now I have a lovely Pro 3. It's great living in a time with so many fantastic options.
I got myself a Pro 3 last Christmas. Absolute beast. It's by far my favorite synth I've ever owned. Making face ripping leads on that baby is a no brainer.
I absolutely love 🥰 all the buttons, knobs, sliders, flashing lights and dials on this thing! The UI deserves a 5 minute video of its own in my opinion. How about an episode on the UltraNova Florian? It's a very cool synth that can be found on the used market at a very reasonable price point right now.
I got one of these. It sounds fantastic, it's very hard to make it sound bad. Great build quality and the FX are great. But yes, lot's of menu diving to get to the bone. Thanks Florian for another great Bad gear.
Just wanted to drop a comment and say how much I'm enjoying your channel, but not only that, it's really impressive to see the development of your videos over the years. I actually only discovered your videos a few months ago and since then I have been watching many of your videos from several years ago and more recently, and while they've always been great, the production value, the humor, and your personality have all skyrocketed and they're truly some of my favorite videos to watch. My whole family is very familiar now with the intro and "Welcome to Bad Gear, the show about the world's most hated audio tools!"
Peak is hands down still the most versatile device I have ever owned. Some would say it is perfect. And I can’t quite frankly disagree apart from the menu diving that needs to be done when going for more complex patches. Shortcuts would be a great addition.
There are some small things I wish it could do. Only 10 user wavetables with no way to delete the factory ones I don't use is a big one. Wish the distortion knob was more aggressive. I usually combine it with the overdrive to get it where I want. The reverb is gorgeous and I wish it could do external-in just to take advantage of that. Chorus and delay are fine but nothing to write home about. The filter doesn't have a lot of character (though that's what makes it so versatile). The noise knob is too clean and precise. Analog noise might've been better. That seems like a weird complaint but I can get great snares and hi-hats out of a Vermona Mono Lancet '15 but not the Peak. It may seem weird to make hi-hats at all on an expensive synthesizer, but between the arpeggiator options and gate, you can get some quick hi-hat rhythms. That's enough to not be perfect for me, but they're all extremely nitpicky. It's still me favorite workhorse-synth.
@@niedec_hello yeah the distortion is a little disappointing, I always have to crank it to the point i have to turn the volume down to 10% or less. but thanks to rock music we got a shitton of pedals that can take care of that so it's not that big of a deal
I have a Summit, which is like 2 of these I believe. I adore it. I don't use it for everything, but that filter can sound nice, low and seething when you want it to 🙂
They absolutely messed up and didn't include the filter diverge setting that the OSC OSCar has, which allows you to get two resonant peaks. They included it on the later Summit, though, but even there it's a menu diving thing. It just really should be standard on all synths, and have a dedicated knob. I don't think I ever leave it on zero. 😀 So yeah, you can call the Peak and the Summit "BaseStation 3" if you want, but what they really are, are PolyOSCars. So Chris Hugget was able to create it in the end. 👍
2:15 FPGAs are basically custom integrated circuits (ASICs) but reprogrammable. They consist of blocks of logic functions like AND, OR, XOR, ... that are implemented using a look up table (a small piece of RAM, the data address is replaced by a combination input signals). FPGAs can compute things in parallel whereas most processors can compute only one thing.
I was pretty surprised when I heard one live earlier this year. This thing has some ridiculous low end through a big PA. Last time I experienced bass like that was an Alan Wilder show in 2011 where he used an Analogue Solutions Leipzig (nothing tops that experience).
I agree with your comments about the sound. I have a Summit and you can get it sounding more alive, but I find that it's harder to get there. I just turn my Prologue on and there's instant movement in its oscillators.
Its not just the Basstation 3, most synth UI is still stuck in the 70s/80s. Come to think of it, most synth sounds are too! Has the been anything genuinely new post 80s, by then we had analog subtractive, additive, sampling, wavetable, sample + synthesis...
The novation sound is no doubts my favorite for 90% of the genres I'm into. Modern, pristine and so so psychedelic. Will there be a nova and a supernova episode?
The only thing I wish the Peak could do was run the headphone out back into an aux in like on the Bass Station 2. And I guess the weird AFX mode on the BS2 would be amazing as well with the full polyphony.
You got a laugh from me before I even played the video with "Bass Station 3". Excellent trolling. I do have a Peak. I agree it doesn't do "warm", much, but it's such a great box for quickly getting the results you want. You definitely leaned on the various overdrive options a lot so I could tell you were enjoying yourself. 🙌 FWIW I don't really like using it for basses, it's a bit too clinical, but apart from that I love it. It's also good to run it into a good valve pre on the way to the desk if you just want some bloom and fatness, really helps it sound more natural.
While typical bass sounds get boring or cheesy pretty fast, that thing is excelent for atmospheric pads, bells, leads and effect sounds. You even have four slots for modulaing effect parameters, which can get pretty trippy!
I’m not versed in modern synths but have always kind of preferred VAs for their flexibility and the Peak is a synth I got used and have enjoyed making patch after patch on! The build quality is amongst the best I’ve seen and it will likely outlive a lot of other gear. The online patch management makes backing up and getting new presets and wavetables easy. And, being a simple guy, I like making twisted FM osc sounds (FM osc routing in menu) then taming them through a filter/env, or just giving a pad a warped twist as it goes on using the matrix and pushing things through the posh onboard reverb to finish! As you showed, its really good at retrowave. A good bread and butter synth with menu extras to push it further and wavetable longevity plus the Novation juicy house sound!
honestly this was the first review of the peak where i liked its sound, but completely agree with u that even if it can sound fat there is always something cold underlying in its tone that i dont want in my production...next 1 plz korg modwave :) really interested in what u can get out of this
05:47 he was able to fill the page of hate with comments.. so it qualifies. But.. pretty much any synth that isn't incredibly obscure will probably also qualify 😅
I concur. I think it would make more sense to name the show "GEAR" or "You're wrong about said; Gear?" But what really is going on is. I don't need an excuse to talk about gear. Lol PS- as much as I would love the peak, that many knobs only terrifies me.
Re BS3, I’ve been saying this for a looong time. Give us the Peak engine (more or less) with a 32-key (2.5 octave) full-size keyboard. Reduce the polyphony if need be to keep the price reasonable (say $700-800). The different engine wouldn’t cannibalize BS2 sales too much, and reduced polyphony would keep it out of the way of the Peak and flagship Summit. It could compete with the Take 5/TEO-5 and PWM Mantis (if that ever ships)
Mine literally arrived yesterday😂 Didn't have the time to check it out yet and just now I had sweat on my forehead when I saw your video. But it seems everything is alright...phew 😌
Well done Dude ! All amazing, from the intro to those wonderjams, and I think you like it more than you conclude, embrass limitations; This is still an amazing peace of gear, forever I suspect..
I love the Peak. It's my most pricey synth and I just destroyed my finances paying it off last week. It has chord and unison sounds like nothing else I own and I have 9 or 10 synths including the Sequential Take 5 which I also just paid off. I really consider the Peak and Take 5 the Batman and Robin of synths. It seems everything I love about the Take 5 is flipped 180 degrees on the Peak and they compliment each other perfectly. The Take 5 for me is king of power bass, unison and pluck leads whereas the Peak has unison sounds that are massive and chords and every type of sound in the synth book. Also there are professional artists w free Peak patches that are amazing. There is a patch on the Peak that sounds exactly like a Roland 303 called Acid Accents whereas the 303 am Take 5 patch in bank 1 sounds nothing like a 303 but is vibey, rich and fat sounding and no 303 acid sounds despite massive bass and sub bass. Have a nice day.
I don't know how the intro track on this thing sounded so weak. This piece of gear is otherwise excellent for my taste. All the jams were great, but the jaw dropped when you paried it with the polyend mini. Thanks again for killin' it!
The BS2 is still my favorite novation (and the only one I currently own) i love it for its rawness, fast envelopes and AFX mode. If the peak was 8 voices all doing independent AFX mode style instant patch switching per key, I’d buy it! Thats what a BS3 should be.
Another one I'm surprised about. I need to stop being surprised. It does have one major design flaw that I've never understood why they haven't fixed in a firmware up: the change program knob is identical to the edit knob and right next to the screen. There's no confirmation message so I've lost some patches I really loved due to accidentally switching programs before saving.
Also FPGA's aren't too hard to understand. They are basically a chip where instead of using a microcontroller set up for universal computing, you program it to perform a particular function that effectively sets the hardware to a new configuration. It's like making your own dedicated chip, but instead of setting up transitors on a board, you program an array of gates to do that. The reason they can use high sample rates is you can set dedicated portions of the gate array to do specific functions (like read data and... oscillate) rather than just putting everything on a single core where all the oscillators, processors, MIDI communication, internal voltage generation, etc. are all using the same clock cycle.
I had one for a bit but returned it. My biggest issues with it were the lack of top end out of the oscillators, terribly bad quality of imported wavetables, lack of noise high pass and the filters would easily clip in an unpleasant way. Otherwise it was a great idea, I would pick up a v2 if it took care of these issues.
Whilst you are on the subject of FPGA oscillators I reckon it's about time the UDO Super 6 recieved the grilling its cold, underwhelming and sterile sound deserves. A case of the Emperor's new clothes if ever there was. Time for the backlash to begin.
Absolutely, my friend! That’s why I sold my REV2 (8 voices) a couple of years back and bought this synth instead. Yeah, it’s not bi-timbral and build quality is not that great, but the sound is fantastic
You didn’t know how to use your REV 2, then … though they are both excellent, and very different. You should definitely check out “Voice Component Modeling”, if you have or are thinking of getting a REV 2 … that will turbo-boost your use of it, for starters … … I have a REV2-16-KB and a Summit. They’re probably the last 2 synths I’d part with.
FPGA's are digital chips that can be reprogrammed , its mostly logic and memory(flip-flops) and logical functions , state machines and so on. old consoles can ( and are) emulated precisely using them. students use them to study EE and computer science ( like how a cpu is designed) they are used for the prototyping phase of design before mass production of printed circuitry(ASIC) also they are space worthy and used on satellites and for communication ( digital radio )
As much as I enjoy the videos, "Bad Gear" is the victim of it's own success, as eventually you really run out of "Really" bad gear to feature, so then even great gear is necessary for future content.
Pete is definitely appointed fascination for yours truly. I might have thought of getting this module for myself, but I think my interest in it was only fleeting. I also think interest in it from within the synthesizer “community” fell out after only a few months on the market. Interestingly enough, one Novation model that has held up since the turn of the 2000s when it hit the market is the Supernova II. What did they do right with that particular model that it should be considered passé but is still attracting interest 24 years later?
Ditto,@@AudioPilz! With more than enough keyboard synthesizers and another one on back order for June 2024, the Hydrasynth Explorer, I could daydream about the module version of the SuperNova.
"Great Build Quality" I had three services : 1 for some strange booting issue, and twice for the jittery filter within one year. They replaced all three times to their credit. Worth mentioning, the arp % per note can not be nderestimated and should be standard on all arps going forward. It increases thepower of the arp drastically.
With this episode, you have officially covered every synth and drum machine I use, save for the organelle m. Might as well do the Critter and Guitari Organelle M next lol
Audiopilz: *slaps roof of YT channel*
Full Tracks, Extended Jams, Sample Packs: www.patreon.com/audiopilz
Follow me on Instagram: instagram.com/audio.pilz/
I joined reverb after you shilled it on a few episodes. Could you ask your insiders why I got suspended after making an account?Cheers!
This show is slowly morphing into “Badly Wanted Gear”
Bad Gear GAS is a thing;)
So true
Always has been (meme)
I love the Peak dearly. It’s my go to machine for all things sound design and paddy and it never fails to make a noise I like when i sit in front of it. The amount of new stuff added in updates has been brilliant, especially them finally adding envelopes to the animate buttons for fading the modulations in and out. I also have never had a problem with the menu system, which I find to be really well implemented, logical and easy to use.
👍👍👍
are you kidding me with Jam 2??? Bro that fuckin' shredded, super nice work!!
Thank you so much!!!
@@AudioPilz Yes its very good !
It's Novation's best hardware synth, hands down. Wavetable and extreme digital freaks might want to look elsewhere, but if you want a warm robust malleable subtractive poly synth, Peak / Summit is glorious. And the filter overdrive sounds like an ms-20. 👌
👍👍👍
Best *desktop Novation synth. Summit adds a few things, but both are great.
I've had super 6, ob6, sub 37... And yet my Summit remained because to me it's more versatile and I love it for that
Baldmau5 with that first jam lol. Thanks for blessing my Friday once more! :)
Lol, Baldmau5
Why didn't I think of that first!
Yeah that’s gonna stick 😂
Nice
Everyone who once upon a time thought Deadmau5 was "Deadmau Five" raise your hand.
That 80s video game short was amazing. No way a bleep bloop nerd like yourself made anything that cool. My compliments to the chef.
Thank you so much!!! You might wanna check out Mad Mullet Jack;)
Mr. Florian, You can congratulate me, now all my gear was featured on this FANTASTIC show😆
Thank you so much!!! Bad Gear Bingo!!!
Stark indication you need new gear.
For me, he's reviewed the TR-8S. That's it.* He does have a Jomox AirBase 99, but he's never reviewed it, as far as I'm aware.
And given that some of my gear is quite esoteric, it'll be a while before he's reviewed them all.
* Not counting variants. He reviewed the Bass Station 2, and I have the Super Bass Station, for example. Or the AN200 vs the AN1x.
What about old cheetah modules?
i'm almost there, but to my knowledge florian hasn't done the korg emx-1 or esx-1. intentionally? i hope so
I sold my DSI Pro-2 to buy a Novation Peak and I haven't been disappointed by it. Extremely versatile synth IMO.
👍👍👍
And after years of somebody else's problem gear, he's come for me. Nice job, as always!
Thank you so much!!!
First he came for Roland and I didn't speak out as I didn't own a Roland.
When Chris Hugget died i was very upset, he was the last person known to be able to program the Fpga based signal system in these devices and to think it would not have had a second update was concerning. It has been fixed now, but even the early operating system was still very good in my opinion. Keep in mind, 2 of my favorite synths are the DX7 and the S2000... so a synth like this only serves to make me so very happy. No one i know who just loves to tweak the knobs on a moog loves the deep menu diving functions of hardware like me...
🙌
The man. The legend.
The Summit is my precious--an amazing instrument capable of so much depth. I will never let it go.
👍❤️👍❤️👍❤️
Same here. Switched from Peak to Summit. Both are awesome but Summit isn't just a double Peak, it ha some awesome extra features and since fw2.0 it is rock stable for me. Lovely gear which I will never sell for sure. (I am very satisfied with all my Novation stuff tbho. The AFX station, Circuit Track and Mono Station, Mininova and the Summit. There are some other synths in my collection like the DX7, the M1 or the Deepmind12 and the MPC key61 even some Pocket Operators and the TherapSID as well. I like them all but it seems I am a Novation fan at the end, I like the sounding of their synths both FM and analogue . :D
@@MaverickM1 I find criticisms of Peak sounding 'digital' to be a product of someone not spending enough time with the synth to figure out how to coax a warm sound out of it. It certainly can sound digital if one wants to make it so, but there are times I've designed sounds where I sit back and think, "wow." Definitely keen on whatever Novation decides to make next. These days I do sit at the Summit first whenever I'm thinking through patch or song ideas.
“Not Bad Meaning Bad, But Bad Meaning GOOD” - Run DMC
Word!
More like Michael Jackson BAD.
...Wait, that doesn't sound good.
@@AudioPilz😂😂😂😂
❤❤❤❤!!!
TIL other people don’t like the Novation tone, I thought I was just being a hater of everything again
My desert island synth - you can pry my Peak out of my cold, dead hands 😁Great jams on this episode.
Thanks!!!
Oh man, Peak was at the top of my shopping list for ages, tied with the Hydrasynth and Pro 3. The choice eventually came down to which one went on a good sale first., and now I have a lovely Pro 3. It's great living in a time with so many fantastic options.
Nice one!!!
Pro 3 is my dream monosynth and this would go really nice as a poly on top
I got myself a Pro 3 last Christmas. Absolute beast. It's by far my favorite synth I've ever owned. Making face ripping leads on that baby is a no brainer.
Phew, nearly got me there Florian, good thing I've only got a Summit.
You dodged that bullet;)
Lmfao !!!!!! I was thinking the EXACT SAME THING 😂😂😂😂
The Monty Python skit about the mountain climbing leader with double vision comes to mind.
I absolutely love 🥰 all the buttons, knobs, sliders, flashing lights and dials on this thing! The UI deserves a 5 minute video of its own in my opinion.
How about an episode on the UltraNova Florian? It's a very cool synth that can be found on the used market at a very reasonable price point right now.
Great suggestion, thank you!!!
I got one of these. It sounds fantastic, it's very hard to make it sound bad. Great build quality and the FX are great. But yes, lot's of menu diving to get to the bone. Thanks Florian for another great Bad gear.
Thank you so much!!!
Just wanted to drop a comment and say how much I'm enjoying your channel, but not only that, it's really impressive to see the development of your videos over the years. I actually only discovered your videos a few months ago and since then I have been watching many of your videos from several years ago and more recently, and while they've always been great, the production value, the humor, and your personality have all skyrocketed and they're truly some of my favorite videos to watch. My whole family is very familiar now with the intro and "Welcome to Bad Gear, the show about the world's most hated audio tools!"
Thank you so much!!!
Peak is hands down still the most versatile device I have ever owned. Some would say it is perfect. And I can’t quite frankly disagree apart from the menu diving that needs to be done when going for more complex patches. Shortcuts would be a great addition.
👍👍👍
Agreed--it may have menu diving, but it's such a joy to work with once the workflow clicks into place. I love it.
There are some small things I wish it could do. Only 10 user wavetables with no way to delete the factory ones I don't use is a big one. Wish the distortion knob was more aggressive. I usually combine it with the overdrive to get it where I want. The reverb is gorgeous and I wish it could do external-in just to take advantage of that. Chorus and delay are fine but nothing to write home about. The filter doesn't have a lot of character (though that's what makes it so versatile). The noise knob is too clean and precise. Analog noise might've been better. That seems like a weird complaint but I can get great snares and hi-hats out of a Vermona Mono Lancet '15 but not the Peak. It may seem weird to make hi-hats at all on an expensive synthesizer, but between the arpeggiator options and gate, you can get some quick hi-hat rhythms.
That's enough to not be perfect for me, but they're all extremely nitpicky. It's still me favorite workhorse-synth.
@@niedec_hello yeah the distortion is a little disappointing, I always have to crank it to the point i have to turn the volume down to 10% or less. but thanks to rock music we got a shitton of pedals that can take care of that so it's not that big of a deal
Your production and creativity are vastly improved since the first time I started watching you
Thank you so much!!!
The demo tracks in this episode are rad.
Thank you!!!
you wildly undersold the stunning quality of the onboard fx
Yep
Really liked them but they can be a bit underwhelming compared to the ones in e.g. the Hydra or a modern Roland
Hail Hydra!
was almost thinking this day wouldn't come. here we are at last
😀😀😀
The Summit is where it’s at. 16 voices. Bi-timbral. A gorgeous piece of kit. Best value for money spent in its class.
Nice one!!!
I have a Summit, which is like 2 of these I believe. I adore it. I don't use it for everything, but that filter can sound nice, low and seething when you want it to 🙂
Nice one!!!!
Bad Gear, Good Reviews.
A mandatory watch at every episode.
Thank you so much!!!
@@AudioPilz all thanks to you. making the synth world a better place, one educated review at a time.
They absolutely messed up and didn't include the filter diverge setting that the OSC OSCar has, which allows you to get two resonant peaks. They included it on the later Summit, though, but even there it's a menu diving thing. It just really should be standard on all synths, and have a dedicated knob. I don't think I ever leave it on zero. 😀
So yeah, you can call the Peak and the Summit "BaseStation 3" if you want, but what they really are, are PolyOSCars. So Chris Hugget was able to create it in the end. 👍
Interesting, thanks for posting!!!
Twin peak filters are great!
You might want to check out PWM’s Mantis (the last synth designed by Chris Hugget, although I think the Peak has more power {polyphony wise} )
@@sawtooth808Yeah, the PWM is very much a modern OSCar.
Bloomin heck it's made me want one. I have had two mono stations and own an OB6 but this can do some cool stuff
Mono Station is super underrated!!!
2:15 FPGAs are basically custom integrated circuits (ASICs) but reprogrammable. They consist of blocks of logic functions like AND, OR, XOR, ... that are implemented using a look up table (a small piece of RAM, the data address is replaced by a combination input signals).
FPGAs can compute things in parallel whereas most processors can compute only one thing.
Thanks for the heads up!!!
Can you make review of arturia minibrute 2s. Cheers.
Thanks!!! Been there done that;)
@@AudioPilz Sorry didnt seen that😅
I was pretty surprised when I heard one live earlier this year. This thing has some ridiculous low end through a big PA. Last time I experienced bass like that was an Alan Wilder show in 2011 where he used an Analogue Solutions Leipzig (nothing tops that experience).
Yes, the bass is super tight!!!
@@AudioPilz
Typo, the ass is super tight!!!
I agree with your comments about the sound. I have a Summit and you can get it sounding more alive, but I find that it's harder to get there. I just turn my Prologue on and there's instant movement in its oscillators.
👍👍👍
Its not just the Basstation 3, most synth UI is still stuck in the 70s/80s.
Come to think of it, most synth sounds are too! Has the been anything genuinely new post 80s, by then we had analog subtractive, additive, sampling, wavetable, sample + synthesis...
You have a point there!
The novation sound is no doubts my favorite for 90% of the genres I'm into. Modern, pristine and so so psychedelic. Will there be a nova and a supernova episode?
That sums it up nicely!!! Both moving up my list!
The only thing I wish the Peak could do was run the headphone out back into an aux in like on the Bass Station 2. And I guess the weird AFX mode on the BS2 would be amazing as well with the full polyphony.
Agreed!!!
I wish it could send oscillators bypassing the filter.
oh if it had AFX mode i don't think i'd need another piece of gear period.
In on a Bass Station III, for sure, and in on cold Sci-FI. Loved seeing the Tracker Mini and all the bangers were bangers.
Thank you so much!!!
Every week we get closer to Florian "Bad Gearing" everything I own 🤣
Nothing personal;)
Florian made me buy Rocket, AS-1 and TB-3
@@chaocrator He made me buy drumbrute.
We should all have our own Bad Gear Bingo cards.
Same here
Always wanted the PEAK. Love the filter. Sounds so good!!! Added a Hydra instead and so far happy with my choice. Will get a PEAK eventually.
You got a laugh from me before I even played the video with "Bass Station 3". Excellent trolling.
I do have a Peak. I agree it doesn't do "warm", much, but it's such a great box for quickly getting the results you want. You definitely leaned on the various overdrive options a lot so I could tell you were enjoying yourself. 🙌
FWIW I don't really like using it for basses, it's a bit too clinical, but apart from that I love it. It's also good to run it into a good valve pre on the way to the desk if you just want some bloom and fatness, really helps it sound more natural.
Thanks!!! Yeah, preamps are key here!
While typical bass sounds get boring or cheesy pretty fast, that thing is excelent for atmospheric pads, bells, leads and effect sounds. You even have four slots for modulaing effect parameters, which can get pretty trippy!
Agreed!!!
Knocking a few points off this one for lack of TB-3 in the jams 😂😂😂 bonus points for using the tracker mini tho lol
Yeah, it's about time I bust out the TB-3 again!
I’m not versed in modern synths but have always kind of preferred VAs for their flexibility and the Peak is a synth I got used and have enjoyed making patch after patch on! The build quality is amongst the best I’ve seen and it will likely outlive a lot of other gear. The online patch management makes backing up and getting new presets and wavetables easy. And, being a simple guy, I like making twisted FM osc sounds (FM osc routing in menu) then taming them through a filter/env, or just giving a pad a warped twist as it goes on using the matrix and pushing things through the posh onboard reverb to finish! As you showed, its really good at retrowave. A good bread and butter synth with menu extras to push it further and wavetable longevity plus the Novation juicy house sound!
@Frikoppie Virtual Analog, newbie!
😀😀😀
peak is one of the best synth i ever tested,its like serum in hardware
There are some similarities
I thought the Korg Modwave is the hardware serum
@@erlannderrantem6972 both good tools
Oh man. That blink and you'll miss it Grimes joke made me actually spit my water. Thanks for another excellent episode!
Thank you so much!!!
Let’s be honest, y’all here for the jams and finale that turns bad gear into amazing and desirable gear 🙌
❤️❤️❤️
I'm just here for the memes 😉
Further proof that it’s the head that uses the gear, than the gear itself.
The jams in this episode are absolute bangers! Congrats!
Thank you so much!!!
honestly this was the first review of the peak where i liked its sound, but completely agree with u that even if it can sound fat there is always something cold underlying in its tone that i dont want in my production...next 1 plz korg modwave :) really interested in what u can get out of this
Great suggestion, thank you!!!
I'm starting to feel like the name of this series may not be indicative of the gear it's reviewing...
I have no idea what you're talking about
05:47 he was able to fill the page of hate with comments.. so it qualifies. But.. pretty much any synth that isn't incredibly obscure will probably also qualify 😅
Shut your mouth
I concur. I think it would make more sense to name the show "GEAR" or "You're wrong about said; Gear?"
But what really is going on is. I don't need an excuse to talk about gear. Lol
PS- as much as I would love the peak, that many knobs only terrifies me.
Back in my day Bad was good.
Jam #1 caught me offguard, what a banger! Love the bass patch!
Thank you so much!!!
An awesome synth! But I'll only buy it if someone glued 2 of them together and slapped a 61 keys bed to it. Now that will be the Summit of all synths!
I think their marketing people figured this out;)
Really exceptional jams with this one, fantastic work!
Thank you so much!!!
Jam 1 is spotify worthy. great job!
Thank you so much!!!
Finally a review of a gear I own! Yeah agree, love it
😀😀😀
Re BS3, I’ve been saying this for a looong time. Give us the Peak engine (more or less) with a 32-key (2.5 octave) full-size keyboard. Reduce the polyphony if need be to keep the price reasonable (say $700-800). The different engine wouldn’t cannibalize BS2 sales too much, and reduced polyphony would keep it out of the way of the Peak and flagship Summit. It could compete with the Take 5/TEO-5 and PWM Mantis (if that ever ships)
👍👍👍
Arguably that wouldn't be a BS any more, rather a nu-OSCar.
all the tracks in this one slapped, amazing work as always!!
Thank you so much!!!
I love my Peak. Such a great synth.
👍👍👍
Oh you're the same guy that says he wants to dox people, wow I hope it never happens to you.
The entire synth community: This is one of the best designed and best sounding synthesizers ever made.
AudioPilz: Welcome to Bad Gear!
Mine literally arrived yesterday😂
Didn't have the time to check it out yet and just now I had sweat on my forehead when I saw your video.
But it seems everything is alright...phew 😌
Nice, congrats!!!
Sounds great in the jams!!
Thank you!!!
Liking this video 10 seconds in because of The Thing.
Thank you so much!!!
Best horror movie of all time
@@inthefade maybe even one of the best films of all time, full stop.
Well done Dude ! All amazing, from the intro to those wonderjams, and I think you like it more than you conclude, embrass limitations; This is still an amazing peace of gear, forever I suspect..
Thank you!!! Yes, I had some fun with this one
I love the Peak. It's my most pricey synth and I just destroyed my finances paying it off last week. It has chord and unison sounds like nothing else I own and I have 9 or 10 synths including the Sequential Take 5 which I also just paid off. I really consider the Peak and Take 5 the Batman and Robin of synths. It seems everything I love about the Take 5 is flipped 180 degrees on the Peak and they compliment each other perfectly. The Take 5 for me is king of power bass, unison and pluck leads whereas the Peak has unison sounds that are massive and chords and every type of sound in the synth book. Also there are professional artists w free Peak patches that are amazing. There is a patch on the Peak that sounds exactly like a Roland 303 called Acid Accents whereas the 303 am Take 5 patch in bank 1 sounds nothing like a 303 but is vibey, rich and fat sounding and no 303 acid sounds despite massive bass and sub bass. Have a nice day.
Holy Subtractive Synthesis!!!
every synth has characteristic sound , the peak and summit has their own , very synthwavy , slightly cold but still full.
That sums it up nicely
Yes, that is a good summary. It is very synthwave-y … it does a very good job of imitating vintage Roland pads.
2:46 I want an "INSANELY LOUD FART SOUND" T-shirt. With the picture and everything.
😂😂😂
Life risk challenge: wear it near a Swift concert.
I don't know how the intro track on this thing sounded so weak. This piece of gear is otherwise excellent for my taste. All the jams were great, but the jaw dropped when you paried it with the polyend mini. Thanks again for killin' it!
Thank you!!!
Two things in life are guaranteed.... Death, and bad gear on fridays.
Dude, that first jam was freaking awesome.
Thank you so much!!!
The BS2 is still my favorite novation (and the only one I currently own) i love it for its rawness, fast envelopes and AFX mode. If the peak was 8 voices all doing independent AFX mode style instant patch switching per key, I’d buy it! Thats what a BS3 should be.
The oscillators sound a bit more refined on the Peak imho
Best synth of the decade...period
👍
Not Summit?
I meant desktop, you are right ... 2x always better
Another one I'm surprised about. I need to stop being surprised. It does have one major design flaw that I've never understood why they haven't fixed in a firmware up: the change program knob is identical to the edit knob and right next to the screen. There's no confirmation message so I've lost some patches I really loved due to accidentally switching programs before saving.
Surprise🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Also FPGA's aren't too hard to understand. They are basically a chip where instead of using a microcontroller set up for universal computing, you program it to perform a particular function that effectively sets the hardware to a new configuration. It's like making your own dedicated chip, but instead of setting up transitors on a board, you program an array of gates to do that.
The reason they can use high sample rates is you can set dedicated portions of the gate array to do specific functions (like read data and... oscillate) rather than just putting everything on a single core where all the oscillators, processors, MIDI communication, internal voltage generation, etc. are all using the same clock cycle.
This HAS been ‘fixed’ (addressed) in a firmware update, tho’ …
I just want to say off topic that I finally broke down and watched The Thing for the first time a few months ago.
Phantastic movie!!!
Can you please make a full length drum n bass release? Jam 2 was too good.
Thank you so much!!! Great idea!
So ... the Summit is Bass Station 3x2(?). Also Jam #3 makes me want to make a night call to tell you how I feel =D
Perfect maths;) Thanks!!!
Just bought one recently, never dug in that deep yet. But no regrets so far, I love this thing.
Nice!!!
Glorious synth. I don't find it similar to the BS2 or Supernova at all really
👍👍👍
Not even close to the BS2 but the BS2 is a beast nonetheless in a much more analog kind of way.
It’s not. BS2 and Peak/Summit are both great, tho’.
I had one for a bit but returned it. My biggest issues with it were the lack of top end out of the oscillators, terribly bad quality of imported wavetables, lack of noise high pass and the filters would easily clip in an unpleasant way. Otherwise it was a great idea, I would pick up a v2 if it took care of these issues.
You have a point there (multiple actually;)
I’d like to think this video came out because I finally got a Peak about 3 weeks ago. I’m up to 8(?) Bad Gear alums and having a blast. Thanks!
Just counted. It’s 11. 🎉
Bad Gear Bingo!!!
The Peak?! I'm about to buy one and I haven't seen this vid yet. oH GOD THE DREAD
I feel you!!!
Idk why, but it is one of my favorite sounding synths. I'll likely never own one, but it always sounds stellar.
Yes, it's up there
Huge sounds on the Peak
Whilst you are on the subject of FPGA oscillators I reckon it's about time the UDO Super 6 recieved the grilling its cold, underwhelming and sterile sound deserves. A case of the Emperor's new clothes if ever there was. Time for the backlash to begin.
Shots fired;)
The hype around the Super 6 was ridiculous … 😏
@@kierenmoore3236 Definitely, I reckon even the DeepMind12 sounds better.
Episode on the Ciat Lonbarde Cocoquantus/Plumbutter would be…incredible
Great suggestion, thanks!!!
Sounds better and more inspiering than my Prophet Rev 2.
I'd love to hear them side by side
Yeah, the Rev 2 is a cold beast
Absolutely, my friend! That’s why I sold my REV2 (8 voices) a couple of years back and bought this synth instead. Yeah, it’s not bi-timbral and build quality is not that great, but the sound is fantastic
@@FunkyHP Peak's build quality is "not that great"?
You didn’t know how to use your REV 2, then … though they are both excellent, and very different. You should definitely check out “Voice Component Modeling”, if you have or are thinking of getting a REV 2 … that will turbo-boost your use of it, for starters … … I have a REV2-16-KB and a Summit. They’re probably the last 2 synths I’d part with.
FPGA's are digital chips that can be reprogrammed , its mostly logic and memory(flip-flops) and logical functions , state machines and so on.
old consoles can ( and are) emulated precisely using them.
students use them to study EE and computer science ( like how a cpu is designed)
they are used for the prototyping phase of design before mass production of printed circuitry(ASIC)
also they are space worthy and used on satellites and for communication ( digital radio )
Thank you for the heads up!!!
nice... another gear deleted from my wishlist! keep on the good work i will end up buying only cables from now on...
Cables have become so expensive anyways;)
@@AudioPilz ok... going full acoustic from now on... i had to tune my piano sometime anyways!
Idea for a spin off series… Bad cables!
You‘te the evolution of „Sendung ohne Namen“ in a good way.. Love you and your content 😘😘😘
Danke!!!
As much as I enjoy the videos, "Bad Gear" is the victim of it's own success, as eventually you really run out of "Really" bad gear to feature, so then even great gear is necessary for future content.
Sad Gear🥲🥲🥲
What are the better alternatives alluded to at the end of the video?
"alluded"
*displayed clearly
@ thanks, that helped. Guess you dont know what it is either
"I dunno what the hell's in there, but it's weird and pissed off, whatever it is."
🤔
Pete is definitely appointed fascination for yours truly. I might have thought of getting this module for myself, but I think my interest in it was only fleeting. I also think interest in it from within the synthesizer “community” fell out after only a few months on the market. Interestingly enough, one Novation model that has held up since the turn of the 2000s when it hit the market is the Supernova II. What did they do right with that particular model that it should be considered passé but is still attracting interest 24 years later?
Super interested in a SN
Ditto,@@AudioPilz!
With more than enough keyboard synthesizers and another one on back order for June 2024, the Hydrasynth Explorer, I could daydream about the module version of the SuperNova.
It´s a Chris Huggett Synth (EDP Wasp, OSCar...). I do enjoy the Filter.
The man. The legend.
How dare anyone slander the Novation Nova! Nice episode man!
Thank you!!!
"Great Build Quality" I had three services : 1 for some strange booting issue, and twice for the jittery filter within one year. They replaced all three times to their credit. Worth mentioning, the arp % per note can not be nderestimated and should be standard on all arps going forward. It increases thepower of the arp drastically.
Thank you for the heads up!
Wie immer sehr lehrreich, unterhaltsam und geiel Sounds....super...
Vielen herzlichen Dank!!!
With this episode, you have officially covered every synth and drum machine I use, save for the organelle m. Might as well do the Critter and Guitari Organelle M next lol
Bad Gear Bingo!!!
100% opinion match, great review, thank you!
Thank you so much!!!
I'm surprised you didn't meme Nick Batt's "oooh" when he demonstrated how massive the detune can get.
Damn, a missed opportunity!!!
Fpga is a logic based xor and or nand etc… it is a tight smt signal path using on off aka 1 and 0 effected by logic functions
Thanks for the heads up!!!
Don't know how you do it, man. I've always found the Novation sound to be thin. Great vid!
Thank you!!!
This is classic novation menu diving, I felt like a freaking hacker when I found all the mod menus in my old XioSynth
Ah, the XIO!!!
Now THAT’S what we expect to see when you say, “layahs”! Well done!
😂😂😂thanks!