d
Featureful and solid poly synth
Having been in the market for a high-end poly synth for a while I was very excited when the Summit was initially announced.
For me it ticked all the boxes of what I was looking for: many-voice polyphonic, extensive editing capabilities with plenty of physical controls, interesting modern features, integrated effects, and good midi implementation.
The Summit fulfills all of these for me. The machine has a very solid build with firm and flexible controls when needed. The midi implementation is wonderful and updating the firmware (and managing the patches) works perfectly with the Components website. No fancy drivers or platform-dependent software installs necessary! (I use Linux which is always an issue with these things)
The internal engine is absolutely amazing. Essentially you get 4 different synths: a 16 voice poly, 2 independent 8 voice poly's, and one multi-timbral 8 voice poly. The expanded filter design also allows for more sound design options than the original peak and the onboard effects are very good. I'm looking forward to future updates as I assume the FPGA will allow for future expansions of the engine and effects.
In conclusion I think this will be a permanent addition to the studio!
For me it ticked all the boxes of what I was looking for: many-voice polyphonic, extensive editing capabilities with plenty of physical controls, interesting modern features, integrated effects, and good midi implementation.
The Summit fulfills all of these for me. The machine has a very solid build with firm and flexible controls when needed. The midi implementation is wonderful and updating the firmware (and managing the patches) works perfectly with the Components website. No fancy drivers or platform-dependent software installs necessary! (I use Linux which is always an issue with these things)
The internal engine is absolutely amazing. Essentially you get 4 different synths: a 16 voice poly, 2 independent 8 voice poly's, and one multi-timbral 8 voice poly. The expanded filter design also allows for more sound design options than the original peak and the onboard effects are very good. I'm looking forward to future updates as I assume the FPGA will allow for future expansions of the engine and effects.
In conclusion I think this will be a permanent addition to the studio!
10
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C
Nice but not for me
Pros :
- Great sounding synth for pads and 80ties sounds.
- Very easy to edit, everytime I switched it on, I made some new sounds with it
- Very good chorus and reverb effects, delay is ok.
- Excellent support from Novation
But this is why I sent it back, cons :
- sound of the filter is neutral, it lacks a bit of character
- when using resonance it's easy to get internal clipping
- the dual sounds are more difficult to manage
- still some menu diving for some features
- the oscillator sync sounds too weak for my taste
Since I already have a lot of synths, I guess I was looking more for a synth that has a prominent character, like the Prophet 6 or OB6.
- Great sounding synth for pads and 80ties sounds.
- Very easy to edit, everytime I switched it on, I made some new sounds with it
- Very good chorus and reverb effects, delay is ok.
- Excellent support from Novation
But this is why I sent it back, cons :
- sound of the filter is neutral, it lacks a bit of character
- when using resonance it's easy to get internal clipping
- the dual sounds are more difficult to manage
- still some menu diving for some features
- the oscillator sync sounds too weak for my taste
Since I already have a lot of synths, I guess I was looking more for a synth that has a prominent character, like the Prophet 6 or OB6.
7
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A
Awesome!
At first I couldn’t decide between the Nord Wave 2, the Korg Prophesy and the Summit. I went for the Summit and have no regrets… it’s an awesome machine.
16 voices, three (Oxford) oscillators per voice, each with the usual waveforms plus a choice of wavetables, as well as shape control, oscillator sync and FM. It has full anologue filters, 3 modulation envelopes, excellent FX, and a modulation matrix that means it approaches the complex voice architecture of the big modulars. But, and here’s the thing… the parameters that are assigned to knobs are very well chosen, and so it’s a rational and intuitive process to create (or modify) voices. When needed, the next layer of functionality is available through the usual menus. A useful and well configured arpeggiator too.
16 voices, three (Oxford) oscillators per voice, each with the usual waveforms plus a choice of wavetables, as well as shape control, oscillator sync and FM. It has full anologue filters, 3 modulation envelopes, excellent FX, and a modulation matrix that means it approaches the complex voice architecture of the big modulars. But, and here’s the thing… the parameters that are assigned to knobs are very well chosen, and so it’s a rational and intuitive process to create (or modify) voices. When needed, the next layer of functionality is available through the usual menus. A useful and well configured arpeggiator too.
7
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K
Best looking synth on the market
It is hard to fault the summit. The sounds are diverse, easy to use (haven’t looked at the manual yet), solid feel all round.
The summit fit my needs perfectly: a poly synth, lots of control knobs/sliders, efficient use of real estate, good size keyboard, multitimbral and most importantly diverse sounds. The digital oscillators with analog signal path is an excellent blend of tech.
One small issue is that the keys are not perfectly aligned, but It’s not obvious and doesn’t affect the feel of the keyboard when playing.
The summit fit my needs perfectly: a poly synth, lots of control knobs/sliders, efficient use of real estate, good size keyboard, multitimbral and most importantly diverse sounds. The digital oscillators with analog signal path is an excellent blend of tech.
One small issue is that the keys are not perfectly aligned, but It’s not obvious and doesn’t affect the feel of the keyboard when playing.
4
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G
Almost too good to be true!
This synth is the greatest synth I ever owned ... it is so awesome I feel it is almost too good for me.
2
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j
Great synth
I received my Summit a week ago. it's been great fun designing sounds from scratch. The immediate control over most shaping parameters and a good design get fast results. The operators, the filter & FX all sound great and there's plenty flexibility to modulate things.
One hitch, I must mention, is a sync problem between Live and the ARP on the summit. It starts in sync but goes out after some bars. May be my own stupidity. Need to still look into it.
Thanks to Thomann for great customer service. I messed up the delivery address on the first try but the good people at Thomann were patient with me and reshipped to the right coordinates.
One hitch, I must mention, is a sync problem between Live and the ARP on the summit. It starts in sync but goes out after some bars. May be my own stupidity. Need to still look into it.
Thanks to Thomann for great customer service. I messed up the delivery address on the first try but the good people at Thomann were patient with me and reshipped to the right coordinates.
1
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d
Awesome Synth!
I upgraded from Peak to this and absolutely no regrets! It is such a difference to have a all-in-one playable instrument on an X-stand versus multiple bits connected to the peak etc on my table. Overall the sound is superb, rich and the workflow is easy to get into and fun to tweak with summit due to the extensive hands-on controls. The left hand screen was a potential worry for me but actually the workflow fits with it perfectly and you use it to setup areas of the sound but then shift back to the hands-on controls after. So there is not too much going back and forth I found. Keybed feels really nice too! All in all , highly highly recommended! The recent addition of wavetable editor was great also!
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