Peak

Peak is an eight-voice desktop polysynth with three New Oxford Oscillators per voice, a resonant multi-mode analog filter per voice, and three distortion points in an analog signal chain. The oscillators are numerically controlled for analog-style tuning behaviour, then paired with 17 digital wavetables, so the same patch can sit warm and round or turn biting and overdriven.

Design consultant Chris Huggett, the engineer behind Bass Station, Supernova, and OSCar, shaped the voice architecture, and Peak traces its filter lineage back to Bass Station II. Each voice carries a state variable OTA filter with 12dB or 24dB slopes, low, band, or high pass response, pre-filter overdrive, and post-filter distortion.

Modulation runs deep without burying you in menus: a 16-slot matrix with two sources per destination sits behind 16 direct front-panel assignments, plus three envelopes and two LFOs per voice. Oscillators can cross-modulate in a recursive loop or act as linear FM sources. Two Animate buttons transform a patch with one touch during a performance, and the arpeggiator offers 33 patterns with key latch. Onboard reverb, delay, and chorus finish sounds without outboard gear.

Firmware v2.0 added per-voice panning and new spread modes for wider stereo work, extra modulation destinations with noise as a source, additional LFO 3 and 4 parameters, Animate Envelopes, Arpeggiator Chance, and new effects including Chorus Modes, Flanger, Phlanger, and a Lo-Fi delay mode.

Patch storage covers up to 512 sounds on the hardware, shipping with 256 factory patches, and Components keeps unlimited patches on a Mac or PC. Connections include USB, MIDI In, Out, and Thru, a 3.5mm CV modulation input for modular rigs, two pedal inputs, stereo 1/4 in. outputs, and a headphone output. Ableton Live Lite 9 is included.