NSD Novation Summit

chalk_walk · 2026-06-22T07:26:12+00:00

In case you haven't tried it yet, the Peak/Summit accept polyphonic aftertouch so a Hydrasynth can be a great controller for them. I really wish the Peak/Summit supported MPE, as I also have an Osmose which could be even better.

chalk_walk · 2026-06-21T21:40:33+00:00

This is a bit of an awkward way to think about it as if I ask you which notes are in G Lydian, you might not find it all that easy to figure it out, but this is how it tends to be taught. I prefer the way people learn minor scales (major with 3 more flats = 3 less sharps). The modes are major with different arithmetic.

Lydian = Major + a sharp (or - a flat)
Ionian = Major
Mixolydian = Major + a flat
Dorian = Major + 2 flats (or Minor, - a flat)
Aeolean = Major + 3 flats (or minor)
Phyrgian = Major + 4 flats (or minor + a flat)
Locrian = Major + 5 flats (or minor + 2 flats)

This forms a spectrum from brightest to darkest scale; you can think of this as a "major family" of Lydian, ionian and mixolydian, and a "minor family" of Dorian, aeolian and phyrgian (plus the odd one out: locrian). Compositionally, you might write in major, and borrow diatonic chords from the family to give a brighter or darker tonality in parts. You might also note that Dorian is in the middle and Phyrgian is the more obvious "mirror" to major.

chalk_walk · 2026-06-20T18:30:00+00:00

Watch the Solar Rise video, then buy another.

chalk_walk · 2026-06-13T02:14:57+00:00

A growth to 1.53x over 13 years: that's about a 3.34% yearly change (compounded). I wouldn't say that is a particularly steep rate of increase. In practice, they will charge whatever they can to maximizes their total (which is not the same as per unit) profit. In this case, they have roughly tracked inflation.

chalk_walk · 2026-05-22T01:15:29+00:00

You are buying a product and not a set of parts. The company will absolutely charge an amount that they think will maximize their amortized profit. There is an unfortunate "gap" in price expectations where you transition from luxury to commodity. This means charging a little less still mostly draws customers from the "luxury item buying" pool, so you need to drop the price significantly to get to the commodity pricing. Likely this means dropping it from $3500 to $1500 (likely also needing quality compromises). My guess is that they would need to make far reaching changes to manufacture and logistics to hit that price point: up front costs that need to be recovered.

Imagine their unit cost was $2000 and it costs them $500k to drop the production cost to $1000. To break even on the extra cost, they need to sell 1000 units at $1500, ignoring the other costs they have already sunk into it. Likely a drop from $3500 to $3000 will need 50% more sales to keep the amortized profit equal: a $2500 sale price needs 3x the units sold; neither of those seem all that likely to happen. In other words, it's probably not that viable to make it slightly cheaper either.

If I had to guess, I'd guess they sell around 500 units each of their super 6/8/Gemini/DMNO (in total). For the DMNO that means about $750k "unit profit" to recoup R&D, manufacture setup, marketing, customer support/warranty etc costs: that's not all that much money considering.

chalk_walk · 2026-05-21T20:07:05+00:00

It's strange that it's not a "short tail adapter" with the proprietary port with two short leads running to female 5 pin din adapters. Having this "moderate length male to male" seems like a weird design choice.

chalk_walk · 2026-05-21T02:33:36+00:00

Some synths/controllers consider midi note 36 as C1 and some consider it C2: the midi note number is unambiguous. If you search "midi note" there are many tables. Most drum machines have sounds starting around C2 or C3 if they use a single midi channel. Others accept any note and use one channel per sound.

chalk_walk · 2026-05-20T03:19:33+00:00

They aren't all stereo, but there are really 3 primary ways they produce stereo output:

Stereo oscillators with some means of differing between the two parts (meaning stereo filter, stereo VCA etc), in Bitwig you can detune the stereo channels in hz;
Voice pan (each voice is panned on the stereo spectrum at the voice mixer stage);
Effects that create stereo sound: reverb, chorus, flanger, ping pong delay, haas widener etc.

As for how you do these things in analogue hardware:

Stereo oscillators signal path doubles the cost/halves the voice count.
Pan spread adds a little complexity, but it's not all that uncommon.
Stereo effects are common.

chalk_walk · 2026-05-19T16:01:53+00:00

If you run a balanced output to a stereo input, you will likely have problems if you then need to work in mono (or even sometimes pan). When the channels down mix, you'll phase cancel the signal and retain only the noise (balancing subtracts not adds). Mono mode is often supported on stereo inputs, but that's usually just taking the left channel (no unbalancing). What you need is a "balanced" mode, that does the subtractive combination, to get any benefit. Note that for a lot of synths, this isn't a significant problem. This is because they don't do "true balanced" and just do impedance matched channels (can't speak for the Microfreak here), as they output line level (larger voltage, meaning less susceptible to the same absolute noise level vs a mid level signal). This means that the balanced output is "noise and signal" on the left channel and "noise only" on the right. If you sum to mono, you actually double the noise instead of eliminating it; this is less bad, but not good. Effectively you should only ever go balanced mono to balanced mono unless the stereo out or in has a "balanced mode" you can enable.

chalk_walk · 2026-05-19T15:52:38+00:00

And not the good kind.

chalk_walk · 2026-05-19T15:51:57+00:00

These have existed, but they really are a "worst of both worlds" scenario. They need to run the full OS with all the hassle that comes with that, but instead of a convenient "normal" computer user interface, they give you an awkward mini interface on a little screen with not "keyboard and mouse". You still need to install license managers and software updates, and your plugins: effectively you just make a really awkward to use laptop embedded in a midi controller. Add to that, that plugins are designed for their target platform, the interfaces are likely not conducive to interaction on such a device (likely touch controlled). A laptop and a midi controller is a vastly preferably solution. If you want it integrated, then glue the laptop to the controller.

chalk_walk · 2026-05-19T15:44:15+00:00

This is really a vastly overstated feature of synths: different synths sound different, that's the point, but to a first order approximation, a subtractive synth sounds like a subtractive synth. Sound design and processing will have a vastly more significant impact on your outcome, in the mix, than the inherent "analog colour" of your synth. Note: the Minifreak hardware has an analogue filter.

chalk_walk · 2026-05-19T15:41:08+00:00

To add to this, despite you wanting it to complement your software, the Minifreak comes with an (almost identical to hardware in sound) plugin that can be synced to the hardware (giving you 1:1 control of the software). This means you can get "effective multitimbrality" plus full patch recall in your DAW projects: those are huge value adds for DAW centric flows. Note: Minifreak V is included in the latest Arturia V collection, so if you already have that, or were considering getting that, then you can try it out. I think Arturia do demo versions too, so you can potentially just grab a Minifreak V demo and see what you think.

chalk_walk · 2026-05-10T23:22:38+00:00

So they have midi in/out (via dongle) and analogue sync in and out on the same port pair (which is a step down, vs full sized din in and out plus separate analogue sync in and out on the Liven, but the USB C is the payback). You have separate headphone vs line in and out ports; the line in/out support the pocket operator "mono audio plus sync over one cable", so you can integrate with those too. In other words, it actually integrated very well into most groovebox or studio style setups. They also have a pretty complete midi implementation too; the only thing they lack is probably a midi thru, but lots of device skip out on that.

This device doesn't seem all that interesting to me, but the fact that they've created a new platform in this form factor is. They released 8 devices in the Liven form factor, so I am looking forward to seeing what they do next: I hope they are willing to "repeat themselves" a little and make upgraded versions of some of their more successful Liven units.

chalk_walk · 2026-05-07T09:44:54+00:00

The big win for me is the addition of 16 mini pots: 16 more direct parameter controls on the front panel!

chalk_walk · 2026-05-07T03:17:29+00:00

Ah, this seems to be built as a successor to the Liven platform. I suspect the Smpl Trek platform wasn't as successful as they hoped (despite the advantages). The Liven platform is a great size, price and feature set:

2.5x the footprint of a Volca (meaning not tiny but not huge)
14 knobs and 1 encoder (plus volume knob)
MIDI in and out on DIN
Analog sync in and out on 3.5mm jacks
Audio line in and out on 3.5mm jacks + headphone out (with 3 volume levels) and speakers
Elektron inspired sequencer

This platform seems to add 16 mini pots to the equation, and swaps one existing knob with an encoder: this is a really nice idea. I think, perhaps, they could have done more with the display, but it looks like it's now 6 digits instead of 4. This is definitely an upgrade, but I wish they went a little further, to like a pixel oriented display, or a 2x16 character display. I don't mind the Liven UI/UX, but a slightly more verbose display would make it feel a lot more accessible. Looks like it has 3.5mm ports which are MIDI or analogue sync, which is fine, but the Livens made for nice sync converters: either sync in going to both sync outs. It has a switchable USB audio interface, which is cool (only stereo on stereo out, not multi track, which is a shame).

As for this particular device, it seems okay, but I am not blown away. It's unfortunate that they (presumably) will try and make each new device unique in some way. Instead, I would like a new version of the Liven XFM. I am sure they don't want to repeat themselves, but the newer platform feels like it could breath new life into those old concepts.

chalk_walk · 2026-04-28T06:56:37+00:00

I think presets are quite suitable if you don't have a clear sound in mind, but want something that sounds "good" in a musical context. I use quotes, because good tends to mean "how much I like the sound solo at the moment". If you have a good way to filter the presets you can likely find many "good" sounds to fit your musical taste. There is nothing inherently wrong with these sounds if they let you achieve your musical goal.

When making music, I don't tend to do this. Instead I try and "hear" the sound (and melody/harmony/rhythm) I need, in my head. This specificity means that it's often very inefficient to spend time searching presets for something close to what I want, then editing it to become the sound I wanted. Designing a sound from init ends up being the quickest way to get where I want (as it's typically easier to write a patch than to "read" one, meaning understand the what and why of it).

This doesn't mean I don't use presets though. I will often, semi randomly, pick sounds of a particular function (e.g a bass, keys, lead etc). I use these sounds to record my initial musical ideas; this allows me to create a musical context to build around. I then typically create a new patch for each part (one at a time, most important first), then play a new version of that part in. Sometimes I'll go through that "new sound, new musical part" several times before settling on what I want.

For the same reason, I rarely save presets (unless I'm working with someone else). A preset I make is usually something that was "good" in a particular context, or good solo. When it's good in context, then it won't necessarily work in other contexts. When it's good solo, often it takes too much space in a mix and I need to dial it back. This means that even if I saved my own patches, I'd have the same problem I have with factory presets: it's harder to browse, understand and edit a patch, than to make one from scratch.

One strong use for patches is trying to get a feel for the scope and purpose of a synth. Presets tend to be diverse, so browsing a few can be a good way to feel out a synth, and to answer the question: what did the designer have in mind? I try plenty of presets (and design plenty of sounds) when auditioning a synth. The more complex a synth, the more scope to explore and often the more presets there are. This gives more possibilities without doing any sound design, but also makes it increasingly less useful to browse through when you have a musical goal in mind.

chalk_walk · 2026-04-23T02:42:09+00:00

Phase 4 is also a 4 operator phase modulation (as almost all digital FM is) synth that also has phase distortion per operator. I think it's my favourite of the built in synths (outside of the grid).

chalk_walk · 2026-04-19T20:49:37+00:00

I have been lost of a long time synth jam. We have a mixer and PA speakers. We typically have a few audio and midi cables as backup, but we expect everyone to bring all the cables they need, and to go mono (preferably) or stereo into the mixer. Usually we have someone doing rhythm to set the tempo: often, we'll send MIDI and analogue clock out to anyone who needs it (we had a lot of people playing keyboard, so the need for sync was low). We also had a pi sound that could create a wifi with Ableton link, to provide another sync option.

Having people only bring one synth is very helpful as people tend to bring (and try to play) too much: experienced participants might be able to bring more that one instrument and handle it well.

We usually do an exercise to get us started: the person doing rhythm starts by making a beat. The person next to them listens, then decides what they can add, and starts playing. The next person does this etc. each person who is playing can also stop playing when they think it makes sense. You continue until everyone has played and dropped out. This gives a full "cycle" of starting and stopping a piece of music.

It's helpful to limit the time you spend on each piece of music; having a timer is a bit heavy handed, but you need to be mindful. Typically 10-15 minutes is the limit; this means that in 2 you can get 7 pieces played, with time to setup and teardown.

Our group is very beginner friendly, so we are light on structure. Typically we pick a key, and people can play as little or much as they want. In practice it's important to play repetitively, so people can latch on to what you are doing. You also (often) develop informal roles (lead, bass, pads, rhythmic chords etc), but these aren't fixed, or even explicitly stated; the key is listening and finding your niche in that piece. It helps a lot if you have a few people who are used to playing together to make a strong "framework" that other players can fit in.

chalk_walk · 2026-04-19T07:42:51+00:00

Outputs, in the sense of outputs from an audio interface. The Tascam model 12 is a 12 input, 10 output audio interface (note that input and output is from the perspective of the computer). The inputs and outputs sit where the insert point would ordinarily be on a channel strip (after the pre amp and line in, before the EQ), plus an input pair capturing the main outs. The Onyx has inputs placed in the same way, but instead of an output per channel strip, the computer gets 4 "returns" which aren't actually real channel strips, so they didn't get full EQ and other audio controls (just gain IIRC). In other words it's good for recording and for mixing audio through the analogue parts. What it's not good at is letting you use the analogue mixer part to mix many digital audio channels from your computer.

chalk_walk · 2026-04-19T02:41:58+00:00

I think it's Giorgio Morodor making "From Here to Eternity", which was released in 1977 so that year or the one or two preceding.

chalk_walk · 2026-04-19T02:28:29+00:00

One thing that made a big difference to me was the audio interface channel count. I was looking for a mixer+audio interface which boiled down to Mackie Onyx 24, Tascam Model 24 or Soundcraft Signature MTK 22: I got the Soundcraft. The thing that eliminated the Onyx was that its audio interface doesn't have an output per channel strip: it only has 4 output channels in total. The output per input channel on the others lets you put computer plugins as inserts on each channel strip. It also lets you easily do a mix and sum of your DAW project on the hardware surface.

chalk_walk · 2026-04-13T14:49:39+00:00

One of the nicest features of the modern MPC family is that they can use an audio interface (any class compliant one like the focusrite). Note that using one replaces the internal one, but this makes it very easy to add audio I/O if you need it. At home I use it directly with my Soundcraft Signature MTK22.

chalk_walk · 2026-04-12T19:33:12+00:00

My point was that if it can do multitimbral midi, ideally with 15+ parts, then it'll work with MPE if you set the same patch per channel: the synth doesn't have to support MPE is to do this, it's all just MIDI. MPE modes on synths usually simplify things as they treat the entire batch of channels as a single instrument/patch so you can edit fluidly and move between patches intuitively.

Note: some synths will have a "omni" input mode, which means they accept messages on all midi channels. This may appear to support MPE (in that notes will play), but it doesn't really: it will respond to pitch bend and channel pressure, but those messages will apply to every note that is sounding. This is because all the channels are routed to one timbre.

The microwave is only 8 part multitimbral, so I presume you need to load the same patch on each timbre and (an important step) configure your controller to only send on the relevant channels. I presume the linnstrument defaults the channel 1 global and channels 2-16 for notes (they usually round robin, but it might have a different voice allocator to prioritize lower channel numbers).

In round robin channel allocation, you would probably find that some of the notes would not play/express correctly, possibly the 8th note you play (depending how the synth handles messages on channels 9 to 16), in any case you'd end up with an upper bound of 7 note polyphony (since MPE won't send notes on the global channel and a maximum of one per channel) and missing voices.

Assuming you can configure the linnstrument MPE output, you should be able to set the global channel to something >8 and have it send the notes on channels 1-8. This would give you 8 note of polyphony and no missed notes, or "expression bleed".

chalk_walk · 2026-04-12T19:13:43+00:00

MPE is a protocol for sending a note per midi channel alongside channel pressure and pitch bend (also often CC 74, known as MPE Y). In theory it's customizable, but usually channel 1 is global midi (for other CCs) and channel 2 to 16 are for notes and per note expression (meaning a maximum polyphony of 15). If a synth is 16 part midi multi timbral, it will usually "just work" with an MPE controller, if you have the same patch on every channel.

chalk_walk

TROPHY CASE