Modal Cobalt 8M, sorry..I meant Novation Peak.

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dawman
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Modal Cobalt 8M, sorry..I meant Novation Peak.

Post by dawman »

Had to buy this little beast.
It has a Fat sound and sounds like an analog synth w/ Wavetables as a blending option.

Plus it matches the Physis K4’s color, major selling point. :D



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dante
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Re: Modal Cobalt 8M

Post by dante »

Aye laddie - a British thoroughbred for sure !
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Re: Modal Cobalt 8M

Post by dawman »

The MODALApp is really well laid out too.
Hook it up to an iPad and do all of your sound editing, preset storage, and polyphonic playing.
I even made sequences for adjusting Filter sweeps, bass sounds, leads, comps, add the FX which are surprisingly good.
Even reverb which usually sounds like Mattel toys is pretty decent for twinkling percussive sounds.
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dante
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Re: Modal Cobalt 8M

Post by dante »

Yeah I read about ModalApp - its more or less mandatory for this device. I never had a Mattel reverb though, only Hot Wheels.
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Re: Modal Cobalt 8M

Post by yayajohn »

That’s a really nice module and the price is great. Modal really seems to have their act together.
I’m glad you don’t have to chop the keyboard off of this one. :lol:
My next module is going to be a tough choice but this one, and the Argon are up at the top.
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Re: Modal Cobalt 8M

Post by dawman »

Lots of good choices out there, even Behringer/Beijing might have a good 8 voice coming, but without presets, those 3-400 dollar Dogs Dont Hunt.

Modal makes good Oscillators/Wavetables.

You only need a pair. Usually I wouldn’t touch a two oscillator synth.
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Re: Modal Cobalt 8M

Post by valis »

Depends on its role for you, I'd think. But! Glad it has the phat bastard in you satisfied :)

I'm actually considering that vector synth and the modwave from korg right now, both of which are decidedly digital. The korg stuff seems to be built an ARM Chip, there's also a few open source things I have stuffed away but I find many of them lackluster in sound quality. No idea why that appeals to me at present, but since I am studio bound and have enough large keyboards I think I'm looking at things that fill out the holes left here.

Anyway, looks like a nice brit piece. :)
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Re: Modal Cobalt 8M

Post by dawman »

Well nobody disagrees with me more than myself I guess.
I couldn’t get my leads with a decent legato mode. Retriggering is cool but I needed more in the monophonic department.

Cobalt 8M is getting sent back and in return the Novation Peak.
SweetWater never minds me doing this because I end up spending twice as much.
At this rate I might end up with a Moog One....NOT.

PEAK is 3 Owcillators and although nobody plays great lead patches on SpuTube, I know I can get the old fat bastards going.

I’ll report back, guess I should edit title too.
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dante
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Re: Modal Cobalt 8M, sorry..I meant Novation Peak.

Post by dante »

Crikey a bit of a price bump there boss.... hope it works out.
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Re: Modal Cobalt 8M, sorry..I meant Novation Peak.

Post by dawman »

If not, send it back and try the OB6.
I think Peak will be fine though.
I was able to sift through some of the most boring SpuTube videos and hear exactly what I wanted.

Can’t believe how many turkeys do Videos these days.
It makes finding the good videos an expertise in patience.

Even the young ‘ins came to my sanctuary to see who I was yelling at.
I get a trifle excited when somebody talks and talks then plays some preset somebody else made with an arpeggiator or other useless sound...
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Re: Modal Cobalt 8M, sorry..I meant Novation Peak.

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Bud Weiser
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Re: Modal Cobalt 8M

Post by Bud Weiser »

dawman wrote: Mon Feb 01, 2021 8:42 pm
PEAK is 3 Owcillators ...
The new "Summit" is too !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQGhrH5 ... e=emb_logo

https://www.thomann.de/gb/novation_summ ... ImVuIn0%3D

:wink:

Bud
dawman
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Re: Modal Cobalt 8M, sorry..I meant Novation Peak.

Post by dawman »

Yeah, a Peak with a decent keybed I hear.
They always had great MIDI CC Implementations and so does their new synths.

Odd that master volume and CC7 are not available.
But all associated mixers and volumes have CCs.

That’s why Scope Snapshots and Mixer CCs ALWAYS comes in handy.
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yayajohn
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Re: Modal Cobalt 8M, sorry..I meant Novation Peak.

Post by yayajohn »

dawman wrote: Mon Feb 01, 2021 9:52 pm If not, send it back and try the OB6.
I think Peak will be fine though.
I was able to sift through some of the most boring SpuTube videos and hear exactly what I wanted.

Can’t believe how many turkeys do Videos these days.
It makes finding the good videos an expertise in patience.

Even the young ‘ins came to my sanctuary to see who I was yelling at.
I get a trifle excited when somebody talks and talks then plays some preset somebody else made with an arpeggiator or other useless sound...
I feel your pain my brother! Extremely frustrating and a complete waste of time mostly.
I'm sure you already know of this guy but he's my go-to for synth demos cause he actually PLAYS the instrument.
https://www.youtube.com/c/MattJohnsonJamiroquai

Hope he ends up doing a lot more videos.

That OB-6 has been on my drool list for ever but it just seems a little bit overpriced to me. Sort of like i'm paying a few extra hundred dollars for it because of the paint scheme. :roll: (plus it really should have 8 voices)
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Re: Modal Cobalt 8M, sorry..I meant Novation Peak.

Post by valis »

Thanks for the link yaya, enjoyed some of his vids.
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Re: Modal Cobalt 8M, sorry..I meant Novation Peak.

Post by dawman »

Yeah he has the right idea and knows how to play too.

I won’t be needing the OB6.

Peak does everything I need for a rig I can set up quickly.
It’s always that 3rd Oscillator. Every time I try another 2 Oscillator synth it’s the same story.

It gets really big.

Video below is what I look for in a demo. Initialized patches, then listen to the various options as notes are played.
This guy sold me and Peak gets really big sounds for bread & butter analog too.
The Oscillators extra waveforms being resampled @ 24k make them crystal clear, but they really come to life with the Discrete Audio Analog Filters.

This guy gets the craziest big sounds from Init presets.

https://youtu.be/ZTlJbTOkuHg
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Re: Modal Cobalt 8M, sorry..I meant Novation Peak.

Post by dawman »

Modulation Envelope 1 is for the Filter, there’s 2 actually the 2nd is better for other modulations.
But this Filter is an analog multi mode resonant and its fantasic.

I hate sampled horn shake articulations, they suck because they’re static and not like real horn sections.
Real horns will start their vibrato slow, then speed up while swelling their volume. I’ve got 5 of the best libraries, all very good but terrible Section shakes. Doc Severnson would roll in his grave.

Peaks filter is so good I’m playing a muffled horn attack, blended with my sampled horns.
On my mod env #1 the Sustain (S of the ADSR) is at zero. Just moving the fader all the way up makes the muted horn attack swell like a real section.
So I attached the FC7 to the CC of the S on mod env #1, then also added one of the 4 LFO’s that has a really fantastic fade in.

Now I play Peak horns blended with the samples and the synth basically adds a faint horn attack, but with the FC7 I add the Section Shakes you just can’t get with sampled instruments. I can’t stop playing this thing, it’s a killer horn synth.

Years ago I saw a guy just using a Prophet 5 Rev 1 and he had great sounds that fit in the mix really well.
I never could get that with my other hardware synths as they didn’t have very good fade ins, and the filters weren’t powerful enough.

Peak is really a great synth, it’s presets as usual these days don’t begin to reveal the excellent modulations or filters.
Even the arpeggio with the gate knob and Arp modulations is great. I usually never use the Arp but Bruno Mars tunes made me try it.

Now I’m creating great Arp presets too.
What’s nice is you can a great synth preset and just step on a switch, put it in Arp mode and score some licks.

Anybody want my WaveState, you can have it for 500 bucks shipped, with custom knobs and gig bag.
Too much effort making presets on there. Great sounds but I’m too impatient.

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dawman
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Re: Modal Cobalt 8M, sorry..I meant Novation Peak.

Post by dawman »

Peak all knobbed out.. :D Ankyu..




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dante
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Re: Modal Cobalt 8M, sorry..I meant Novation Peak.

Post by dante »

Eye candy indeed. And practical when grabbing for a specific knob in dimly lit venue.

In a real brass section each player wont have the same modulation rate, so you need the new spitfire polymodulation horn library (no - dont google it - I made it up :lol: )
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Re: Modal Cobalt 8M, sorry..I meant Novation Peak.

Post by dawman »

dante wrote: Mon Feb 08, 2021 12:45 pm Eye candy indeed. And practical when grabbing for a specific knob in dimly lit venue.

In a real brass section each player wont have the same modulation rate, so you need the new spitfire polymodulation horn library (no - dont google it - I made it up :lol: )
Actually the Top Player (First Chair) does the shakes, others swell.
At least that’s my experience from 6 piece section I worked with for years.
Great players that rotated out of Bill Chase and Maynard Ferguson’s band.

Love the Spitfire poly mod idea though.
Too bad they don’t get it.

These bigger, brighter easier to grab knobs are always welcome.
Lots of guys act all surprised when they see them.
So many cats buy from where I get them they comped me the knobs for Peak.
Saved 87 bucks as these puppies aren’t cheap...
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