Novation up their analogue game

The UK brand unleash a pair of innovative-looking synths with analogue innards and CV-compatibility

You wouldn’t necessarily associate the word Analogue with Novation. Aside from 2013’s excellent Bass Station MkII, the vast majority of products the UK brand has released over the past two decades have been thoroughly digitally minded, from their Nova modelling synth engines to their Launch series controllers.

That’s about to change, though, with the launch of two new products that sit firmly within the analogue hardware realm – Circuit Mono Station and Peak – both of which feature largely analogue sound engines and CV/gate compatibility. It’s not a complete design U-turn, however, as each keeps one foot within the modern digital world, with sound and sequencing tricks borrowed from Novation’s other product lines.

Peak is an eight-voice desktop polysynth module. Its sound engine is based around three ‘New Oxford Oscillators’ which come courtesy of design consultant Chris Huggett, the synth design stalwart behind Wasp and OSCar, as well as a number of Novation’s own classics including the SuperNova and Bass Station. These are numerically controlled oscillators, which combine analogue-style operation with 17 digital wavetables and linear FM capabilities.

Peak builds on this digital sound source with an analogue signal chain, featuring a multimode resonant filter for each voice along with a trio of distortion points – pre-filter, post-filter and global. Beyond this the synth packs a 16-slot modulation matrix, including three ADSR envelopes and two LFOs for each voice. Peak can receive polyphonic aftertouch too, and also features two ‘animate’ buttons, designed for one-touch transformation of patches. At the end of the chain there are reverb, delay and chorus onboard, along with an arpeggiator.

Open Circuit

Circuit Mono Station is derived from Novation’s excellent and approachable groovebox Circuit. Mono Station swaps out the digital synths and sample section of its predecessor in favour of a paraphonic analogue engine based on the Bass Station. The synth offers two oscillators, each with Square, Saw, Triangle and Sample + Hold modes, plus sync, ring mod, a sub oscillator and noise. Beyond this are a multimode filter, envelope section and overdrive.

The Mono Station features three sequencer channels based around those of the original Circuit. Since its synth is paraphonic, two of these can be used to sequence its oscillators separately, while the third can be used as a modulation source. Mono Station also packs a four-by-eight

actual modulation matrix, which can be used to route the multimode LFO, envelope, sequencer or velocity to a variety of synth parameters.

Both Peak and Mono Station are MIDI- and CV- compatible. The former packs MIDI in and out ports plus a CV modulation input, while the latter has MIDI I/O and a CV/gate output, allowing its sequencers to control external hardware. Both also feature USB connections, allowing DAW sync and patch storage/upload via Novation’s Components application.

At the time of writing, there’s no official word on prices or release dates for either.