Summit hardware overview

Master Volume – master volume control for the synth’s MAIN and AUX audio outputs; this also controls the headphones output level.

Initialise – by default, you can press this button to reset all synth parameters to the default values of the Initial Patch. This provides a rapid way back to a bare “starting point” for fresh sound creation. The function of Initialise can be changed in the Settings Menu so all current control panel settings are applied to the Initial Patch when it is loaded.

Compare – press (and hold) this button to hear the original version of the currently loaded Patch. This allows you to compare the effects of any tweaking you’ve done since loading it with the original version. When a Multi Patch is selected, pressing Compare will let you hear both Parts A and B of the Patch, regardless of the Part currently selected by the A and B buttons . Note that Compare can only be selected if keys are not being pressed at the same time.

Single –press to access the Patch memory area reserved for Single Part Patches. The current Patch location and name will be shown in the display and alternative Single Patches may be selected with the parameter control .

Multi – press to access the Patch memory area reserved for Multi Part Patches. The current Patch location and name will be shown in the display and alternative Multi Patches may be selected with the parameter control.

Patch +/- – these buttons provide an alternative method of scrolling through Patches – Single or Multi, depending on the mode selected.

Active Voice – sixteen bicolour LEDs, indicating which of the sixteen voices are currently active. All LEDs are orange in Single Patch Mode, while orange and blue are used in Multi Patch mode to indicate voice usage per Part.

20 character x 4 row OLED display. Displays one of the menus selected by the buttons, or the current Patch details. Pages within each menu may be selected with the Page ◀ and Page ► buttons below the display. Adjusting any of Summit’s rotary controls (except MASTER) invokes an alternative display showing the value of the parameter being adjusted until the control is released. The three buttons to the left of the display assign the parameter control to a particular row of the page being displayed.

Nine buttons selecting the menu to be displayed: Osc, Env, LFO, Arp/Clock, Mod, Voice, FX, FX Mod and Settings. These buttons are all “toggles”: press them a second time to exit the menu; the display will revert to the Patch information page.

Parameter adjustment may either be made rapidly by the rotary control or incremented/decremented one parameter value at a time with the Value + / Value - buttons. These controls can also be used to scroll through the Patch library (Single or Multi, as currently active) if the display is currently showing Patch data and Row 2 (‘Patch’) is selected.

Save – opens the first of three menu pages, which enable the current synth settings to be saved as a User Patch in memory.

The A and B buttons select which Part – A or B - of a Multi Patch is assigned to the synth controls, and in Dual mode (see below), which Part you hear. A and B may be pressed together to select Both mode, when the synth controls will affect both Parts simultaneously.

Layer - in Layer mode, the keyboard plays both Parts A and B of a Multi Patch.

Split – this mode lets you play Part A with the left hand and Part B with the right. The “split point” is, by default, middle C (C3). The split point can be redefined by pressing and holding Split while pressing the appropriate key on the keyboard; the new split point will be saved with the Patch.

Dual – in this mode, the whole keyboard is assigned to either Part A or Part B, selected by the A and B buttons . Both Parts may be selected by pressing A and B together; in this case, the result is the same as selecting Layer mode. In this mode, you can control the parameters of both Parts of a Multi Patch simultaneously.

Range – steps through the oscillator’s base pitch ranges. For standard concert pitch (A3 = 440 Hz), set to 8’.

Coarse – adjusts the pitch of the selected oscillator over a range of ±1 octave.

Fine – adjusts the oscillator pitch over a range of ±100 cents (±1 semitone).

Wave – steps through the range of available oscillator waveforms – sine, triangular, sawtooth, pulse and more (the menu offers an extensive set of additional wavetables for more).

Mod Env 2 Depth – controls the amount by which the oscillator pitch changes as a result of modulation by Envelope 2. All Modulation Depth controls are “centre-zero” and thus positive values will increase the pitch and negative values will decrease the pitch.

LFO 2 Depth – controls the amount by which the oscillator pitch changes as a result of modulation by LFO 2. Pitch changes are bi-polar (up and down); uni-polar pitch modulation is available by the use of the Modulation Matrix.

Shape Amount – controls further modifications of the waveform shape, and is active for all wave shapes. With pulse waves, it adjusts the pulse width; with sine, triangle and sawtooth waves it produces wavefolding, which imparts additional harmonics to the basic waveform. When more is selected by the Wave switch and Source is set to Manual, the control navigates continuously through the five waveforms of the wavetable currently selected for the WaveMore parameter in the Oscillator menu.

Source – assigns the Shape Amount control to one of three sources which further alter the waveform shape. The options are: modulation by Envelope 1 (Mod Env 1), modulation by LFO 1 (LFO 1), and Manual, when the Shape Amount control itself modifies the wave shape. The three sources are additive: all may be used simultaneously.

Type – steps through the available waveforms: triangle, sawtooth, square, sample and hold. The associated LEDs give a visual indication of the LFO speed and waveform.

Fade Time – sets the timing of the LFO’s action: it is possible to “ramp” the LFO up or down or to delay its effect. The options are set in the LFO menu.

Range – selects High or Low; the third option is Sync, which synchronises the LFO frequency to the internal arp clock or to an external MIDI clock if one is present.

Rate – sets LFO frequency.

Select – assigns the controls in this area to either LFO 3 or LFO 4.

Type – steps through the available waveforms; as above.

Rate – sets LFO frequency.

Pressing Sync synchronises the LFO frequency to the internal arp clock or to an external MIDI clock if one is present.

Osc 3 > Osc 1 – controls the depth of frequency modulation applied to Oscillator 1’s pitch by Oscillator 3.

Source – assigns the Osc 3 > Osc 1 modulation depth control to one of three sources. The options are: modulation by Envelope 2 (Mod Env 2), modulation by LFO 2 (LFO 2), and Manual, when the Osc 3 > Osc 1 control itself sets the modulation depth. The three options are additive: all may be used simultaneously with the modulation depth for each source being set independently.

Osc 1 > Osc 2 - controls the depth of frequency modulation applied to Oscillator 2’s pitch by Oscillator 1

Source – performs the corresponding function as Source button for the Osc 1 > Osc 2 control .

Osc 2 > Osc 3 - controls the depth of frequency modulation applied to Oscillator 3’s pitch by Oscillator 2.

Source – performs the corresponding function as Source button for the Osc 2 > Osc 3 control .

Osc 1 – controls the volume of Oscillator 1.

Osc 2 – controls the volume of Oscillator 2.

Osc 3 – controls the volume of Oscillator 3.

Ring 1*2 – controls the Ring Modulator output level: the inputs to the Ring Modulator are Osc 1 and Osc 2.

Noise – controls the volume of the white noise generator.

VCA Gain – this effectively controls the mixer output level: it adjusts the analogue gain applied to the summed signals. See Summit: simplified block diagram.

Amp Envelope controls – a set of four 45 mm sliders adjusting the standard ADSR parameters (Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release) of the amplitude envelope.

Mod Envelope controls – an identical set of sliders, adjusting the parameters of the two modulation envelopes (see ] below).

Select – Summit generates two independent Mod Envelopes; this button selects which of these (Mod 1 or Mod 2) the Mod Envelope sliders control.

Loop – enables the envelope’s looping feature. This causes the AHD phases of the envelope to be retriggered a number of times, the number being defined by the Repeats parameter in the Env menu.

Voice Mode – selects one of five voice modes, three monophonic and two polyphonic

Glide On – enables/disables the Glide function.

Glide Time – sets the portamento glide time.

Arp On – turns the Arpeggiator on and off.

Key Latch – if Key Latch is selected while holding keys down, Summit will play the held notes continuously until it is deselected. This can be used to automatically maintain an arp sequence, but Key Latch can be used independently of the Arpeggiator to hold played notes for any length of time.

Tempo – sets the speed of the arp pattern.

Rhythm – selects one of 33 different patterns based on the notes played.

Gate – sets the duration of the notes played by the Arpeggiator.

Octave – sets the number of octaves over which the arp pattern extends; increasing the octave range increases the pattern length.

Type – further variations of the arp pattern are possible by varying Type. This allows you to choose the direction and/or order of the notes making up the pattern, such as up or down, random or chord formation.

Shape – steps through the three basic types of filter: low-pass (LP), band-pass (BP) or high-pass (HP); selecting Dual opens a menu page (Voice Menu Page 4), where nine more options, based on series or parallel combinations of two filter types operating simultaneously may be selected.

Slope – sets the slope of the filter to either 12dB or 24dB per octave.

Frequency – large rotary knob controlling the filter’s cut-off frequency (LP or HP), or its centre frequency (BP).

Resonance – adds resonance (an increased response at the filter frequency) to the filter characteristic.

Overdrive – adds a degree of pre-filter distortion to the mixer output.

Source – assigns the Env Depth control to one of two sources which can modulate the filter frequency. The options are modulation by the amplitude envelope (Amp Env) or one of the mod envelopes (Mod Env 1). The two sources are additive: and may be used simultaneously.

Env Depth – controls the amount by which the filter frequency is modified by the envelope currently selected by Source . The two sources may have different values of depth. Env Depth is a centre-zero control and thus both positive and negative variations may be imposed on the filter frequency by each modulating source.

LFO 1 depth – controls the amount by which the filter frequency is modified by LFO 1. LFO 1 Depth is a centre-zero control and thus the filter frequency can be made to vary both positively and negatively.

Osc 3 Filter Mod – allows the filter frequency to be modulated directly by Oscillator 3.

Key Tracking – controls the amount by which the keyboard position of the note being played varies the filter frequency between 0 and 100%.

DISTORTION: Level – controls the amount of analogue distortion applied to the sum of all active voices for each Part.

DELAY: Time – sets the timing of the delayed signal (echo) added to the original. Maximum delay is approx. 1.4 seconds.

DELAY: Sync – electing Sync allows the delay time to be synchronised to the internal clock or an incoming MIDI clock.

DELAY: Feedback – allows the delayed signal to be fed back to the input of the delay processor, creating multiple echoes.

DELAY: Level – controls the volume of the delayed signal.

REVERB: Time – adjusts reverberation decay time. (The maximum time is longer than anything you’ll ever likely to need!)

REVERB: Size – emulates spaces of three different sizes: 3 is the largest.

REVERB: Level – controls the “amount” of reverberation.

CHORUS: Rate – adjusts the rate of chorus modulation.

CHORUS: Type – lets you select one of three different chorus algorithms.

CHORUS: Level – controls the degree of chorus effect.

EFFECTS: Bypass – the three time-domain effects (delay, reverb and chorus) may be switched in or out with this button. Bypass does not affect analogue distortion.

ANIMATES 1 and 2 – add an “instant” effect to the sound currently being generated by activating additional, pre-programmed modulation and effects routings that have been set up in the modulation matrix. These buttons are great in live performance: most of Summit’s factory Patches include Animate functions.

Hold – pressing Hold will “lock” the Animate function in an “On” state. You can either press Hold before pressing ANIMATE, or vice-versa. Pressing ANIMATE a second time releases both the Animate and Hold functions.

Soft rubber Pitch wheel with a positive return to the centre position. The default range is +/- one octave, but the Bend Range parameter in the Oscillator Menu allows a range of up to +/- two octaves for each oscillator independently.

Soft rubber Modulation wheel, the specific effect of which will vary with Patch. It may also be assigned as a Modulation Matrix source, to modify one or more parameters.

Note the Pitch and Modulation wheels have internal illumination, colour-coded to follow the current A/B MULTIPART selection [12].

Octave + and Octave – buttons – shift the keyboard up or down by an octave with each press: the maximum range is +/-3 octaves. The illumination of the buttons increases with the degree of shift; both buttons are dark when no octave shift is in effect.