User Manual

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The Effects Section

Peak comes equipped with a sound effects (FX) section. FX can be applied to the sound

the synth is generating to add colour and character. All FX parameters are saved with the

Patch.

51 52

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4544

The FX tools comprise analogue distortion and three digital “time-domain” effects: Reverb,

Chorus and Delay. Each has its own set of controls and any or all FX may be used without

restriction.

In addition, the FX Menu provides extensive control of additional parameters for the digital

FX. These may be used in parallel conﬁguration, or arranged in series in any order: the

conﬁgurations are set up in the FX Menu.

The FX processing section is active by default: the Bypass button

switches the digital

FX processing out of circuit: it does not bypass the Distortion processor.

Distortion

Distortion may be added with the single Level control

. A controlled amount of

distortion is added after the VCA, in the analogue domain, and affects the sum of the eight

voices. This means that the distortion characteristic will change as the amplitude of the

signal changes over time as a result of the Amplitude Envelope, and also with the number

of active voices.

The output from the Distortion processor is then routed to the other FX.

Note that “per-voice” distortion may be added by adjusting Post Filter Drive in

the Voice menu.

Chorus

Chorus is an effect produced by mixing a continuously delayed version of the signal with

the original. The characteristic swirling effect is produced by the Chorus processor’s own

LFO making very small changes in the delays. The changing delay also produces the effect

of multiple voices, some of which are pitch-shifted; this adds to the effect.

Peak has three stereo Chorus programs (simply numbered 1, 2 and 3), selected by the

Type button

. Type 1 is a two-tap chorus, Type 2 uses four taps and Type 3 is an

ensemble effect. The amount of Chorus effect added to the “dry” signal is adjusted by the

Level control

. The Rate control

sets the frequency of the Chorus processor’s

dedicated LFO. Lower values give a lower frequency, and hence a sound whose

characteristic changes more gradually. A slow rate is generally more effective.

There are further Chorus parameters available for adjustment in the FX Menu

Delay

The Delay FX processor produces one or more repetitions of the note played. Although the

two are intimately related in an acoustic sense, delay should not be confused with reverb in

terms of an effect. Think of delay simply as “Echo”.

The Time control

sets the basic delay time: the note played will be repeated after a

ﬁxed time. Higher values correspond to a longer delay, with the maximum value of 127

equating to approx. 1.4 seconds. If Time is varied while a note is being played, pitch

shifting will result.

It is often desirable to synchronise echoes to tempo: on Peak this can be done by

selecting Sync

. The Time control then varies the DelaySync parameter, which

is displayed on the OLED while the control is adjusted. The sync value is limited by the

maximum delay time of 1.4 seconds, consequently some combinations of ClockRate

and DelaySync result in truncating the delay time to the maximum calculated sync rate

permissible, i.e., the delay time will reduce, but it will remain in sync.

The output of the delay processor is connected back to the input, at a reduced level; The

Feedback control

sets the level. This results in multiple echoes, as the delayed signal

is further repeated. With Feedback set to zero, no delayed signal at all is fed back, so

only a single echo results. As you increase the value, you will hear more echoes for each

note, though they still die away in volume. Setting the control in the centre of its range

(64) results in about 5 or 6 audible echoes; at the maximum setting the decay in volume is

almost imperceptible and the repetitions will still be audible after a minute or more.

The Level control

adjusts the level of the echoes: at the maximum setting (127), the

ﬁrst echo is approximately the same volume as the initial, dry note.

There are further Delay parameters available for adjustment in the FX Menu

Reverb

Reverberation (reverb) adds the effect of an acoustic space to a sound. Unlike delay,

reverb is created by generating a dense set of delayed signals, typically with different

phase relationships and equalisations applied to re-create what happens to sound in a real

acoustic space.

Peak provides three reverb presets, selected by the Type button

. The presets are

simply numbered 1, 2 and 3, and set the RevSize parameter (see page 32) to values

of 0, 64 or 127 respectively, thus simulating spaces of different sizes.

The Time control

sets the basic reverb time of the selected space and sets the time

that the reverb takes to die away to inaudibility. The Level control

adjusts the volume

of the reverb.

The FX Menu

The following additional parameters for the three time-domain effects are available in the

FX menu. Two menu pages each are dedicated to Chorus and Delay and three to Reverb.

There is also one further page (Page 1/8), with “global” parameters affecting all three

effects.

Chorus pages:

CHORUS 2/8

ChorDepth 64 h

ChorFback +0

CHORUS 3/8

LoPass 90 h

HiPass 2

Chorus Depth

Displayed as: ChorDepth

Initial value: 64

Range of adjustment: 0 to 127

The ChorDepth parameter determines the amount of LFO modulation applied to the

Chorus delay time, and thus the overall depth of the effect. A value of zero results in no

chorus effect being added.

Chorus Feedback

Displayed as: ChorFback

Initial value: 0

Range of adjustment: -64 to +63

The Chorus processor has its own feedback path between output and input, and a

degree of feedback can be applied to get a more effective sound. Negative values of the

ChorFback parameter mean that the signal being fed back is phase-reversed: High

values – positive or negative – can add a dramatic “swooping” effect. Adding feedback and

keeping the value of ChorDepth low will turn the Chorus FX into a ﬂanger.