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Polyphony Mode
Displayed as: Mode
Initial value: Poly
Range of adjustment: Mono, MonoLG, Mono2, Poly, Poly2
As the names imply, three of the possible modes are mono and two are polyphonic.
1. Mono – this is standard monophonic mode; only one note sounds at a time,
and the “last played” rule applies - if you play more than key, only the last
pressed will be heard. The same voice or voices are used for every note: this
means each note played will re-trigger the voices even if the previous note
is still sounding. When selected On, Glide will always be operative between
successive notes.
2. MonoLG – LG stands for Legato Glide. This is an alternative mono mode,
which differs from Mono in the way Glide and Pre-Glide work. In MonoLG
mode, Glide and Pre-Glide only work if the keys are played in a legato style;
playing notes separately produces no glide effect. As with Mono, the same
voices are re-used for every note.
3. Mono 2 – this mode operates in the same way as Mono, except that voices
are assigned “in rotation” as each note is played. Unlike Mono or MonoLG,
this has the effect (depending on playing speed) of allowing each note to
complete its individual envelope. The main advantage of the Mono 2 voice
mode is when using envelopes with an amount of attack as the envelope is
always reset. This is not how analogue envelope generators work, but many
digital envelope generators work on this principle.
4. P oly – in polyphonic mode, up to eight voices can sound simultaneously:
depending on how many voices are assigned in the Patch, this means that you
can play up to eight notes simultaneously. If you play the same note repeatedly,
each note will be assigned a different voice, and you will hear the individual
envelopes of every note.
5. Poly2 – in this alternative polyphonic mode, successively playing the same
note(s) uses the same voices, the voices being re-triggered by new notes.
This can change the behaviour of voice stealing. For example, in Poly mode,
when playing chord shapes with similar notes (e.g., Amin7 to Cmaj) the notes
C, E and G will be played twice as well as the A and the B, i.e., a total of eight
voices. If playing a melody in the other hand, one voice from the first chord
will be stolen, which may be the lowest A. If Mode is set to Poly 2, the C, E
and G will only be played once, which will leave three voices free for playing a
melody.
The effect of the different polyphony modes can be quite subtle, depending on the Patch in
use and playing style, and we recommend that you experiment!
Patch Level
Displayed as: Patch Level
Initial value: 64
Range of adjustment: 0 to 127
This is an additional level trim control, whose setting is saved with the Patch. This allows
you to set the overall volume of each Patch, so that all the Patches in use are at the levels
that you want. With a value of 0, the Patch volume is halved; with a value of 127, it is
doubled.
Filter Post Drive
Displayed as: FltPostDrv
Initial value: 0
Range of adjustment: 0 to 127
This parameter controls how much pre-envelope distortion is added to the sound after the
filter, but (crucially) before the amplifier. This distortion will thus remain constant when
the amplifier is gradually opened and closed by the amplitude envelope, unlike that added
by the Effects section DISTORTION Level control
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, which follows the amplifier in the
signal chain.
Filter Divergence
Displayed as: FltDiverge
Initial value: 0
Range of adjustment: 0 to 127
This parameter re-creates the subtle effect of poor filter calibration found on early analogue
synths. The filter for each voice is deliberately detuned by a different, fixed amount. The
effect will be more apparent when the filter is close to resonance.
The Arpeggiator
Peak has a versatile Arpeggiator (Arp) feature which allows arpeggios of varying
complexity and rhythm to be played and manipulated in real-time. When the Arpeggiator
is enabled and a single key is pressed, its note will be retriggered. If you play a chord, the
Arpeggiator identifies its notes and plays them individually in sequence (this is termed an
arpeggio pattern or ‘arp sequence’); thus if you play a C major triad, the selected notes will
be C, E and G.
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There are only three panel controls for the Arpeggiator: most of the arp parameters –
including tempo, pattern, octave range and type (up/down) - are set up in the Arp menu
(see below). The Arpeggiator is enabled by pressing the On button
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.
The Key Latch button
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plays the currently selected arp sequence repeatedly without
the keys being held. If further key(s) are pressed while the initial keys are being held down,
the extra note(s) will be added to the sequence. If further keys are pressed after releasing
all the notes, a new sequence consisting of only the new notes will be played.
The Gate control
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sets the basic duration of the notes played by the Arpeggiator
(though this will be further amended by both the Rhythm and SyncRate menu
settings). Gate length is a percentage of the step length so the time during which the gate
is open depends on the master clock speed. The lower the parameter value, the shorter
the duration of the note played. At its maximum value (127), one note in the sequence is
immediately followed by the next without a gap. At the default value of 64, the note duration
is exactly half the beat interval (as set by the ClockRate parameter in the menu), and
each note is followed by a rest of equal length.
Arp data transmission
Peak will both transmit MIDI note data from the arpeggiator, and allow the arpeggiator to
play notes according to received MIDI note data. See “Arp MIDI mode” on page 35 for
more information.
The Arp/Clock Menu
The following additional Arpeggiator parameters are available in the Arp/Clock menu,
which has three pages:
CLOCK 1/3
ClockRate 120BPM h
Source Auto
ARP 2/3
Type Up h
Rhythm 1
ARP 3/3
Swing 50 h
SyncRate 16th
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