Opinions wanted: Nord Wave 2 vs Novation Summit

[Astronautilus]

Hi,

I have a ROMpler for imitative sounds and gigging, but I'm looking for a keyboard just for fun/inspiration/recording. I need something that's intuitive to program, hence some knobs!

My budget is around £2k so I'm looking at the Nord Wave 2 and the Novation Summit. Should I be considering anything else? Perhaps the Yamaha Montage or Prophet Rev2?

Thanks for any help...

[The Elf]

The Wave is a good machine, but the Peak/Summit are sublime. If you can live with 8 voices the Peak is a lot of synth in a small space.

[Dave B]

If I were looking to blow 2k on a straight synth, my head would say Prophet 08 rev2 but my heart would say OB6...

There are a load of different options though. You pretty much can’t get a bad synth at the moment. I was quite impressed by the Montage but I wouldn’t class that in the ‘grab it, twist it and have fun’ category. Have a good think about what you want - the Summit, Prophet, OB, etc are all straight polysynths so if you need Rhodes, Hammond, piano, choir, etc then you are going to get frustrated. If you do want the ability to do those, then the Wave makes more sense.

[Arpangel]

If I were looking to blow 2k on a straight synth

Depends what you want it for, what sound you like, type of synthesis, etc etc etc etc all are good that have been mentioned, but my Matriarch takes the biscuit for me, and shouldn’t be left out of anyone’s short list, totally brainless to use, heavenly Moog sound, the icing on this lovely multi-coloured cake are the filters and delay.

[Astronautilus]

... my Matriarch takes the biscuit for me, and shouldn’t be left out of anyone’s short list, totally brainless to use, heavenly Moog sound, the icing on this lovely multi-coloured cake are the filters and delay.

Would have been on my list too, except for lack of k/b split, and the 49 note keyboard. Shame though...

[Dave B]

49keys and split? Rules out the OB6 then. Shame.

If you wanted something a little different sounding then there is the Korg Prologue which, imho, sounds more like an old Japanese synth from back in the day rather than a big American sounding one. I tried it and quite liked it but definitely wanted the bigger keyboard and extra polyphony of the larger version.

[Forum Admin]

If you can wait that long, there's an in-depth review by Robin Bigwood of this synth in our upcoming OCTOBER 2020 issue (live on website from Thursday 17th September).

[Arpangel]

Would have been on my list too, except for lack of k/b split, and the 49 note keyboard. Shame though...

Yes, it is annoying isn’t it, I’m wondering how many potential sales have been lost by this trend, it’s about time things went back to normal, and yes, normal means A FULL SIZED 61 NOTE KEYBOARD at the very least.

[Astronautilus]

Thanks for opinions everyone (and shame about the Wave 2 review in October SOS). I've also been listening to YouTube reviews on both synths, as well as pouring through both user manuals, and I've finally decided to go with the Summit.

Everyone who's used it speaks highly of the Summit. As do most owners of the Wave 2 actually, but the deciding factors were the single LFO on the Nord, plus lack of a voice 'compare' facility. OK and the extra few hundred quid!

[Arpangel]

Thanks for opinions everyone (and shame about the Wave 2 review in October SOS). I've also been listening to YouTube reviews on both synths, as well as pouring through both user manuals, and I've finally decided to go with the Summit.

Everyone who's used it speaks highly of the Summit. As do most owners of the Wave 2 actually, but the deciding factors were the single LFO on the Nord, plus lack of a voice 'compare' facility. OK and the extra few hundred quid!

If it’s any conciliation, a friend bought a Summit a couple of months back, he’s 150% happy with it, he said "this’ll be my main synth till the day I die"
I got my Matriarch because of its simplicity, and I don’t need the complexity of synthesis and versatility of the Summit, but if I was looking for something in that area of the market the Summit would be my choice too.

[Astronautilus]

If it’s any conciliation, a friend bought a Summit a couple of months back, he’s 150% happy with it, he said "this’ll be my main synth till the day I die"
I got my Matriarch because of its simplicity, and I don’t need the complexity of synthesis and versatility of the Summit, but if I was looking for something in that area of the market the Summit would be my choice too.

Thanks for this... it helps confirm that I've made the right choice!

For me, there's also a certain symmetry to this choice, because in 1999 Andertons were selling their last few Supernova II's, and I hesitated and missed out. I went with my second choice, a Korg Z1 and as good as the Z1 is, I always regretted that bit of indecision.

This feels something like a second chance!

[Eddy Deegan]

Another extremely happy Summit owner here. It's definitely a keeper!

[Arpangel]

When he said he’d be happy with the Summit till the day he died, he is 98, and he’s not feeling too good.