Novation Summit: David Hilowitz Music’s Subtractive Powerhouse – No Fluff, Just Fire

David Hilowitz Music sets the scene by placing the Novation Summit in the spotlight – literally, at the centre of a London pop-up shop, where it lures in synth heads with its slick looks and serious pedigree. No cheap plastic fakery here; this flagship isn’t about half-baked shortcuts, but a full-fat subtractive machine that’s got the confidence to call itself a classic. Even before the firmware updates start stacking up, the Summit stands out as Novation’s vision of what a top-tier synth should be.

David doesn’t waste time with marketing gloss. He jumps straight to the meat: this is a subtractive synth through and through, pulling no punches and keeping the spirit of Moog and Deutsch alive, but with a modern British twist. If you’re looking for a synth that can be both a sonic scalpel and a sledgehammer, the Summit’s got the build and the brains to do both.

Presets? Hundreds. Genres? Covered. David runs through the Summit’s massive preset library, pointing out it’s not just about quantity – these sounds actually slap. There’s enough here to keep most electronic producers busy for months, whether your thing is spacey pads, gritty basses, or something that sounds like it escaped from a malfunctioning toaster.

But the real fun starts when you toss out the presets and get your hands dirty. With the Components app, you can craft your own banks and keep the remixing going. David shows how building from scratch is as classic as it gets: sawtooth, filter, envelope, boom – instant nostalgia, but with the kind of flexibility that makes you wonder why you ever settled for less.

If you thought the Summit was just another pretty face, the dual analog filters and deep modulation options will slap you awake. David highlights how you don’t have to pick sides – low-pass, high-pass, and a buffet of waveforms (including your own wavetables) are all here for the taking. He goes classic with saws and detunes, then rolls out a plucky bass, layering effects that can go from subtle shimmer to Vangelis-in-space.

But the best bit? FM knobs that let you twist the oscillators into a circular feedback loop – pure mayhem, if you want it. Two-part multitimbrality means you’re never stuck in one lane: David demos how you can split or stack sounds, making this synth as versatile as a Swiss Army rave. If you like your synths predictable, look elsewhere – the Summit is built for sonic chaos, and that’s a compliment.

No Summit story is complete without a tip of the hat to Chris Huggett, the British synth wizard behind legends like the Wasp and Oscar. David traces a line from those quirky classics to the Summit, showing how Huggett’s fingerprints are all over its digital-analogue hybrid soul. This isn’t just nostalgia – it’s a genuine evolution, with digitally controlled oscillators and dual filters that nod to the past but punch into the future.

The Summit isn’t just another ‘tribute’ synth; it’s the final chapter of a true innovator. David’s respect is clear, but he’s not blinded by hero worship – the Summit earns its place by delivering the goods. If you want a synth with real history and guts, not just retro branding, this is it.