Name: Patricia Wolf
Nationality: American
Occupation: Musician, producer, sound designer, DJ
Recent release: Patricia Wolf's See-Through is out via Balmat.
Tool of Creation: Novation Summit
Type of Tool: Synthesiser
Designed by: Novation Digital Music Systems Ltd.
Country of origin: Britain
Became available in: 2020
Patricia Wolf uses the Novation Summit on: “Springtime In Croatia” from her new album See-Through. “Peak and Summit have been a part of all the music that I have been making since 2018. They truly feel like a part of me now. If I had to single out a recording of mine that demonstrates the synth and is dear to me I would have to recommend this song. Both synth parts in that song come from Summit.
There’s just something so tender about how that one came out. It makes me hold my breath a bit. It’s pretty bare bones - 2 synth lines and a field recording, empty space for thoughts and emotions to surface.”
If you enjoyed this interview with Patricia Wolf and would like to know more, visit her on Instagram, Soundcloud, and twitter.
What was your first encounter with the Novation Summit?
It was a really unique experience for me. I was the first person outside of Novation to be given a Summit and the first person to officially work on designing sounds for it for its premier at Superbooth in Berlin. It was quite an honor!
Because I had lots of experience working with Novation Peak, it was not difficult for me to dive right into using Summit. Since I got a very early version of it I ran into a few bugs. It was really cool to communicate what I found with the programmer and then get new firmware updates that corrected the issues. It really takes a team to make a big project like that work and it made me feel really special to have a small part in that.
I adore Novation. Everyone there is so kind and inspired. They are always listening to the synthesizer community and coming up with new features for their existing products.
Here are some recordings of me demoing the patches I designed for it.
Just like any other piece of equipment, the Novation Summit has a history. Are you interested in it? And if so, what are some of the key points from this history for you personally?
Yes, I am definitely interested in Summit’s history. I think often about the great synthesizer engineers who designed the instruments that have made it possible for some of my favorite music to exist.
Chris Huggett was the designer of Novation Peak and Summit. Sadly, he passed away in 2020. I had been hoping to meet him and wanted to thank him for designing those wonderful instruments and show him some of the music that I’ve made with Peak and Summit. I often wonder how designers and engineers feel when they hear the music that is made from the instruments they created. Entire genres are sometimes born from these new instruments! Amazing! It must feel good to be behind all of that!
Back in 2014 when I was on tour with a synth pop project I was in at the time, I met someone in England who had a Wasp which was an early design of Huggett’s. He was so proud of his English made synth and excited to show it off to me. I loved its unique appearance and for a lightweight little thing it really packed a punch!
With Wasp, Chris Huggett wanted to make something affordable and effective so that making synthesizer music was more accessible for folks and he was successful with that. When I compare that synth to what he went on to make throughout the years I am in awe of all the progress that he made and all of the territory he explored within the realms of analog and digital synthesis.
What interests you about the Novation Summit in terms of it contributing to your creative ideals?
One of my creative ideals is following my intuition. Being able to work with an instrument with such a well planned layout allows me to modulate, explore, and shape sound with ease.
I can effortlessly flow with and manipulate sound and have a lot of control with Summit. There’s very little menu diving necessary to go quite deep with the instrument, but it also allows for so much detailed modular customization within the mod matrix. So you can go under the hood and make it more into something unique and customized if you want to and still come back to that fantastic layout. It’s simultaneously a simple and complex instrument.
Some see instruments and equipment as far less important than actual creativity, others feel they go hand in hand. What's your take on that?
For me it goes hand in hand. It’s in the process of exploring an instrument that my creativity fully emerges. When I am playing with an instrument and hear a sound and sequence of notes that resonates with an emotion, memory, or sense of place it is then that I feel inspired to create music or a sound piece.
I rarely work with a set intention of what I want to do. I like to think of instruments as divining devices that can reflect our thoughts and feelings back to us and perhaps say what words cannot or show us what we haven’t quite yet come to understand cognitively.
If the instrument is compatible with our way of working and creates sounds that excite us then there is so much potential for creativity and self discovery.
Prior to using it for the first time, how did you acquaint yourself with the Novation Summit? Will you usually consult a manual before starting to work with a new device – and what was that like for the Novation Summit?
In the case of Summit, there was no manual when I first got it because it was not out yet. My experience with Peak was a good basis for me to get started with it since there are many similarities. If I had any questions I would write to the team at Novation and they would help me.
In other cases though, I will watch demo videos and read the manual to get to know a new instrument.
How would you describe the sonic potential of the Novation Summit?
It’s a 16 voice synthesizer capable of FM, subtractive, and wavetable synthesis. It can sound digital at times and also quite warm and full like an analog synth. It’s all in how you program it. You can add your own wavetables if you like. It’s bitimbral meaning that you can make it into 2 synths at once if you want. This can be quite handy if you’re on tour and want to be economical about how many instruments you are bringing out.
With multipatches you have the option of either layering 2 patches or splitting them across the keyboard. With a split keyboard perhaps you send a MIDI bassline sequence to one patch on the lower part of the keyboard and then hand play the lead part on the upper part of the keyboard with another patch. It’s pretty amazing! Also layering 2 patches over one another with 16 voices available can get pretty complex in terms of sound design! It also has great built in effects - delay, reverb, chorus so if you’re on a budget you can save on having to buy external units.
Another cool thing is that you can store your patches on the cloud so if you’re on tour and the promoter can provide you with a Summit you can go into the Components app online and send your stored patches to the new unit. You can really do a lot with that synth!
In which way does the Novation Summit influence musical results and what kind of compositions does it encourage / foster?
In my case it influences me to play more with my hands. Prior to having it, most of the synths in my studio were desktop synths and I would tend to trigger them with a sequencer.
Summit took me back to a more “hands on” approach of making music which allowed me to meander and wander a bit more freely with my composing.
How does the Novation Summit interact with some of the other tools in your studio?
I think it compliments my other synths very well. A lot of my other synths are desktop synths that I usually sequence with my Octatrack or Ableton.
It’s nice to have a synth that I can hand play notes on with the sequences going.
In the light of picking your tools, how would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?
I can’t say that I ascribe solidly to one or the other. I like to work with all sorts of synthesis techniques and sound tools, and I also appreciate classical instruments.
I think it’s really cool to hear traditional / acoustic instruments alongside new digital / synthesised ones or classical instruments processed and manipulated with new music tools like granular synthesis, spectral sound processing, etc.
Are there other artists working with the Novation Summit whose work you find inspiring? What do you appreciate about their take on it?
The funny thing is that I don’t really pay too much attention to what synths people are using in their music unless I’m at a show seeing them play or it's mentioned in the liner notes or in an interview. As much as I love synths I don’t like to think about gear when I am listening to music. I like to just let myself take in the emotional energy of it.
Having said that, a few of my talented friends have picked up Summit and told me that they love it. They make amazing music:
Selene
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Thomas Ragsdale
