Novation has shipped what it's calling the biggest firmware update in the history of the Summit and Peak synthesizers. Version 2.0 reworks stereo imaging, adds new modulation options, and expands the onboard effects section on both instruments. For owners who've waited years between major updates, it's a substantial refresh. For a vocal segment of that same owner base, it's also a reminder of the one feature that still isn't there: MPE.

What's Actually in v2.0

Novation's release notes point to three main areas of change: stereo controls that give the voice architecture a wider, more defined image, expanded modulation routing for more complex patch design, and additional effects processing layered onto the existing signal chain. Both the eight-voice Summit and its desktop sibling the Peak receive the same update, since they share the same FPGA-based digital-analog hybrid voice architecture underneath.

Updating either synth is a manual process — Novation provides platform-specific instructions for macOS and Windows through its support site, rather than pushing the update automatically.

The MPE Question

What v2.0 doesn't add is MPE support, and that's notable given how long the request has been on the table. Both synths use the same eight-voice engine and per-voice modulation architecture that would, in principle, make them well suited to per-note expressive control. Owners in the community have pointed out that MPE has become close to a standard feature on desktop and rack synths in this performance class, and that the Peak and Summit are increasingly conspicuous exceptions.

Part of the interest is practical: players who've picked up MPE controllers like the Expressive E Osmose or the Intuitive Instruments Exquis want a way to route that per-note pitch, pressure, and slide data into a hardware synth with real analog filters, and the Summit/Peak's voice count and modulation matrix make them an obvious candidate. Without MPE, that expressive data has to be flattened down to global MIDI CCs, which defeats much of the point of playing an MPE controller in the first place.

Why It Hasn't Happened

Novation hasn't offered an official technical explanation for the omission, and there's no confirmed roadmap item for MPE on either synth. Retrofitting MPE onto an existing voice architecture is a real engineering undertaking, not a toggle — it requires the firmware to track and route independent per-note MIDI channels through a voice allocation system that wasn't originally designed around that model, which may explain why it hasn't shown up in two years of intermittent updates.

Still, v2.0's scope shows Novation is willing to make substantial changes to how the Summit and Peak's voices behave, which keeps the door open. Whether MPE ever makes that list depends on how loudly the request continues to be made and how it stacks up against other engineering priorities.

Where This Leaves Owners

For now, Summit and Peak owners looking for expressive per-note control have to look elsewhere in their signal chain — either accepting standard MIDI CC mapping from an MPE controller, or routing through software that can translate and split MPE data before it reaches the hardware. It's a workaround rather than a solution, and it's precisely the gap that keeps this request near the top of the community's firmware wishlist update after update.

Firmware downloads and update instructions for both synths are available directly from Novation.