Waldorf iridium or Hydrasynth

[christian f.]

I have a Quantum and sold the Hydra. It sounds better and goes way beyond Hydra's sonic territories. While there's a lot you can do with software, I prefer working on the Quantum for complex deep sound design. It saves a LOT of screen time and mouse clicks.

[Trancer]

I ended up getting the iridium and a really powerful machine with immense creative potential.

Thank you for your responses and opinions.

[_leras]

Neither, instead get a Novation Summit.

[pdxindy]

I ended up getting the iridium and a really powerful machine with immense creative potential.

Thank you for your responses and opinions.

It truly is vast! 1 Osc can be a full FM synth voice!

Enjoy!!

[SLiC]

I find it hard to buy an all digital synth (unless you are playing out live) when the VSTs are just so good now. I had a Hydrosynth mainly for the PolyAT and Ribbon and it sounded great- but so do most of my VST and I can have multiple instances and no cables!... I sold Hydrasynth when I got my Osmose- the MPE side justifies the price of the Osmose for me (even as a controller) but it aloes sounds great as a bonus. All my other synths are analogue or hybrid as I still get something from analogue filters...but even that margin is getting less and less...

[_leras]

I ended up getting the iridium and a really powerful machine with immense creative potential.

Thank you for your responses and opinions.

How are you getting on with this now you've had it for a while?

[SLiC]

Neither, instead get a Novation Summit.

That's my main Synth, bit OT but nice new video

[_leras]

Neither, instead get a Novation Summit.

That's my main Synth, bit OT but nice new video

Nice synth. I'll watch that video.

I have a fund saved and put aside for a polysynth, but can never quite decide. The Summit seems great. Great modern sound, rich bass mono stuff, an amazing set of hands on controls that would also make it a good controller.

[Dust_NL]

Neither, instead get a Novation Summit.

That's my main Synth, bit OT but nice new video

Not only my main synth, but also the only HW synth I own atm. Before buying it, I was in the run for Hydrasynth, Moog Subsequent 37 and Novation Summit. After watching many videos on YT, I finale made my decision and bought the Summit. Never regretted it ever since. You can just do so many things with it.

[zerocrossing]

Thank you very much for your answer.

Ah well limited to this point.

So the Serum could be a substitute, equivalent vst to Hydrasynth?

The Iridium really seems to be a great machine with a lot of potential indeed.

No. Serum can’t be a substitute or equivalent to the Hydrasynth, because it’s much better in every sense.

[zerocrossing]

Here's my useless and probably unpopular opinion:

I don't own either synth, but have considered each of them on multiple occasions. I see secondhand Hydrasynths for sale pretty regularly and often at tempting prices. But, every time I think I might give it a go, I start watching a few video reviews and instantly find myself thinking, god what a boring sounding synth. Maybe it's better when used hands-on and maybe it's great for the MPE (not a high priority for me), but I've seen enough reviews to convince me that it's not going to add anything that I don't already have in other hardware or software. Also, I have a MiniFreak and, although they're not an apples:apples comparison (even though people treat them like they are), I find it much more unique and with an even better arpeggiator than Hydrasynth's arp (which is one of its strongest points IMO).

Iridium, meh IDK. It's a synth that I want to love, but it's a lot of money for a synth that has many cool features, but IMO doesn't sound as good as my Blofeld. Also, I find synths like this are pretty complex for the hardware realm and are much better from a usability standpoint in software format. I do love hardware for the joy of using hardware, but I'm neither a hardware nor analog snob. I own a few digital hardware synths (e.g., Blofeld, Virus TI2) and have owned many others in the past, but for me to buy anything digital in hardware format, it has to be more usable or sound better/different, or have a better user experience than something equivalent in software. So, I just find that complex digital synths are often better implemented in software format. All that said, if I ever see an Iridium at a no-brainer price, I'd probably pick it up just to see if it changes my mind, knowing I could always resell it later for a profit/break even (I do this very often).

TL/DR: neither. I prefer my MiniFreak, Blofeld, or software synths over these two, but if I had to choose, it would probably be the Iridium.

I’m with you on this point. There are two things at play. Capabilities and personality. Sometimes the two are coupled, but not often. The Iridium disappoints me as well, which is weird, because I think it sounds very good. There are a lot of great synthesizers that I feel that way about. I don’t think the analog filters in the Quantum add much. I had the Super 6 on my list, but I can’t find a way to get excited about it. I had a Peak for a year… never warmed to it. All great stuff, but not for me. Not in hardware, at least. I do find that sort of thing to be very useful, but it is easy to get in software.

That said, what do you feel about the Blofeld plugin? I passed on it, but I’d be interested to hear what a hardware Blofeld user thinks of it.

[Dust_NL]

No. Serum can’t be a substitute or equivalent to the Hydrasynth, because it’s much better in every sense.

“Better” is relative. Can you please elaborate?

[cryophonik]

That said, what do you feel about the Blofeld plugin? I passed on it, but I’d be interested to hear what a hardware Blofeld user thinks of it.

I actually sold my Blofeld hardware after getting the plugin. At the time, I actually wanted a different hardware synth and needed to sell something to free up space/inputs. So the Blofeld drew the short straw, partly because the plugin sounds identical, partly because I just didn't actually use the Blofeld in a lot of songs.

[zerocrossing]

No. Serum can’t be a substitute or equivalent to the Hydrasynth, because it’s much better in every sense.

“Better” is relative. Can you please elaborate?

True. If you think harsh and rife with digital artifacts, like a plugin from 1999 is good, it would be much better.

[justin3am]

I have a Hydrasynth and a Quantum and I like them both a lot. The Quantum is probably my favorite keyboard synth.
I mostly use the Quantum for the granular and Kernel engines and getting the most from these can take a lot of work but the modulation system is incredibly flexible and once I have a nice sounding patch, it's easy to turn it into something very expressive.
The Hydrasynth is very good for diffuse pads and heavily processed patches. It's deep but fast to navigate, so I get get a sound I like pretty quickly. I can't complain about the sound of it. I like it's character, which can be lofi but it really shines when patched through or tube or inductor EQ.