Hydrasynth

[Watchful]

I watched a video today where a guy from ASM mentioned the keybed has had some minor improvement over the 49 key, on both new versions. They’ve added Note Off velocity.

I played that exact Deluxe a few minutes after this video was shot. I found its responsiveness a little strange, and very unlike the smaller Hydras that have been on the market for a while. The keys seemed a little stiff, and maybe they had the PolyAT sensitivity way down, but I personally thought it wasn't very responsive: when I had this feature on an Ensoniq VFX, that was beautifully expressive and required very little effort to shine. The Deluxe keybed felt nice, but kind of flat to me.

The ribbon controller was very nice, though--when it goes so wide across the keybed, you get so much more expressiveness out of it.

[WatchTheGuitar]

I watched a video today where a guy from ASM mentioned the keybed has had some minor improvement over the 49 key, on both new versions. They’ve added Note Off velocity.

I played that exact Deluxe a few minutes after this video was shot. I found its responsiveness a little strange, and very unlike the smaller Hydras that have been on the market for a while. The keys seemed a little stiff, and maybe they had the PolyAT sensitivity way down, but I personally thought it wasn't very responsive: when I had this feature on an Ensoniq VFX, that was beautifully expressive and required very little effort to shine. The Deluxe keybed felt nice, but kind of flat to me.

The ribbon controller was very nice, though--when it goes so wide across the keybed, you get so much more expressiveness out of it.

There are quite a lot of different profiles for key response you can select in the global settings, even more added in the last update, so may just have been down to how the guy demoing had it set up.

[Watchful]

I'm sure you're correct. I don't think my experience is in anyway special; I do however think that you should physically play the Deluxe before committing to buying one. You might not like it.

[WatchTheGuitar]

I'm sure you're correct. I don't think my experience is in anyway special; I do however think that you should physically play the Deluxe before committing to buying one. You might not like it.

Absolutely, if possible, but it’s not always that easy depending on geography.
My heart was broken when I finally sat down to try my dream guitar, a 12 string Rickenbacker, to find I hated the neck and it was all wire with no fret feel. And the opposite is sometimes true, you find something cheap that’s great to play, like my J Mascis sig Squier.

[vurt]

but don't pretend you can justify it.

until we are married, i dont have to justify any of my purchases

[BONES]

Exactly! It doesn't stop everyone from trying, though, does it? It's as if "I just wanted it" isn't enough when, of course, it absolutely is.

[abject39]

Look of course you can just use a Vst to replace a Hydrasynth, its obvious

All you need is a $700 laptop, a $1000 49 key poly AT keyboard, a $300 audio/midi interface and a $200 softsynth. Crazy to think that a hydrasynth can beat that value…
what the hydrasynth is only $1299 with dedicated controls, ribbon, and clever matrix UI?

Bargain!
Bullshit, idiots, dumb, etc etc etc


(Joke, no one was harmed in the making of this post )

As an owner of a Hydrasynth and plenty softsynths I can tell you, first-hand, that even with all of that named, there still is absolutely no softsynth that is doing what the Hydrasynth can do. The Hydrasynth offers entirely too many options. There are things the Hydrasynth is capable of that I don't think I have ever seen outside of modular hardware. I can't think of any softsynth that would let you modulate a BBD delay from an envelope that has 4 sources of triggering it, while being the main envelope used to modulate the amplitude or filter of the synth. Even if a softsynth like that existed your computer would be screaming running it lol. It's really a sound designer's dream synth.

[SLiC]

Exactly! It doesn't stop everyone from trying, though, does it? It's as if "I just wanted it" isn't enough when, of course, it absolutely is.

Yup- Live is short, buy the toys you want and have fun...I love my Hydrasynth, obviously it sounds great, but many software and hardware synths do. When you add in the he poly AT, the Ribbon, the way it looks and feels (displays, endless encoders, architecture buttons) and even the CV control you have something really special...a modern classic.

[kcearl]

Look of course you can just use a Vst to replace a Hydrasynth, its obvious

All you need is a $700 laptop, a $1000 49 key poly AT keyboard, a $300 audio/midi interface and a $200 softsynth. Crazy to think that a hydrasynth can beat that value…
what the hydrasynth is only $1299 with dedicated controls, ribbon, and clever matrix UI?

Bargain!
Bullshit, idiots, dumb, etc etc etc


(Joke, no one was harmed in the making of this post )

As an owner of a Hydrasynth and plenty softsynths I can tell you, first-hand, that even with all of that named, there still is absolutely no softsynth that is doing what the Hydrasynth can do. The Hydrasynth offers entirely too many options. There are things the Hydrasynth is capable of that I don't think I have ever seen outside of modular hardware. I can't think of any softsynth that would let you modulate a BBD delay from an envelope that has 4 sources of triggering it, while being the main envelope used to modulate the amplitude or filter of the synth. Even if a softsynth like that existed your computer would be screaming running it lol. It's really a sound designer's dream synth.

I am a hydrasynth owner also, you missed the posts sarcasm, or maybe not

[BONES]

That kind of stuff means absolutely nothing to me, although you don't need to put "delay" in after BBD, because that's what the "D" stands for. So you are basically saying "Bucket Brigade Delay delay", much like "PIN number" or "ATM machine". If anything, a feature like that illustrates how much I really don't want a Hydrasynth. That kind of complexity is annoying enough in software, in hardware it would be an order of magnitude worse. Give me another Uno any day.

[WatchTheGuitar]

Oi, leave that cloud alone

[SLiC]

That kind of stuff means absolutely nothing to me, although you don't need to put "delay" in after BBD, because that's what the "D" stands for. So you are basically saying "Bucket Brigade Delay delay", much like "PIN number" or "ATM machine". If anything, a feature like that illustrates how much I really don't want a Hydrasynth. That kind of complexity is annoying enough in software, in hardware it would be an order of magnitude worse. Give me another Uno any day.

The depth is there, but you don’t have to use it…perhaps more importantly there are large, endless encoders for with clear OLED displays to make editing very easy and simple…p I found the Hydrasynth far easier to use than the ultimately I returned the UNO Pro but use the Hydrasynth everyday, including now using it as my main controller for VSTs where it also excels.

[abject39]

I am a hydrasynth owner also, you missed the posts sarcasm, or maybe not

No, I definitely got that from your post. I was adding even more to your point.

[BONES]

The depth is there, but you don’t have to use it…

But it has a mod matrix so the complexity is there all the time.

perhaps more importantly there are large, endless encoders for with clear OLED displays to make editing very easy and simple…p

I've got that with Ultranova, which I've had for 8 or 9 years now and it works in a very similar manner to Hydrasynth. But I still prefer Uno Pro because of the immediacy its form factor enables - it sits right over the top of my laptop screen where I can reach out and play or edit it without having to get up from my desk. So I can be playing something with my left hand and mousing around Studio One with my right. Or I can take it on holiday with me and use it while sitting up in bed with my laptop. It's an immediacy that transcends front panel ease-of-use.

I found the Hydrasynth far easier to use than the ultimately I returned the UNO Pro but use the Hydrasynth everyday, including now using it as my main controller for VSTs where it also excels.

Whereas I reckon it could easily be 4 or 5 years since I so much as switched my Ultranova on. At one stage I couldn't even remember where I'd put it and it took me a month to track it down to a storage cupboard in an office where I hadn't worked for more than a year.

TBH, even though it is there all the time, I almost never switch Uno Pro on, either. I have no use for hardware on a daily basis, it's only for playing live so I only set it up when we're rehearsing. And at this stage I have probably created all the patches I will ever make for it so it's ease-of-use is no longer relevant anyway. If I ever do need to create more patches, I will almost certainly do it via the VST editor, not from the front panel. As Hydrrasynth lacks a VST editor, it falls way behind in ease-of-use for me.

[rACatkvr]

https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2020 ... ydramorph/
Enough editing for you?