Jukka lives in an igloo in Antarctica.
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Condensation on internal electronics – and only for the hyper-vigilant.
Condensation (particularly when combine with dust) is also an issue if you live in the tropics – and that can be a year round problem.
Yes, this is also how the aftertouch responds on the pads. It’s quite different from my experience with channel aftertouch; I have no experience with poly aftertouch, but it does feel very, very well tuned (and there are a number of parameters in the system menu to allow you to adjust it, if you would like a different respond from the aftertouch).
I also appreciate that you can choose poly or channel aftertouch. I was working on a patch where I wanted to use the aftertouch as a global parameter (like a modulation wheel or expression pedal), and as I dove into the mod matrix, there it was. The same goes for the LFOs; sometimes poly LFOs are great, sometimes they just make a sound too busy, and you can choose which you would like to employ.
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Minor detail – I’ve wondered about how channel-aftertouch was implemented? Whether they use a maximum of all the pressed pads/keys. Or would they use an average, or something else? I guess the closest on the Hydrasynth to a channel-aftertouch only keyboard is to take the maximum.
Can it squelch, get liquidy? So far all I’ve seen/heard when the res is upped it just gets tinny/buzzy. Not hearing the squelch…the whistle.
And lets say you latch an arp. No one has demoed shifting the seq with a single key press. Like upping the sequence the direction of a single note rather than octave shifting it.
Daniel Fisher is also credited in the manual for Sound Design on the Hydrasynth so maybe his patches would get close. (BTW: ASM includes a nicely produced printed manual in the package – it’s a little thing, but little things matter too.) A “Stimming Pack” would be popular too.
I don’t know if the Hydrasynth can go to the place that you seek phaelam. I wish we were closer i’d loan you my HS for a day, 'cuz i’d be curious to hear what you produced.
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Flux (another credited Sound Designer for the Hydrasynth) has a video showing how to use the Hydrasynth as a controller. In this case he is using Arturia’s Pigments – (Which i am looking at buying as they have now released Version 2, and put it on sale). But the same could apply to whatever software you’d like. Another good choice would be the Arturia CS-80V.
Closing the loop would be moving samples of the 219 Hydrasynth waves and making custom wavetables for Pigments and voila a virtual Hydrasynth. NO … you need a few more parts. 
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Might stay with my e352 and Virus then. I’m not a player so wouldn’t benefit much from performance aspects
You guys are bumming me out. I was looking forward to the hydra synth
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I am looking for information on how the hydra and the peak compare soundwise. as the summit is comparable, this is good to know. when I played the peak in the store I just loved the sound. I was thinking though, if the hydra comes close to this, it could be an option. it’s really hard reading between the hype of the hydra. what I have heard though, is that the filter isnt quite there. some posts above, phaelam writes that the sound is kinda tinny. I know this is subjektive, but that in your face sound and the filter is what I loved about the peak.
so if anybody has anymore infos on this topic, would be appreciated. the UI of the hydra seems amazing. if the sound doesnt hold up (to my expectations), would be a drag
I can’t believe this. Everybody on gearslutz is very impressed by the sounds of it. Also I heard a lot of good sounds on youtube. Are you sure you don’t have some kind of effect going on or something? Did you start by initializing a patch?
I think I’m going to back @phaelam up here. There are a lot of great sounds that can be made with Hydrasynth, but so far, I’ve found that it lacks a… pick your vague, qualitative term: fullness, presence, richness. I’m going to give it more time, but I find myself a little underwhelmed.
I watch a lot of Top Chef (bear with me, this is going somewhere), and the judges are always raving, on dishes they like, “I can taste every component!” I kind of think that’s the problem with Hydrasynth. I can hear every component, rather than those components melding together into something wholly other. Everything feels like exactly the sum of its parts, and they all seem discrete and individual. Those parts are good, some of them great, but it doesn’t blend together; it’s like everything’s just stacked on top of the previous thing, rather than truly interacting with it.
It’s all incredibly detailed, and if you want to create truly complex, evolving patches, it’s fantastic for that. But it falls short, I think, with some simpler applications. For me, that’s a bit of an issue. I think it would be a great synth to have in the arsenal, especially if you’re looking for something that adds a unique voice for sound design and atmosphere, but I was hoping to use it as a go-to poly (right now, my poly cupboard, an AKeys and a Minilogue xD top out at four voices).
The jury’s still out; I’m still exploring and deliberating; but I think those critiques have weight, in my experience.
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I guess I just have to try one in person.
Maybe it is just a matter of taste?
Also, some synths (especially deep synths) need more time to grow on you. Had the same with the Peak. At first I wasn’t that impressed (except for the awesome reverb), but after some time with it, I really like it.
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I agree the sound of the Hydra can sound quite tinny compared to the Argon8 and especially the Summit/Peak. The Summit to me sounds extremely rubbery, in a different way than say, the Roland SH-101. It’s a crystalline, modern rubbery sound that I personally absolutely love. It can do such a huge palate of sounds due to the new filter routing on the Summit. Huge bass, lush pads, experimental modular sounds…
With that said both the Argon8 and Hydra I can get on sale, 10% off, I’m currently choosing which one to buy. I’m not really an analog purist, nor the opposite. But these new digital synths are simply way more intriguing than most new analogs except the OB-6’s sound and absolutely better than everything by Behringer to me. I am simply in a stage where I heavily prefer the extreme flexibility of digital over the rather generic lush sounds of analog.
Listening to too much Tipper will do that to you.
Maybe I’ll snag the Hydra while I can get it on sale and do some sound demos for everyone using actual songs. I’m Divinital on YouTube 
P.S. I would refer back to the Daniel Fisher demos where the recording quality is good rather than a verbal disposition on the sound quality of an instrument.
From the previous poster saying it sounds like it’s in a tunnel, I think a better description is it sounds distant. For some reason, the sound quality seems distant, in headphones, in a speaker, it sounds like it’s being played a few feet away.
If I had to choose between the Peak and Hydra 100 times, I would have 99 Peaks. I think the Hydra makes a great side piece, but as my main squeeze I want those sweet analog filters and FPGA oscillators.
I think it depends a lot on whose doing it as well as the recording devices. The opening of Daniel’s deep dive sounds absolutely bonkers in my Senn 6XX headphones. However, I’m not 100% pro or against the Hydra, as I’m trying to determine whether to get it right now on sale lol. As I just stated though, my vague term would be “distant”
Here’s a songwriter I like that posted a video using the Hydra 2 years ago. This is his more recent song.
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Thanks for the input. Glad I didn’t buy it, even had a salesperson call me about it because they’re apparently flying off the shelves. I’m not opposed to the computer. I think I’ll be fine with Serum, Pigments, and me U-he VSTs. I’m sure ASM will be successful. Hopefully they move quickly into FPGA/hybrids with that interface.
Hey man to be clear…I’m a hobbiest. And far FAR from a real musician. I do it for fun.
Try it if you can. Maybe I hear it wrong.
I just thought with ALL that it offers, I could get the sounds I was after. Gonna try some more. I love the keyboard. Easy to figure out and the MIDI setup on it is pretty sweet too. I setup some CCs on the Hydra, you can set +/- how much you wanna send, set an LFO to modulate that CC and sent that out to an external. Very cool.
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Interesting feedback, as it is not what we have heard from any of the sound designers or even the people on Gearslutz or the people at Knobcon or Synthfest etc.
Like many deep synths with new features, you don’t really start finding your sounds until after a few weeks of having it and getting past the “let me turn up everything!” point. We found this problem on the Matrixbrute as well. Even the best pro sound designers took about 3-6 weeks to get beyond the turn up everything point. Before that, they were all delivering the same sound.
I personally own a Blofeld, MicrowaveXT, Virus TI2, as well as many classic analog synths, Oberheim Xpander, FVS, Prophet 5, Prophet T8, etc. and did many sound tests against all of these during the development and the Hydra could do a lot of what each of these could do very well…in fact I layer it with the Oberheim Xpander to give the Xpander more low end, which it is lacking.
Of course “good sound” is subjective so I don’t discount people’s personal taste, but it would be worth digging a little deeper.
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I may have posted it before, I forget…but Flux did a nice comparison to the Moog Little phatty.
The oscillator and filters sound held up very well against it.
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Would be nice if anyone could post some audio files of some simple patches, like a 2 osc detuned saw without a filter and compare that to your favorite synth to hear any differences, or the “tunnel” sound
I try and oblige today.