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.