Hydrasynth from ASM - Tips, Tricks and Queries

Sounds like you have a midi loopback. If I have arp transmit set to on, and have the track set to listen/record in the DAW the arp loops back and causes a mess.

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I tried putting the arp transmit onto a different MIDI channel from the input, but no difference :frowning: Still only a couple of notes sounding. And still no response from ASM.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Thanks for all these suggestions! The arp length issue is an interesting one, but I don’t think it can apply here, because the arp behaves normally when I use the front panel pads instead of the keyboard. I also plugged up my Pro2 to the MIDI In and tried the arp and it worked fine. It’s just my DAW that it doesn’t like! The antiquity of the Mac and OS may be the issue??

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Just a heads up that arp transmit only seems to work when local control is set to on (which kind of defeats the purpose)

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Here is an incredibly good HSD tutorial done by “seenfromspace”. Thank you. Hope you don’t mind me posting it here – i really love this patch and your explanation of it is super.

For those reading this post, if you’ve never played with a Hydrasynth, this will turn a light on in your mind of some of the things it is capable of. If you have worked on a HS, and in particular dug pretty deeply into Mod-Matrix you’ll find this a fountain of useful ideas.

This patch is the one used in a video i posted earlier back over on the main Hydrasynth thread.



Have you been able to work out your arpeggiator issue?

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@seenfromspace. With me the Arp would freeze the entire Hydrasynth desktop when I set Clock to Midi In!

One of the reasons I returned it. :neutral_face:

Sounds like a midi loopback loop. It would have constantly spiraled until it overloaded with data and crashed.

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Nope. No external midi was even connected to it. Just changing Clock Sync from internal to Midi In and Arp no longer works. It would just freeze the whole synth completely the moment you Arm it.

Unless you mean a bug in firmware that causes an internal midi loop that freezes the whole unit. Possible I guess.

That specifically is not in the manual. I picked it up from watching videos with Glen Darcey. So take a look at this one, i’ve queued it to the right place:

I got the expression “additive arpeggiation” from one of the videos with Glen Darcey.

Would someone who owns the HSD, please verify for me that this is how it works on the HSD. The manual says that outside the extra physical controls on the HSK front panel, that the Arpeggiator is the same with both the HSK and the HSD. I want to confirm that the “additive arpeggiation” feature works on the HSD as well.

I’ve never played with an HSD, though i am extremely tempted to put one together with my HSK.

EDITED: Change a word to clarify what i wrote in the second to last paragraph.

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Confirmed on desktop. It works if you have one finger always holding a note - so you can’t add further notes in real-time after you’ve removed fingers.

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Good ! Glad to hear it. I get a little nervous when i assume that something works on the HSD, just because it works on my HSK. There are just enough differences to trip me up.

As Glen points out in the video once you have entered an arpeggiator ‘sequence’, you can then vary its expression using the Arpeggiator Length parameter. As i note in the post above by carefully entering an arpeggiator sequence and then varying the Length and Mode, which are both destinations for the Mod-Matrix, you can make some interesting variations in the pattern.

Note to ASM: You need to document “additive arpeggiation” in the manual.

How to use Tap Trig – the "One Button Samba"
The “Tap Trig” Mode

There is an alternate use for the “Tap Tempo” button. It can be set up to control the playing of notes in the arpeggiator sequence, instead of having the arpeggiator played from the clock. Then that one button, “Tap Tempo” can be used to control the timing of the start of the next note, with the note being held for as long as you hold the button down. In addition the Arp controls – Mode (Up, Down, Order, Random, etc) and Octave both control the notes played with the “Tap Tempo” button. Even when the Arp Mode is set to Chord or Phrase this works, which is a little unusual, and you can also choose different Phrases (a choice of 64) to play as well. The Arpeggiator Length parameter also works so this allows variations to be created.

Also when in Tap Trig mode, the output CV signal labeled “GATE” is controlled with that same one button. You can also do things with the output CV signal “CLOCK” using the PPS option for clock rate – see the manual for more detail.

To get started first set the Tap Trig Parameter (Arp - page 2 #1) to ON. Then turn the Arpeggiator ON and turn Latch on as well. Then use the Keyboard or Pads to enter an arpeggiator sequence, and remember you can use “additive arpegiation” with this if you want as well.

Here’s an example of “Tap Trig” mode being used in a performance by Dominic Au. Here he is using two Hydrasynths, playing one with his left hand and one with his right. Note the additional control he uses during this performance.

A cool trick on the HSK is to turn on the Theremin. Then you can then “play” a complex interplay with your two fingers doing separate rhythms. (Remember Thermin mode reserves one voice for the Ribbon.) I like to use the Arp Phrase mode, played with the “Tap Tempo” with my left index, and the Theremin Ribbon with my right index. This works beause if you try to use the keyboard to play notes it will destroy the arpeggiator pattern you have entered, but the ribbon doesn’t. And remember you lift your hand from the ribbon and the note ends with Hold OFF. I often set the Expression pedal to control the Theremin volume.

Detail from the manual:
Tap Trig
When Tap Trig is enabled the arpeggiator triggers a note every time [TAP TEMPO] is pressed. This lets you walk through the pattern one note or chord at a time, depending on the Mode and other settings.

Note that Tap Trig sends signals only to the Gate output. The Clock out still runs at the selected clock rate.

ADDED: The “Tap Tempo” button can also be set to be used with the Compressor in the Sidechain Parameter.

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Let’s hope tap trig becomes a mod destination in a future update - then we can control the arp via cv ins - a sad omission currently

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Housecliche (or anyone else reading) –

Do you know what ClkLock (Arp page #2 5) does? It’s missing from the manual, and i discovered it recently and was wondering. I’m about to sit down and experiment.

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Set ClkLock to OFF in the arp to trigger notes off the beat of the clock…think of it like a Quantize Beat. If it is on, when you play a note, it will wait until the next clock to play the note.

I had a few sweet sherries and played with the arp a bit yesterday…

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This is a revelation and may explain why someone further up the thread was struggling to sync the arp from external? It makes sense that in the default state (clock sync off) that your arp will be running free matched to incoming BPM but not quantised so dependent on your own playing/timing…

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When I turned it on briefly, all my arpeggios seemed a step behind so I quickly turned it off again. Interesting maybe but odd.

Generally, there are two ways of syncing arpeggiators. The term I’m used to is ‘key-sync’, value on or off. I think Dave Smith uses Beat-Sync (certainly in the Pro2) and if Beat-Sync is on, this corresponds to key-sync off. :wink:

Elektron arpeggiatos use Key sync on, which is fine when triggered from sequencers but a bit shit when played manually (imho). The Access virus arpeggiator worked in the same way, despite my pleas for them to change it back in the day. The idea was you might want to start your arpeggio off the regular grid but still have it synchronised. Not me but some folks I guess.

Classic arpeggiators - I’m mostly thinking Roland here - did it right by making them exclusively beat-synced. You could never get arpeggios running slightly out with everything else because of loose playing - the keyboard was merely the means of selecting notes for the arpeggiator to grab; it always took playback timing from the clock.

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Hmm sounds like ClkLock isn’t really working then? Will give it a try later

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Is it possible to lock arp settings when you move between presets in HSD? Like DSI Pro 2 has sequencer lock

No, sorry.