anyone know a source for the knobs on the Hydra?
I went to this awesome music store that had every single (currently in production) keyboard imaginable. I tried the Quantum, Moog One, P5, OB6, Cobalt8X, Montage, Kronos, Matriarch, etc.
I tried the Hydrasynth and it blew them all away. The build quality was amazing, and the keyboard pressure is so natural, almost like an acoustic instrument. Like no other keyboard Iāve ever played.
Side note, the Moog One and Quantum really disappointed. They look so authoritative online, like a Porsche or something. In personā¦ kind of puny and weak. Underwhelming.
EDIT: Last side note. Forgot to mention the Opsix. Wow. I would pay a maximum of 100 dollars for it. Build quality was worse than any Volca I have used. Truly felt like a toy.
Will definitely buy a Hydrasynth KB when the time is right.
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My hydrasynth desktop always boots up on E042ā¦
Factory reset?
Donāt really care but itās strange that no matter what patch I have when turning off the power it always boots up on that patch, never A001
Thanks! Back to rtfm 
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Two days ago I briefly tried HSK, DN keys and OB-6 keyboard version in a store and now Iām gassing over all of those synths! 
I actually came to the store to try DN bc i was thinking of buying it for a week or two (even tho i have Mnm and OT) but now Iām thinking of buying a HSD (or even HSK) instead. The store only had a keyboard version which is lovely but itās kinda too big for my room and I donāt know what to do nowā¦i could find a place for it but portability also matters bc I can then use it for shows (once they start again) more easily
I wanted to ask you is it hard to play melodies on the desktop versionās pads?
Also, was the chord mode removed from the HSD? (I thought i saw it on some YT demos)
P.s. that OB-6 was a monster! Canāt stop thinking about it! 
maybe I should just buy it instead of everything else
I had the desktop for a year before getting the keyboard as a kind of protest purchase. If you can manage it, get the keyboard. My desktop got peripheralized and underused after a while, but then the keyboard somehow presents a much more inviting environment or layout or whatever into the Hydrasynth experience so that I have to call my original purchase of the desktop a mistake. There are no real mistakes unless itās something that you truly should have known better, but did the other thing anyway, which describes my situation. Add to that my skepticism that Iāll get any real use out of polychaining or the second timbre and that makes my HSD a mistake, one of my very few purchasing decisions without some redeeming feature.
The HSK enabled me to move the Keystep Pro out, which cleared some room. The sheer playability of the HSK is another big thing, with the ribbon and poly AT, but then I do have hardware modules that respond to poly AT, so that might not matter to you, though there are PAT plugins. The desktopās pads are great for what they are, so if you truly donāt care about keys, or upgrading your keys, then maybe the size and price difference matter more to you.
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One thing I like about playing on a nonstandard keyboard is that it inspires melodies that I wouldnāt think up on black and white keys.
Being used to trying to play melodies on Elektron trigger buttons, the HSD pads are a major step up. I think they might even be poly after touch sensitive!?
The HSK is a major step up in terms of expressivity, but it takes up 2 maybe 3 times as much space. If youāve already got a master keyboard that you like and donāt mind modules in practice, consider the desktop.
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Yes they are.
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Like what Blipson said. And to your specific question, there is no Chord keyboard mode on the HSD, Chord mode is especially nice used with a Voice Key and Scale set ( perhaps you tried that ) and so even more of a difference.
I only own the HSK, but i differ with Blipson, in wanting two ā two keyboards, one mounted above the other set back so you could play them two handed.
( In competion to this idea, i do have an Osmose SLOWLY making itās way to me, and iāve also considered a Korg Modwave as something that might flow with a HS given their similarities and differences. Splitting the HSK keyboard, though thatās not built in, to the Modwave would be a nice way to play the MW. Also in competition with these ideas is a possible ASM second product whatever that may be and whenever that may come to be. )
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Thnx for the answers!
I havenāt been much of a keyboard player (read: I totally suck) but playing on the said synths did something in me; maybe I could start playing, after 15 yrs of controlling/sequencing/composing/OCDing/automating everything event-related.
Actually, Lyra 8 changed something in me first. Although, Ive been playing my Mnm like an instrument since i got it and that gave me excellent results many times but it was easy bc i would just set a key and press the triggers. A monkey can so that!
So, I still donāt know how to play a keyboard; im still such a n00b that it takes me 2 seconds to find a C on it and thinking all over again āare those E and F without a black key between them?ā lol BUT ive made quasi-symphonic compositions and string quartets that one might get an impression that i know what Iām doing 
Iāll need ti think about it a bit more which version to buy. Atm the biggest problem is portability, then space, then money.
Also, anyone compared HSK to a Sequential synth? I know itās apples vs asteroids but stillā¦ something about the OB-6 that got me thinking and i was always a digital āendless possibilitiesā guy. The only problem with the OB-6 that i saw in that brief demo was that I couldnāt push in extremeness; it always sounded ānice, polite and heardā
Itās possible to make / find patches on the HS that resemble an analog synth.
Making and finding patches on an analog that resemble the HS is far more challenging. ( I would say near impossible sometimes. )
I can find middle C, but enjoy newer ways of playing now too, which opens up possibilities for everyone.
Congratulations on being the 2000th post on thread. Weāre still picking your special prize.
This is the Space Odyssey post.
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Yes, thatās what I thought! 
ā¦but sometimes itās hard to resist just buying an analog monster with a dedicated knob per function design
A brand new HSK?!
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Most definitely !
Creating your own set of eight custom controls with LED rings and captions, and numeric read outs goes a long way in compensation though.
( Iām referring to Macro controls, not an external MIDI controller patched through the Mod-Matrix, though that is possible too. )
BTW: Iāve been changing patches around to have a more universal Macro interface. Anybody else doing this too ?
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Itās funny you mention that: re-getting in to the HS, I was reminded how itās a bit lacking in the balls department. My other keyboard in this setup is a Super 6, which has no capacity to be a filhty beast, as Gaz Williams put it. So Iāve decided on a Pro-3 as another Osmose tider-over. Without a two-tier keyboard stand (I have one, but donāt want to use it), I can only have two keyboards in action at once, so weāll see how it goes when the Pro-3 is here.
Regarding sucky keyboard technique, it hardly matters with the HSās characteristic long developing patches. I mean, no oneās playing Rachmaninoff on a Hydrasynth. You can always think of the keyboard as 49 pads, with the bonus that you slowly get more and more used to the 12-key layout that we all love and hate, though the pads on the HSD are the best Iāve ever seen when it comes to pads. With the HSK, however thereās something about the spacious layout and positioning of the controls that makes wiggling the knobs in conjunction with playing notes and the ribbon feel much more organic than on the HSD.
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Hold that image in your mind for a moment. What does Rachmaninoff or Liszt do on a synth keyboard ?
On dedicated knob per function again that is also a difference between the HSD and HSK. One can certainly want different choices, but there are more knob per function controls on the HSK.
Is there a dedicated dust cover for a HSK? I saw only some ugly plastic for a HSD on Thomann.
I considered HSK vs Rev2 before my purchase, and decided to go with the HSK as i love to use FX and modulate FX parameters.
HSās four FX processors offer a good deal of options to expand a sound. I prefer this over external FX for the instant recall capabilities.
The extra OSC and dual filter configuration also gave me what I was looking for the most, something akin to a polyphonic Pro 2. My only gripe has been lack of sequencer but Octatrack MIDI sequencer is keeping me happy there. And the chord mode that can use all 8 voices is a blast for pads and atmospheres.
Does it sound āas warmā as a Sequential? Probably not. But I have transformers, both actual and emulated, that can take care of that.
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Got it! I also have OT for sequencing and AH for analogization if needed
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One more distinction/comparison before spending some moneyā¦. HSK vs DN keys?
Or simply Hydrasynth vs Digitone?
I do own Mnm and OT but DN can still probably greatly contribute to the palette.