Hydrasynth from ASM

Sounds awesome, please record it!

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Sounds like it could be a clock thing, I’m guessing here as I’ve lent mine out to someone, but if there’s an auto clock sync option, selecting external might solve it.

It sounds like when the sequencer is stopped it is reverting to a different clock speed which would cause the type of sound you describe. The trick is to find out which 2 clocks are different and either make them same bpm or force the machine to only listen to one, my first guess is that hydra is dropping to internal sync once the external clock stops instead of doing nothing which is why auto might be the issue. Alternatively set the hydra clock to the same bpm so it doesn’t matter anyway,

Sorry that was convoluted, I’m a bit distracted today, but I think you should get the drift.

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HahahašŸ˜‚

Thanks for the hint :pray:
Will look for that ā€œhidden clockā€ this afternoon and will see.

Not sure if this has been covered yet, but has anyone used and MPE controller with the Hydrasynth? I will be receiving a Linnstrument later this week and I note Hydrasynth is MPE compatible. Any specific settings I should be aware of when using an MPE controller with the Hydrasynth?

On page 5 in the System Setup, set MPE to On.

Thats Step One. That allows the HS to receive the Channel Aftertouch messages in the separate MPE channels and connect that up to almost all patches.

Step Two :
You can also handle other MPE controls that get sent. In the Mod-Matrix are the Modulation sources MPE-X, MPE-Yabs, MPE-Yrel. There is also Note Velocity OFF, which i am pretty sure is available in MPE form.

MPE-X is MIDI pitch bend ( En ) in the separate MPE channels. This is 14 bit data.

MPE-Y is MIDI CC #74 again in the separate MPE channels. The abs one is treat as 0 to 127, the rel one is treated as -63 to 64.

Note Velocity OFF is MIDI message ( 8n ). I think it is a dimension available in some MPE streams.

You need to be aware of what MPE data your controller generates. I think the Linnstrument can do all the above, but that is just my half informed opinion. I don’t know about Velocity OFF.

I am off-hand not aware off any pre-made patches with these MPE hooks already in place. Maybe there are some out in the Vast HS Patch Universe.

But more likely you make your own. You can go from scratch, but i’d recommend modding existing patches you already like, it should be pretty easy.

What i would do is look through the Macros for your favorite patches, and find Macros that would be good to modulate with either X or Y. Then use the destinations those Macros affect, and add them to the Mod-Matrix for the MPE-X and MPE-Y controls.

NOTE : The MPE X and Y are only received by the HS, you can’t generate those messages. Note Velocity OFF can only be generated by the new HSs, the Explorer and the Deluxe.

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I bought the desktop version instead of the keyed version of the HS because I had planned to buy an MPE controller for use with it (and Cobalt8). The Linnstrument has PolyAT, plus other ā€œdimensionalā€ expressiveness, so I wanted to go that route.

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This is truly excellent detailed advice, exactly what I was hoping for! Thank you so much. Elektronauts is such versatile, helpful, useful, and fun place to hang out.

For anyone else interested in the use of the Linnstrument (or maybe any MPE controller) with the Hydrasynth, here is a pretty long thread over at KVR: https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=263&t=538346&sid=48ab41c71416c02bed9b6bd9048a33c7

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yup. if set to auto, when you stop your external device, the HS reverts to it’s internal clock.
it gives some great dub style effects when this happens…

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Great idea HiGrade1 to use this as a feature.

Clock settings are a good thing to remember when trying to fix mysterious behavior. It’s been the culprit more than a few times, in this and the Tips and Tricks thread.

Like – Why is the arpeggiator not running ?

If you are considering options, i put together a list of MPE controllers.

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Thanks for putting the list of MPE controllers together. I had been waiting to see if Roli were going to come back to life and bring back the Seaboard. I had a block, but the battery in it died, and wouldn’t hold a charge, even when plugged in. Bluetooth Midi was also super sketchy. I can’t afford a continuum, and not sure I want one anyway. I have doubts about the playability of the Linnstrument, but it seems really well thought out, and you gotta give serious credit to Roger Linn for his support of it. I was browsing the Linnstrument forum on KVR on Thanksgiving (yup, I was), and lo and behold, there is Roger Linn, spending part of his Thanksgiving helping some new purchaser with questions about chords and scales.

I really think MPE is boss, and it is hard to understand why it hasn’t taken off. The options are pretty limited, and even a number of ā€œMPEā€ controllers on the list you’ve created don’t really utilize anywhere near the full potential of the extended MPE Midi spec. I wish there were more options.

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Actually mine was set to USB and it also gave this issue so for me nothing to do with USB/MIDI or AUTO clock…

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Small Observation : It’s nice that the Theremin can quantize to Microtonal scales.

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The Deluxe allows you to layer two separate Hydrasynth patches overtop of each other.

As an alternative to that here’s two examples with Sun God RA layering a Hydrasynth Explorer, with an older lo-fi sampler, the AKAI S612.

This first example uses a vibe sound from the S612, with a vocal patch on the Explorer. ( These are both short videos. )

This second example uses some icy samples from the Explorer, combined with a bass played by the Explorer.

This is a way to do interesting layered sounds with the Explorer, without the expense of the Deluxe.

Again notice how well the Explorer fits physically with this synth.

Obviously layering with other synths ( non-sampling ones ) is possible too. There is also a real opportunity, to use a small amount of MIDI processing, between them as well – for instance inverting the velocity, and / or thresholding and such. There are ways to do splits too. ( ADDED : More on this later. ) Also applying output MIDI modulations and Macro control from the HS, and per note aftertouch, adds options too.

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Hi all, I’ve learned and discovered a lot through this thread. So I just wanted to share a link to a patch library I found on youtube the other day that I’m really digging. I tried searching in this thread to see if anyone had posted it yet, but nothing came up. Also, I thought I remembered seeing a post on this thread (from jukka maybe?) that was compiling a list of new patch libraries/sound banks, but I couldn’t find that either. I might just have bad thread-searching skills, lol. So apologies if this has already been posted.
Here’s a link to the demo video. The link to the patches are in the description beneath the video. There is a Part Two video on his youtube page where he demos the rest of the presets. I’ve played a lot of the different patch libraries that are available online and there are some really good ones (the 300 preset Ultimate Patches collection is excellent if you’re looking for recreations of other synths/sounds), but I’m posting this one cause it’s pretty unique. Really creative use of the Macros, Mod wheel, Poly Aftertouch and Ribbon. A couple individual presets were worth the price alone for me (the strings at 1:27, for instance).

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How does everyone feel about the Hydrasynth’s PWM? I’ve played the keyboard version twice now but every time I try to make some Juno-style PWM keys, it sounds a little off to me.

I’m told I should try using the PhazDiff mutant with a saw wave.

I actually just compared the pwm using phazdiff with the Juno-106 emulation on my System-8 and it could come pretty close. You just have to make sure that the duty cycle range matches. Not sure about the exact settings anymore, but I think you get better results by using an LFO unipolar to the depth of the phazzdiff

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Did we have this video already? Sensel Morph controlling a Hydrasynth Desktop.

It’s like ā€žlisteningā€œ to an abstract painting. How the hell does she get all those tones out of it at the same time?

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Appareciate that, I’ll try it out.

By the way, was I hearing things, or would you agree that the Hydrasynth’s PWM-Orig setting is interesting but not quite the classic Roland PWM sound?