You’re not hearing the offsets?
Not clearly. Would be more clear with a quarter note imho. Triplets warp my head…
I think you’d dig it. Great for coming up with sounds. Great UI
1 Like
Eagerly watching the forum waiting for a used one to appear at a decent price. Can’t wait.
Would y’all recommend a desktop module plus keystep 37 OR just getting the explorer?
(Initially thinking keystep so I could plug that into other synths potentially…)
It’s a very nice little controller, especially with the impressive MIDI/CV spec and the rather unique poly aftertouch. Depends how important the keystep’s compact form factor is to you, I think.
2 Likes
Well it all depends what you want, and what you do.
Given the options you’ve given, why not save a couple hundred and get the Explorer plus the Keystep 37 ?
Are there things about the Desktop over the Explorer that really interest you ?
And i agree with license the Explorer alone could be used as a controller too, with MPE or poly-aftertouch, and the four control knobs set up in all sorts of external control modes too.
Not that important. Good to know 
Need to educate myself a little more about what additional functionality Desktop has. Still new to all this. 
Well principally the big difference are the various modes of playing on the pads, versus the keyboard. The Explorer also has the two sliders for pitch bend and modulation. The Desktop has eight Master Controls instead of four, plus you lose the LED rings on the Explorer, but can still see info on that on the screen. And the Desktop has the two CV / Gate inputs, which can also be used in various ways as an audio input. The synth inside is exactly the same.
Oh the Explorer can run on internal batteries. Actually that’s a big plus to me.
For myself the only thing to really make me want the Desktop over the Explorer would be the audio inputs. I’d much prefer the Explorer keyboard, and the battery mode. The change in the Master Controls only has a minor influence.
2 Likes
After spending a lot of time setting up complex modulation networks on the Explorer recently, I do wonder how much difference the bigger screen makes in that department. I have to admit it got slightly annoying occasionally when I had to jump through 3 pages to, say, change envelope loop or BPM settings. I don’t think I’d get a desktop, though - I’d go for the OG Hydra, partly for that ribbon.
1 Like
Yeah i have the 49 key HS, what i call the HSK. The alternatives i have pondered is an HSK, with an Explorer, OR the Deluxe.
The Deluxe apart from being BIG, would be so nice.
2 Likes
Yeah the Deluxe is so much bigger than anything else I own, it would just be comical. But bitimbrality seems so great with the Hydra engine. I’d almost rather keep the Explorer for “the road”, and then have either keep the HSK or HSD more long term at home. Then when I want bitimbrality I can just use them together.
2 Likes
EXCEPT you won’t have velocity splits, and regular keyboard splits are so much nicer with the Deluxe too, rather than having a regular sized keyboard next to a mini keyboard.
1 Like
( on the Explorer )
Yeah, that would be more of an issue if you plan to be editing patches to do sound design. I think the HSK would be a better choice for sound design, although you could be targeting your new patches to be played on the Explorer.
I may be a little bit of a odd duck on this, and it is definitely a “my opinion”, so i seldom say it, but i pretty much have no use for the Desktop.
2 Likes
Yeah! If those pads could play patches like the Novation Circuit Mono’s “patch flip”, I’d be way into it. But for all the wonderful strengths of the Hydrasynth, immediate patch switching isn’t one of them. Maybe at least have definable step LFO shapes, or phases, envelope settings, etc. for each pad so I could play it like some kind of alien MPC - it’d be a nightmare to make a UI for that, though.
I just don’t care that much about playing “scales” or whatever. So TLDR - I have to agree.
2 Likes
I was hesitating between KS 37 or HS E, I think my choice is done : HS E !
Seems much deeper than KS 37 as a midi controller…
I wonder if you can assign any CC to any modulation source, like aftertouch, keytrack…would it be possible to have a CC mapped to the keyboard notes ?
2 Likes
Yes. (Mod Source Keytrack)
I’ll leave this here…
Another MIDI processor spared. 
3 Likes
Awesome. So I can hook up the HS E to an Analog Four or Digitone… 
Indeed Keytrack does that. There’s a wrinkle though.
Keytrack works either from middle C up, or middle C down, depending on whether the modulation amount is positive or negative, respectively.
I’m using the HSK, so you can cover the entire keyboard, by pitching the keyboard up or down. ( You could counteract the pitch change at the oscillators if you would like. )
A modulation value of +32, or -32 means the CC value changes by one per note. Higher modulation values change the value proportionately, so 64 will jump the CC by 2, etc.
The HS only outputs a CC value when it changes so hitting the note twice only outputs one CC message.
Keytrack is really useful if you want to split the oscillators across the keyboard, to create a multitimbral split across the keyboard, without using the Deluxe. I posted about that somewhere else.
3 Likes
Thanks…
Ah ok, same as Octatrack, can be anoying. Maybe using an arp with 1 octave range can make a different note each time…
Btw the idea is to play OT comb filters (without a midi processor ! 
)
Sounds like this (only noise thru comb filters played by OT arp)