Hydrasynth from ASM

The Lounge Other Gear
#2930

Besides a Hydrasynth fanatic, around these parts, i’m known as a speculator. I just like using my imagination. You’ve been warned.

Coming up early next month is the Knobcon Show. Ashun Sound Machines is exhibiting there again this year, of course. This is the show where they show their new products.

No idea if anything is ready, they hold off all announcements until the product is almost ready for you to buy. Glen Darcy has gone so far as to say they are working on stuff, because a company needs new products to stay alive, but there is no hint on what those new products might be.

I’ve speculated elsewhere about new ASM products that aren’t Hydrasynths. The Explorer and the Deluxe took me by surprise, which was nice. So i am going to muse about some other Hydrasynths they could do.

The Hydrasynth Eurorack Module. The complete eight voice engine in a compact Eurorack format. It has a screen and a few multifunction controls, perhaps similar to the ones on the Explorer. It also has at least the full set of CV inputs and outputs, with USB and TSR MIDI. Priced a notch below the Explorer. In orange and black ?
[ Haken did this with their EaganMatrix Module. ASM can too, and do it better. ]

The Desktop Deluxe. A bi-timbral desktop, with a vastly improved pad matrix. The pad matrix would be larger, and the pads would be sensitive to touch in three dimensions ( X, Y, Z ). There would also be a sequencer mode with that grid, and pad presses would be mappable into the Mod Matrix, as well as eight of those pads tied into Macro Controls, for lightning fast finger controls, for the pad virtuoso. This will be the go-to device for those seeking a premium non-traditional keyboard controller. Priced a notch above the 49 key Hydrasynth Keys.

A software upgrade for the Deluxe to give it quadraphonic audio output capability, allowing for things like LFO control of individual voice placement in two dimensions. I discussed the technical possibilities of this earlier.

The 49 key Hydrasynth Keyboard Mark 2. With the release of the Deluxe and Explorer, ASM made small improvements to the keyboard sensitivity, and added Note Velocity Off detection capability to those two keyboards. This hardware upgrade brings those improvements to the HSK. But it also does the Deluxe one better by adding pressure sensing to the ribbon.

This might also be accompanied with Keyboard Split functionality for the HSK as a synth / controller. The keyboard split software upgrade will be available to the HSK1 owners as well.

The price of the HSK Mk2 remains the same.

Your turn to pretend you’re the product manager for the HS.

7 Likes
#2931

All excellent ideas!

I personally, would love to see a software update for the range. There actually isn’t much that I really want in an update overall, but I would like a little bit more flexibility with the waveforms. An editor, user waves, or just the ability to upload expansion packs provided by Ashun themselves.

I really love the waveforms that are already there, and there are TONS of ways to squeeze out more timbres just from the ones that are there. However, I’d love to get some more like maybe lo-fi Fizmo style waves, maybe some more Waldorfian style (though that’s a long shot since Waldorf have been putting out more synths themselves recently).

The other item that I want to see expanded is the actual lo-fi effect. I’d like it to be able to go to lower bit depths and lower sample rates.

Otherwise, I couldn’t be happier with what’s already in it.

Oh, and as far as new products, how about a drum machine in HSD format?!?!

3 Likes
#2932

Love the idea about Deluxe Desktop, I would be in serious trouble. :rofl: But I would say the least probable.

Module, sure I can see that. Perhaps even a little system?
Then again with the components snafu…

KB mkII - absolutely, anticipating this too.

Firmwares … wavetables, yeah bring it on guys.

2 Likes
#2933

Put a sequencer in it and I’d never use another synth.

4 Likes
#2934

Part of me loves this and then I think again about how it will have to be some case-invading amount of HP to accommodate the controls. Some expanded CV connectivity and the ability to “eject” from a provided case a la Moog/Neutron might make sense as a middle ground.

In my opinion most eurorack polyphony implementations feel one of 1) overblown 2) sloppy 3) elegant but bound to the limited scope of a module. 3 is best but almost the polar opposite of Hydrasynth. The only one that got it just right is Just Friends. That’s owed largely to the i2c implementation, which is quite nonstandard and I reckon wouldn’t fit the MIDI-centric culture of ASM.

Yes, please!!

Now you’re talking! Make it as modular as the synth (with cross-patching between the two, of course) and it’s game over.

Me, I just want a Linux version of the librarian :slightly_smiling_face:

Some envelope improvements wouldn’t hurt, either: slightly more natural curve controls, more triggering options (cross-envelope, on end of rise/fall, etc.), AR types as well as ADSR. If I’m being greedy, more modulation destinations for LFOs (phase, reset on high, individual step value), and envelopes (loops). EDIT: Also, envelope -> step LFO triggering (with LFO speed 0 so they only move when the envelope does) :heart_eyes:

2 Likes
#2935

Agreed. Even a simple semitone based sequencer would be MOST welcome. I don’t even care if it’s only 8 steps (though obviously n through 64 would be best. Just so I can keep the step LFO to modulation, and sequence “proper” notes even in the most basic form without needing an external sequencer.

Though, now that I have a Polyend Play sitting nearby…

2 Likes
#2936

There is a trick, well hardly a trick it’s so simple, but i use this all the time, much more than sequencing with the LFO step sequencer. It’s kinda like the arpeggiator, you play in any sequence of notes you want, but it’s better than the arpeggiator, because it remembers the played rhythm precisely, rather than being a ticking arp machine. And like the arp it responds to tempo changes. It is only 8 notes or less long though.

The basic principle is to use a slow looped LFO to control the note volume like an envelope, with that LFO running separately for each note. Each LFO starts when you play the note.

There’s basically a million things to do with this.

To demonstrate, take an Init patch ( and change the Osc1 Wave to something more pleasant ). Then set LFO1 to Saw Down, BPM Sync ON, Rate to something slow like 8 measures. Maybe on page two crank up the smooth, to cut the front edge attack of the saw down. Then go into the Mod-Matrix and assign LFO1 to Mixer / Osc1 Volume. Then turn on Latch and play in your “sequence” in time while holding the first note down.

You can change the LFO wave to something else, for different envelopes.

This is great to plop onto your favorite patch. Definitely run effects with this. Yeah you can do drum like sounds. And use the bi-timbral trick like i mentioned before. You could even have those two separate parts running with a polyrhythm. Like i said there are millions of things to do from here. It responds to inspiration in ways an LFO step sequenced patch can’t.

I think this would run with two HSs chained, for up to 16 notes, though i’ve never tried it.

8 Likes
#2937

Ahhh great trick. This would be another handy mod destination.

#2938

I haven’t really played with that. But…can you do a rest with it?

I guess you could put a step so low, you wouldn’t really hear it, and it would be a rest?

#2939

I suggested the reverse saw on the LFO, in my example ‘cuz, it’s easy to do. Creating other LFOs, like the various square / pulse wave ones, with a little smoothing, could better do what you’re suggesting.

You need to experiment with it yourself to get an understanding what is possible.

ADDED : Now that i think about it you could set up an Envelope with an LFO as a TrigSrc.

1 Like
#2940

Absolutely. Using the LFO step sequencer, allows you to draw short envelopes. There is absolute silence in between. The thing is the LFO rate is per step, with the step LFO, so you need to speed the rate up to get the same length of loop time.

With the steps +64 is full on, and -64 is silence. You can also create a ratchet sort of thing with the LFO Step if you’d like.

This is all very Hydrasynth, it can do all sorts of things, maybe not precisely as you intend, but with interesting effects anyway.

2 Likes
#2941

:exploding_head:

Thanks!

#2942

Ha, clever approach indeed!

#2943

Have any of you guys switched from the Desktop version to the Explorer and wished that you had stayed with the Desktop model, if so why?

2 Likes
#2944

Anyone else find it annoying that the modulation matrix maximum amount for an lfo/envelope (-128:+128) only covers a limited range? You need to copy and paste multiple envelopes with the same setting to achieve punchy pitch envelopes if making kick patch, for example.

1 Like
#2945

Not exactly, but I have had the Desktop, Keys, and now Deluxe.

Nobody could pry the Deluxe out of my hands with any amount of force. However, I miss the Desktop for a lot of reasons, and will probably end up having one sitting on the Deluxe some day.

I LOVE the pads, I love being able to haul it to another room and create patches, and I don’t care how cool a synth is, I can’t do even moderately miniature keys. If the Explorer was the only version, for me, I might have to skip an otherwise outstanding synthesizer.

(I had 14 years classical piano training, and just can’t adjust to mini keys, even just to tap out sequences, it’s more my own mental condition rather than anything actually wrong with mini keys.)

4 Likes
#2946

Arg, you’re not helping me…
The pads seems nice and playable, with scales for what @Tchu said…

Even with regular 25 keys ? :content:
I have one Edirol like that, an AKAI Mini Play, a regular 49 keys, a semi weighted 66 keys and two 88 keys heavy weighted keyboards…
I prefer to plays last ones, but they are so heavy ! I could envoy the Mini Play with a looper, so I think I can enjoy the Explorer…:thinking:

2 Likes
#2947

The Octave Row mode is where the fun is, at least, for me.

4 Likes
#2948

I would do 25 regular size keys. :wink:

I don’t mind short keybeds, just not shrunken. I love my Grandmother for example, and actually feel like it just begs to be played. Little Phatty was like that too. I’ve actually been dual manualling the Hydra Deluxe with the GMA lately, and it’s been a lot of fun.

1 Like
#2949

It’s a lot of fun, especially in some of the other scale modes.

2 Likes