I had a suspicion I made the wrong choice with which Hydrasynth being primarily a wind controller player so I almost exclusively go for desktop modules.
I got the Hydrasynth Explorer originally as I liked the PolyAT keyboard and I was less sold on the Hydrasynth sound and workflow at the time so the cheaper (and more readily available option, desktop would have been special order) won out. Also worst case it would be a PolyAT MIDI Keyboard.
Today though I managed to snag a deal on a Hydrasynth Desktop.
And I think I can pretty safely say I made the wrong choice originally.
The added knobs (with lights)/screen make editing workflows much more enjoyable.
I like the tactile response of the harder buttons better.
The expression/sustain pedal combined with the fact itāll transmit allows it to operate as a nice pedal unit for other synths.
The pads also offer enough expression for quickly testing out patches and if I use Expression CC I can test out the breath range with the pedal.
Plus the CV Mod Ins open up audio processing and stuff as a 4th oscillator which I liked about the Anyma Phi.
I both like and hate the recessed ports. On the one hand it takes up much less space on my desk as the cables donāt need the additional room to stick out so the surface area reduction is more than just specified dimensions would indicate. On the other hand, that power button is a bit more annoying to get to.
Do you use the audio inputs with the Anyma Phi with the audio outputs from your wind controller ? Iāve found it good to output with both audio and MIDI controls together from a wind controller to either the AP or the HS. The results usually surprises me.
Not usually because Iām typically using my Wind Controller wirelessly and that would require connecting a wire.
Iāve got stuff hooked into a hub on my desk for the various modules so I can dual commit to the various devices so itās very easy to hook in more oscillators.
The Arturia Microfreak is a great one for adding raw unprocessed audio as it has no fx and is mono and at the time it hits the bus I believe all the oscillators in the Anyma Phi are mono (same would go for the Hydrasynth I believe). Plus it provides the Plaits to accompany the Anymaās Braids.
Not the Deluxe, but the wrinkle is you map each half of the stereo channels to the two separate engines. You then have four outputs if you choose, or you can mix to stereo.
There are other things the Mod inputs as audio can connect to on the HSD and the HSK.
Oh my comment with Mono was the CV Mod In is Mono TS which on a Single Patch like the Desktop would be Mono by the time it hits the Mixer so if you only use the Ring Mod pass through itāll be Mono when it hits the Mixer which then pans to a particular spot.
You could pan the same one to two different sides on the Deluxe but itād still be coming from a Mono TS cable source.
No ā left on MOD 1 for instance goes to HS engine 1, right on MOD 2 goes to HS engine 2. Place those as youād like in each separate engine. You then have 4 channels out, which the Deluxe allows you to mix at the end post everything else, to a stereo pair if you prefer.
Ah youāre talking about combining the two Mod sources for Stereo audio in.
I was just saying that a single mod source is Mono but yes you can combine the two.
And I havenāt tested it yet but supposedly FM-Lin is listed as able to take the Mod In so theoretically if you can get the mutant tuned so it doesnāt actually modify the Mod In, then you have Stereo from both inputs on the Desktop as well.
Think about it just like you had two HSDs, or two HSKs one for the left channel, one for the right. And then you could put a mixer at the end of that, if youād like.
Iām curious what the PSU was like with it, Iāve got an early desktop & the PSU is really cheap & very short, Iām curious if thatās still the case & what was it like on the explorer?
I keep thinking of swapping mine for the explorer, just to have the keys, I donāt really like pads much. But yeah there is some heavy trade offsā¦
No, itās just generic, there was people moaning about it back then so they must have an official one now which is good, I might see if I can get one. I have a 3 tier rack & the length limits where it can live.
OK, I finally got thru the V2 Sound Patches ā¦ first off, I would highly recommend that anyone new immediately get the patch manager installed on your computer and update your Hydrasynth to these patches. When I was going thru the original patches, Iāll admit I was kinda underwhelmed and wondering if I made a wise decision with this purchase, but the V2 patches are much improved and Iām pretty excited about diving into making my own patches and tweaking the existing.
I rated the patches on a scale of 1-5, with a 5 star having to be outstanding which considering I was giving only 10-30 seconds per patch, they are in short order ā¦ a lot of the 4 stars have potential of being a 5 in the future with more time to review.
And sorting thru the 1 and 2 star patches, a lot were Bass and Lead patches, which are not my playing style, so they were at a natural disadvantage.
But I had to approach this exercise like the Two Bobās in Office Space.
Looks like a fair assessment, I found a lot of the factory patches to be really mediocre or worse. Most of the sync patches donāt do anything for me. V2 library got a little better but still, they should have filtered more and leave a user bank.
There are some amazing patches though.
I mean Michael Bolton material.
I will vouch for the Boards of Canada. Pretty amazing stuff. Finally finished my task of clearing banks and getting that installed ā¦ well worth the effort.
It is nice to be able to follow the block flow diagram ON the synth and break the signal down.
Whatever engineer came up with that signal diagram button layout deserves a twinkie and employee of the month at ASM
Control panel for the nuclear reactor on the NS Savanah ā the first nuclear power merchant ship from 1959. The use of color here helps and is no doubt part of the design.
There is enough material on synths with block diagram UIs to be worth starting a thread.
