CC16 or Macro ?
Should be CC16
When I choose the source, the top section readout says âCC 016â on the top line and âMacroâ on the bottom line. Then the bottom section readout (destination) says âMacro5â on its top line and I set its bottom line to 128. This doesnât work. Can you explain in detail what to do?
Iâd set Mod Matrix like this on Explorer :
Macro isnât the source but the destination.
Do your macros work properly manually, without CC16 control ?
Did you set their default values properly ? (0 for example). Mod Matrix is relative, and add or substract values to default values. In this case, if Macro 5 was set to 128, Mod Matrix slot wouldnât do anything.
Or maybe Macro 5 is controlling Macro 1 and you want to add CC16 to control Macro 5 ?
Your second picture is what I do:
Despite that, CC 16 continues to control Macro1, but has no effect on Macro5. I was hoping to have CC 16 control both Macros. CC 16 controls Macro1 by default, so maybe if I program that explicitly in the mod matrix (your first picture) as well as programming CC 16 to control Macro5, it will override the default behavior and do what Iâm trying to do. Iâll test that later unless someone has another suggestion.
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my few cents:
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re: that band above ⌠replacing all my synths with five hydras doesnât seem like a bad idea
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re: presets ⌠i skipped through the presets lately and didnât like any of them, but thatâs just my taste (and usually i delete all presets always anyway)
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Keeping presets around long enough to learn some of the non-obvious tricks is good though.
Having a group of maybe a dozen example patches, done not so much for there sound but for there method might be nice.
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What are your macro values in macro page ?
Iâm not 100% what youâre asking, butIâm using patch A001 with a few tweaks. Macro1 is named âCUTOFF,â and Macro5 is named âTHICKEN.â Theyâre both set up as in patch A001.
I had a hydrasynth desktop early 2020 and sold it then last year got the explorer and sold it and last night i decided i miss the hydrasynth desktop and got a good deal on one on reverb. So waiting for that to show up in a few days!
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You having tried both, may I ask what makes you want the desktop again, over the explorer? I think I am making the same choice as a first time hydrist, so curious about your experience.
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Something, something if you love something let it go something, something, back to you.
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Question about the Hydrasynth (keyboard) :
Iâd be interested in using it both as a synth and a midi controller. I was wondering, is there a way to have a page of macros just for midi control of external gear (or DAW) ? Even better, is there a way to rename them via MIDI ?
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I owned a desktop, sold it, purchased an Explorer but returned it in favor of the Desktop, which now resides on my table and will never leave my place 
My honest assesment is that you wonât really notice the difference if you havenât had the non-Explorer versions (Desktop, regular version, deluxe version) in your hand. I found the menu a little less fluid to move around with, and the less amount of controls to be something I missed with the Explorer â but only because I have had the Desktop in my hands earlier. If youâre new, I think itâll blend with you straight away. Also: the keybed is quite nice, and the overall build quality is great on both of them.
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Iâm talking about macro values, not their name nor targets.
Values are between 0 and 128.
If you set a macro to 128, and assign a mod matrix slot to a positive value (128 in your case), macro value canât be changed by the slot, because it would be stuck to 128 (slots modulations are relative, not absolute).
Macro 1 CC16 default assignment is probably absolute, so the behavior should be different.
Both simultaneously in one patch, or in separate patches with some patches set up only for external control ?
Both approaches are a possibility. But you are limited to the Macros available, so you need to make it fit if doing both.
There is only 8 Macros available, one page ( two on Explorer ). So if you are controlling both interior and exterior in one patch, youâve got to share. But you can have a Macro knob control both together if you would like.
For exterior control, whether exclusively external, or combined external and internal, think beyond the Macro knob controls. Any source in the Mod-Matrix can send MIDI CC. So physical controls like pedals, ribbon, wheels, aftertouch, keytrack ( it gets complicated ), envelopes, and LFOs can all be used. You can set up some of these to be exclusively external controls in a combined set up.
LFOs if you have a spare one, can be super useful. ( Beware of bandwidth, especially for MIDI DIN. ) You can control the LFO with a Macro knob, or any other physical control. The LFO could be tied to BPM, or time based. You can use a step LFO to good effect.
So how about an expression pedal controlling the rate of an LFO out via MIDI CC ?
Also notice that MIDI CC is also an input to the Mod Matrix, so you can run some limited kinds of MIDI processing.
Two CVs are also available for output, as well as two for inputs ( not on the Explorer ) which can run as separate things too through the Mod-Matrix.
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Thanks for elaborating 
Thanks for the awesome response. I guess it will not work for what i had in mind, which is to control Ableton Live while some macros still control the synth. 8 Macros total will be too few.
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What about remapping default macros CCs* in Ableton ?
AFAIK Macros send/receive a fixed CC you could use.
(And other parameters can be remapped too)
You could send it back to Hydrasynth with a midi routing switch, and control Mod MatrixâŚ
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Looks nice !
So letâs say I never use ENV 4 and 5 for sound design (I think I can live with it), then I could simultaneously use it as a synth, and select ENV 4/5 for MIDI control only ? That could do the trick.
What Iâm looking after is a MIDI controller with at least 8 encoders with a screen where I can name the knobs, but depending on the context (songs, song part) they would be remapped and the names would change accordingly. Currently using a MIDI Twister + iPhone with TouchOSC to display names, but having a synth + master MPE keyboard + midi controller in the same piece of hardware would be amazing.
The only thing missing for a flexible setup would be a way to rename Macros with Sysex or OSC.
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