I did experience a bug while using it…
the synth was stuck in MONO mode. didn’t matter what patch I switched to, and if I manually changed it to POLY. OR, a patch that said it was POLY but was playing as a MONO setting, would switch to MONO then back to POLY, but I remained MONO.
only way to resolve it was power cycle the synth.
they didn’t have any way to report that, that I could find.
its sub phatty
to me it sounds also that way (only listened to demos) but from your verbal description is totally my impression as well. What you describe as tubular further down the post.
my thing is, I was i hoping for something like the Roland JP8080 or the Yamaha AN1X, but without the issues of “vintage” gear, heh. [examples: like my Juno Alpha 1 I had, that literally fell apart. or my AKAI S-1000 that was a BITCH to put samples on]…with new features and a stable unit.
again, I think the synth is awesome. but struggled with it when I got to play with it.
[note: I haven’t had hands on with the JP8080 OR the AN1X…so who knows, perhaps id have the same issue]
I would be curious to try one, I wonder if you can push it in different directions by playing with the gainstaging prefilter, maybe it will sound more pleasant if the filter us starved a little. But yeah if the filters dont sound how you like there not much you can do other than drive them or starve them to see how it sounds doesn’t matter how high resolution they are if they dont get the sound you want. I could see it being that way by design just because wavetables often dont filter well with a straight low pass filter (they all just end up sounding the same) so maybe the buzzy nature let’s more of that breathe.
A lot of people seem to be comparing it to the peak, which seems pretty fair but novations implementation of wavetables has always been pretty terrible imo, peak is a great hybrid subtractive but the wavetables just seem like an afterthought. While hydrasynth may be the opposite, a synth focused on wavetables with subtractive being secondary.
I also wonder if the lack of filter fm might be a hint that the hydrasynth hit capacity of cpu usage, maybe the filters just aren’t high enough quality to take filter fm. Not a lot of digitals do filter fm though, the only hardware I can think of off the top of my head is the system 1m and it really does it nicely.
Then get the System-8! 
Think I agree with you about the wavetables on the Peak - occasionally I find something interesting scanning around (sometimes you can get a PWM-ish-but-different effect with modulating some of the shapes) but usually I don’t feel inspired and switch back to one of the basic waveforms (which sound terrific). I wonder if they’re too clean, too high resolution.
+1 for the filter FM on the System-1, I’ve always liked how it sounds. Sold mine but would like to own a 1m.
Yeah, the wavetables are too complex in the Peak. They should have added more simple “analog” waveforms, morphing into other shapes. Like a kind of PWM on sawtooth.
I was looking at that too, the sys8 that is. But…I dunno.
Anyways it really doesn’t matter. Dunno why I’m stressin’. I have no money.
I was still hyped for the hydra tho.
When time permits, maybe I’ll do one of those old dogs. But I’ve had nothing but bad luck with secondhand gear. Tired of buying other people’s problems.
(Note: I keep all my shit TITE. So don’t hesitate buying one of my sales. I don’t like people’s problems…and I won’t sell em mine)
for the hell of it…101 consecutive randomizations…
first sound is INIT Saw to demonstrate pattern, followed by 101 consecutive randomizations. no adjusting volume or any settings. a clap separates the sounds [if it wasn’t obvious enough 
]…
caution at 3:13…its loud for.a sec
I was gonna do 1001 but fuuuuuuu.
phaelem – Please keep asking your questions. You send me skittering off into new unexpected unfound territories. But i don’t understand why you care – never forget you hate the way the HS sounds.
So the answer to your question is YES, but not exactly like you think. It’s done very Hydra. Be water. And the result can turn out more musical if you want that.
I thought of writing another of my long drawn out posts describing the procedure in detail – but i don’t understand the exact detail well enough yet, and this post is going to be too long as it is.
So let me just tell you the separate parts you assemble to do various things in ways like you ask. (That’s the Hydra ‘gestalt’.)
It’s a combination of how you use the Chord function, the Arpeggiator and the scale and key selector in the Voice section. You can add the Latch to this as well. All these pieces have sub-pieces and aspects.
There are 37 separate scales available not counting chromatic, which is really just an ‘all’, plus there is a Custom scale which you can pick any notes you want. Here’s the list:
Chromatic, Major, BeBop Maj, BeBop, Mixolydian, Harmonic Major, Lydian, Lydian Aug, Acoustic, Pentatonic Maj, Locrian Maj, Prometheus, Whole Tone, Melodic Minor, Half Diminished, Aeolian, Dorian, Harmonic Minor, Algerian, Gypsy, Hungarian, Ukranian, Dim. Whole Tone, Locrian, Neapolitan Major, Neapolitan Minor, Phrygian, Flamenco, Persian, Phrygian Dominant, Enigmatic, Tritone, In, Insen, Augmented, Blues, Pentatonic Minor, Hirajoshi.
Anyone else out there who uses the Irijule Theoryboard? You’ll recognize a lot of these scales, i think the HS has a few more scales, but the TB does the chords side for all there scales too. The TB has poly-aftertouch as well. Playing with the two together in another post, sometime.
A neat effect is to change the scale while arpeggiating a chord. Also switching between ‘Order’ and ‘Random’ on the arpeggiator has good effects. BTW the Prometheus scale is really cool – a little Scriabin anyone?
So one thing you can do is hold to a scale and key, so it’s not just playing the same chord and offsetting the note it starts on. (This is what i mean as more musical.) And since the HS ‘chord’ is more complex than just a collection of notes, it allows the Arpeggiator and the Voice to do other things depending on how they’re controlled. Add LFO, or other controls to this (i want to connect five expression pedals) lets you go in all sorts of directions.
Oh and the Ribbon controller can play through the Key and Scale too if you want.
I had another one of those moments last night experimenting with this all. I have several every day – going on the trip listening to what you’ve got the HydraMonster doing. I’m not sure exactly, but i think it has something to do with a mismatch in length of the chord and the arpeggiator, that sets off these Steve Reich sort of poly-rhythms (or is it poly-meters?). All in stereo with headphones. So i stopped everything and was just tripped on the sound – ten minutes it must have been. And i swear every so often the HS would switch something up for a few bar and then go back to the same hypnotic pattern – or is it just my mind playing tricks on me.
Also i’m starting to think the description of monotimbral doesn’t fit – there’s definitely other sounds happening, drum parts even, depending on the patch i’ve done. My neurotransmitters are spiking when i play the HS.
You’re making my spidey-sense tingle… I love the way you describe using the hydrasynth. I’m going to keep an eye on this beast.
RESPONSE! 
I keep asking because I SO enjoyed using the synth, I’m trying to find a way to love it…
so I WILL keep asking, since I can’t get on it at will. and I hope folks don’t mind answering.
a synth can sound good and also be TOTALLY uninspiring to use.
the Hydra was super fun to mess with.
hoping that future firms might address the highs…a way to roll it off. advantage: fully Digital. there can be updates
thanks man.
so thinking about what I said re: a synth being ‘inspiring’…
as an example [apples to oranges but kinda the same]: its no fun so get infant of a piece of gear that just doesn’t appeal…like…
GOLF CLUBS. [again not saying this applies to synths 100%, but to a degree]. golf clubs are pretty much all the same. diff flex, face etc…but the differences are negegalble. tho that’s not what the manufacturer wants you to think cuz…they wouldnt be able to sell as many…BUT…
for any skilled player, they can play pretty much any club as well as the next. BUT. another but, if you do not like what you are looking at…you just can hit them. the focus is taken off the swing and focus of how freakin ugly those clubs look. you gotta get a club that not only fits you, but looks right to your eye.
so…I think there is a level of that that applies to gear. and the Hydra looks sweet as fuck…to my eye. and fits with the way I do stuff. so I wanna get back over there and mess with it again, despite the sound. I feel like I can find how to figure it out…
[maybe I never will…]
anyways…
What I really want to do is replace my Blofeld with a modern wavetable synth. Specifically going for these kinds of sounds here:
That was all done with a Blofeld and I dived deep into the 'tablesphere to create those sounds. I’m hoping I can get similar worlds of sound from HS. Any owners have any thoughts on this?
Shamefully this is only my second or third time booting it up since I got it almost a week ago. I set out experimenting with stereo oscs and filters after watching the latest UDO Super 6 demo, and ended up with this patch I really loved.
It’s a saw on osc 1 and “Chendom1” wave on 2, slightly panned to L/R, with the filters in parallel mode, cutoff modulated on each with their own LFO at different phase and rate. Plus a tremelo, bit of reverb/delay, bit of lo-fi, and some EQ to boost the lows and taper the highs.
One trick I found that I like is setting the key tracking of one of the oscs to be slightly below 100%. I also patched aftertouch to detune further.
Love your chord progression there.
Hah, thanks, I just stumbled upon it and I’m 99% sure I stole it from something.