Hydrasynth from ASM

[vegeta897]

Oh yes, I totally hear that and that may be it!

[Fin25]

That’s exactly the sorts of sound I was hoping to hear from this. Very nice.

[palm]

Nice…still
Sounds pretty harsh…metallic/glassy(to me)

Nice line tho!

[JohntheSavage]

“Harsh”?

Okay, not to be argumentative, because I agree that most of the demos I’ve heard thus far have indeed been rather brash and metallic; but I officially don’t know what you’re hearing now. And I say that out of genuine, clinical curiosity.

Granted, I’m a 40-something, hard-touring, career musician of 30 years now, and I know for a fact that I don’t hear much above 15kHz anymore (which is typical for my age, never mind my profession), but I’m wondering if anyone has endeavored to put this synth through a spectrum analyzer or oscilloscope to see if there are in fact any upper frequencies escaping the filter or visible sidebands or distortion?

I don’t now how old phaelam is, or what he/she does for a living, but being able to hear ultra-high frequencies, especially if you find them overly distracting or grating, does not always indicate perfect hearing: i.e. sometime it can be the result of hearing damage or an overactive nervous system.

For that matter, it could be the medium through which one is listening to this synth: headphones, speakers, converters, amps/preamps, etc.

To put this in perspective, I’m producing an album right now, and my engineer just sent me a mix wherein he changed the phase of 10kHz on the Pultec, and I caught it straight away. That’s just to say that I know how to listen, and I have heard some warmth come from the Hydra (albeit I can only think of a single demo that showed that, other than the one above).

Cheers!

[palm]

I listen on either grado ps1000 + schiit amp, Yamaha hs80 or klipcsh rf5. And I’ve never an will never put any in ear listening devices in my ears.

I’m old, but my my ears still test at the 15 years of age group.

Thanks.

[JohntheSavage]

Fair enough. But that is precisely what I’m saying. If you’re confident that it’s not your ears or your monitoring, then maybe someone should put this thing on the scope for a proper, unbiased, technical analysis, rather than subjective opinion based purely on perception (whatever that may entail). I’d personally like to see its shortcomings, if they are in fact there.

Again, I’m not denying that the Hydrasynth can be harsh; but we could wait forever for a competent sound designer to prove us wrong, especially on a synth that wants to be shiny. If there is an overabundance of high-frequency content, even with the filter closed, it will show on the scope.

Cheers!

[cng303]

Really lovely thanks so much for sharing!

[vegeta897]

Thank you so much for the comments, everybody. Didn’t expect such a nice response but I suppose the hype for this thing is still hot!

If anyone has a request to demonstrate something I will do my best to oblige.

My only comment about the perceived harsh/metallic/glassiness in my demo is that I am using 2 harmonically complex waves in that patch that definitely have some high up overtones in them though mostly filtered down, as well as a lo-fi effect after the filters which certainly adds some aliasing-like results if you listen close.

If I removed the lofi and changed all the waves to tri or sine, maybe the glassiness would be gone, but it’d also probably be much less interesting?

[cng303]

I have had mine on preorder since September and was originally expecting it sometime this month, but with the small delay I won’t have the unit til January probably. So I’m really avidly following all this haha

For myself, I would be interested to hear more wave morphing, and mutators, and how they might be used with evolving sounds, like long echoey pads and chords.

Some of the reactions make this out to be an interesting machine. Not really what I thought at first (something like the blofeld with a nicer interface). But it almost sounds like the guard rails are off and it lets you go there and do some unorthodox things, and maybe push the envelope of what people can even tolerate(!) I like that.

[chm_jacques]

I think @palm’s 101 randomizations from a few days ago give a pretty good impression of where the guardrails may (or may not) be from my own experience with the synth.

[Jukka]

The Template Patch

I had mentioned earlier the idea of using a Template patch. This post is primarily for users/owners, and it’s long – it’s the HS, no surprise, there are lots of good ways to do things! These are some basic ideas for a Template Patch, that get improved with your specific changes.

More

The Template Patch is a shortcut to patch creation. It evolves from the fact that the HS Init Patch may not be what you want for the base for starting your patches.

The Init Patch has a variety of “features” that i am always fixing before i make my own patch. The Init Patch basically looks like this:

• The mixer is set to Oscillator 1, everything else is off.
• All five mixer channels are directed to Filter 1 with Filter 2 in series.
• Oscillator 1 & 2 are in Single mode, with all three Oscillators set to Saw.
• All four Mutants are set to FM-Lin.
• Voice is Poly.
• Mod Wheel is set to cause Vibrato.
• All Envelopes params are 0, with Legato and Reset OFF
• All LFOs are set to Sine at 1 Hz
• Pre and Post FX are set to Bypass.
• Delay is BasicMono, completely Dry.
• Reverb is Hall, completely Dry.
• The Mod-Matrix is empty.

This is pretty much completely not where i want to start, outside of Pre and Post FX being set to Bypass, the Mod-Matrix being empty, and Voice in Poly (usually). I can’t imagine many people really wanting this for a start.

So one option is to select an existing factory patch, and changing it. Individual Init Patch settings can be accessed by Initing modules individually. So take an existing patch, and Init Pre and Post FX, and the Mod-Matrix. That’s pretty quick. You may also choose to Init the Delay and Reverb too. That’s not a bad option – if you find a patch you like to start from.

[This works pretty well. Pick a random patch (Random/ArrowKey Random, or Random/Button#1 in the Browser). Init the Pre and Post FX, and the Mod-Matrix. And then optionally turn off the Arpeggiator. Voilà instant new patch.]

Another option and the center of this post is to create and store your own Template Patch. Lots of options for that. (Near infinite, this is the HydraMonster.)

First off i would set the Mixer to something reasonable. All Oscillators full on. Add a little Noise – 25 maybe. Ring – 0. I think i prefer filters in parallel, with everything set 50:50 between them.

A little architecture: the HS allows a fast Copy/Paste between Oscillator 1 & 2, and between the four Mutators. For this reason i think it is reasonable to set each of these to very different choices and then let you copy stuff around. Also since it’s quick to change any of the Oscillators, or any of the Mutators to Init values it makes sense to have them start at a value different from the Init.

So this is arbitrary and really all in what you might prefer. But a for instance might be Oscillator 1 Single TriSaw (or whatever). Oscillator 2 WaveScan with the Horizon set (or whatever). I then set the Modwheel to control the WaveScan. Arbitrary, but a way to quickly experiment with the wave for Oscillator 2, using the Modwheel. You can quickly Init Oscillator 2 or copy either of Oscillator 1 or 2 to the other, or change the wave of Oscillator 1. Your choice on what wave to set Oscillator 3.

[ADDED: Note on the Modwheel – it comes preset in Init to control Vibrato, and you need to turn that off. Vibrato is controlled by the “sixth” global VCO, and is located on Pages 2 #2 (Vibrato Amount) of the Voice module. Set it to Zero. You might have thought you’d do this in the Mod-Matrix, but you don’t, the “sixth” LFO is a special case.]

Mutants – there are seven values you can set a Mutator to. It’s fast to go to the Init value of any Mutator, FM-Lin, so that leaves Six values. Harmonic is nice but kind of a novelty in function. That leaves Five options. There are three (very) different PW mutators so leave one of them out, your choice. That leaves Four mutators for Four slots – Bingo.

So then you need to decide how to arrange the four. There are 24 different options for this. (Always options with the HydraMonster.) But lets put one PW with each Oscillator. Lets also say the PW goes second. This leaves four possible arrangements – pick one. You can move around with some flexibility with Mutators from this point. Unfortunately there is only Copy/Paste, no Swap so it limits how you change stuff around, but this gives a lot of mobility with changes to the Mutants.

OK that gives some structure to the Oscilators and Mutants, and one slot in the Mod-Matrix. What about the rest.

Well the Copy/Paste Init options work similarly with the LFOs and also with the Envelopes. So the same principle applies, pick fairly different values for them and use Copy/Paste and Init to move stuff around. 1 and 2 of each have flexible hooks to the Filter and Amp, so they should be structured for that. 3, 4, 5 of each are more flexible, and so can be a little freer.

I think i’d leave the four effects more or less off, as well as the Amp. (I probably would change Delay to BasicStereo, though the Delays with movement would make sense too.) When doing a new patch work on the sound generators first (everything to the left of the mixer) and then add modifiers later (everything to the right of the mixer).

Another way to go and change your custom Template is with Random – changing a module as desired, first to the left and then to the right, or parameters, until you find something you like enough to keep and tweak.

Once you get familiar with your Template, like knowing what each Oscillator is and all the Mutants, you can move them around pretty quickly.

A lot of decisions were made while creating your Template. You could have made other choices – you could have other Templates. Well, if you have more than one Template how do you arrange to get access to them?

One option is to put them in your Favorites. There are four banks of eight Favorites (32). Perhaps in one bank you could have eight Templates.

Another option is to have a primary Template that sits in only one position of your Favorites. You can then set as many Templates around the one Template in patch storage space, and move from the one Template with the patch knob. And another option is to use a little used Category for your Templates. (Wish there was a way to add categories, i’d add Template.) Or the Template Names could have a alphabetical tag at the front of it ZZTemp1, ZZTemp2, and then you scroll alphabetically.

[At the moment i use a combination of several of these.]

So far i haven’t talked about the Arpeggiator in Templates. It think there are some basic setting for this, but it should start as off.

And notice i haven’t mentioned Filter settings or Macros in the Template either.

So some basic Templates if you have more than one could include …

What do you think? Have at it.

[Jukka]

New stuff: Matia Simovich is doing a sound library of 128 patches for the Hydrasynth. He played with those patches for a performance on December 18th in LA, at Perfect Circuit, that Darcey and Trolberg participated in. The performers at that event was Hydrah, Annika Wolfe, Trovarsi, and Matia.

So hopefully along with that somewhere down the line will be the Editor/Patch Manager.

ADDED: Here’s a video from someone else who is planning a patch bank. I think there will be more of these soon.

[GDarcey]

Here is a video showing the spectrum of thesaw wave with a 24db FAT filter sweep on Hydrasynth (left) and the Virus TI2 (right). I tried to match cutoff and decay time as much as I could.
Interesting to see the self noise on the Virus at the end of the clip. The sound is from my computer built-in mic so ignore that totally as it is meaningless.

Sorry for the crap video quality but I had to compress it below 5M for the forum.

[GDarcey]

Nothing scientific here as I was using some crap Behringer AD8000 converters on my RME digiface USB but here is a spectrum of 1kHz Hydrasynth saw (LEFT) and Virus TI2 saw (right) in Voxengo SPAN

and here it is in Presonus Spectrum plug-in.

The Hydrasynth does have a less rolled off sound in the top end as the filter is allowed to open all the way.
Note the aliasing frequencies in the right image though.

[ric0chet]

I’ve had my HS desktop for a few days now, and spent most of yesterday playing with it. Still a lot to learn and my impressions are certainly subject to change with more exposure, but here’s some initial thoughts:

• The interface is fabulous. I love programming this synth. I spent hours just tweaking and working on sounds yesterday and never found myself irritated by anything in the interface. Lots of super smart shortcuts make it even quicker to program - things like setting up mods for the matrix and copying OSC settings.

• Yes, by default it’s more buzzy and bright sounding than a number of synths. That doesn’t mean it’s not possible to tame it in a lot of different ways - filtering, adjusting voice settings, a little filter drive, eq all make it pretty easy to shape the sound in whatever direction you want. Also, I think a lot of the demos aren’t using the ‘traditional’ wave shapes. Many of the included waves do have a lot of harmonic content in them - by design - and that’ll give you something much different than a sawtooth or pulse wave on an analog synth, y’know? I’ve still got a lot of waves to explore, but I have already found some nice ones, as well as some I probably won’t ever use.

• I can get to a good sound faster on my Nord A1, but the HS can go way, way beyond the A1 in sound design.

• FX seem to be strong overall, including the reverb (though it’s not quite as good as the one on Peak).

• Great arp, and the ratchet function is a fun bonus I’ll be making a lot of use of.

• Between the panning features, the dual filters, mutants, and wave scanning, the ability of this synth to create evolving, morphing sounds is essentially limitless. Looping, free-running, long envelopes will allow for some great ambient drones. Relatedly - @GDarcey, can you guys get one of these in the hands of r beny? I’d love to see what he could do with one.

• Pads are great and I love the configuration options. Would love to see the settings saved per-patch, fingers crossed for that in a future update.

• I’d love to see the envelope shapes as a destination in the mod matrix, but overall the matrix has a ton of parameters that can be used and I don’t think I’ll get bored with it anytime soon.

Overall, this thing is a steal at the price.

Here’s a short clip I recorded from yesterday’s session. Don’t mind the background noise in part of it, that’s my bad recording, not the HS’ fault.

[GDarcey]

I think that r beny is https://www.instagram.com/austinthecairns/ he has some stuff here with a desktop unit…I love his work as well.

[ric0chet]

I’d missed that, thanks for the link!

[JohntheSavage]

Thanks, Glen!

See, folks, where subjectivity fails, the tech will tell the truth.

Cheers!

[vegeta897]

I put together this minimal house jam with several sampled synth phrases directly from the Hydra, as well as some live ribbon fun.

[ric0chet]

Here’s another clip from my HS explorations…