Thanks and take your time. I hope you feel better.
I am currently mangling stabs in my samplers, which has been a great way to get insight on a lot of these sounds. I suspect that many guys are just sampling sounds and building the stabs there since you can assign LFOs and envelopes to about anything and really mangle it.
That said - we can do a lot of these things in the hydra! So im going to try and apply the same modulations in the modmatrix of the hydra and see what results I can get there.
I got my my hydrasynth keys today and Iām super surprised how loud and clicky the keybed is, it feels really bad to play. Am I missing something? Is that just how it is? Everyone have been raving about the keyboard so I really didnāt imagine it would be so mechanically noisy.
This is not my experience at all. I compared the noise of the HSK with four other f.s. keyboards i have, all quality units. The HSK is clearly the quietist. The black keys are more noisy than the white ones, and the pitch is different ā higher than the other four, but definitely quieter.
I donāt doubt you. Has something changed, i bought my HSK 15 months ago ?
I donāt know if something changed in their manufacturing but itās really making me want to return it. Itās louder than the very old 61 keys m-audio controller I have, as well as from the others old arturia and akai keyboard controllers I have. sounds like Iām banging the keyboard but Iām just playing it normally. You can hear my kid in the background saying āplay gentlyā because from the mechanical sound of the keys he thought I was banging on it. Very strange.
Thatās not at all like my HSK. Kind of hard to gauge from the recording without a reference, but it sounds very different from mine.
I mentioned pitch, the sound from mine is noise, but there is a pitch, F# below middle C for the white notes G below middle C for the black notes. Yours sounds from the recording an octave lower or so. That sounds more like other keyboards I have, my Novation keyboard in particular.
My HSK is sitting on a towel on a table completely off its feet, and just now I lifted it off, and the bottom does seem to act a little as a sounding board, though still my quietest kb. You should try damping the base of your HSK and see if that helps.
Anyone else with an HSK have a reaction to this ? @phaelam ?
You can contact ASM support, and certainly your retailer.
The noisiest keyboard i have is definitely my Analog Keys. I think thatās a Fatar. The black notes in particular are like someone rapping at the front door when played hard. That said i never really notice it when playing though.
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This has been an interesting experiment for me, tuning in to the dry sound of various keybeds, good preparation for my next adventure, understanding the differences in my ear for all the HSK keyboard settings, particularly the Neo ones.
The only issue I had with noise was when I found that the USB cable was not seated correctly. It was in on an angle. Only so very slightly, but it made an awful hum. I dunno what made me check that, but I did. And the synth went completely quiet. It DOES however have some hum if if youāre I/Oās in is too hot. I had to set my MOTU at -8db to have a nice, super clean signal I could put a little comp boost on.
Complete opposite of the first Hydra I got. With Amp, OSC and Main Vol at full I had to boost the output 15db in the MOTU to get a decent signal. Lost a LOT of money dealing with Perfect Circuit over that one 
(That Hydra was early first batch. New one is AWESOME. Love it)
(If we arenāt talking about that, then Iām sorry on went off base)
Alinka is talking about the dry acoustic noise of the keybed itself, on the unpowered HSK ā or any unpowered keyboard in general. You know the clacky key noise all keyboards make, some just noisier than others. You donāt notice your HSK being noisy like that do you.
Thanks for checking in !
Thatās interesting. I havenāt done comparison across all of my keyboards but I have noticed differences. From memory;
My HSK isnāt the quietest keybed Iāve ever had but itās on the quieter side. Less acoustic volume than boards Iāve owned with fatar keys. Tiny fraction of the acoustic volume of my old ensoniq boards. Much louder than most organs Iāve had (totally different keybed mechanics).
I had observed something akin to what @Jukka mentioned about the towel/ desk placement. I have my HSK on the lower tier of a two tier double braced x-stand. If I adjust things such that the HSKās feet are resting on the tubing of the stand I get a noticeably lower acoustic key volume than if the body/ undercarriage is resting on the tubing. This sort of postural resonating (for lack of a better term) might be worth experimenting with. It hasnāt bothered me yet but itās in my brain now so Iāll probably play around with it a little bit.
Hereās a quick video with some comparisons. Is it really meant to be so loud ? I contacted HSK support and sent them the video too.
Thanks yea I tried damping it with a towel but it didnāt make any noticable difference. I never thought of Keybed noise as something that would bother me but the second i started playing on it it just sounded like banging on a keyboard. I posted a video above for comparison.
With a KI of 600+ youāre the Keyboard King for sure ! You know of what you speak.
Yeah, organ keyboards are really quiet, I donāt own one at the moment, though I remember.
Weird idea: To sample keyboard noises and make patches from them, youād pitch them though. The Elektron Analog Keys black keys has a very pleasing woody sound. On my Novation the up release sound of the black keys has got a reverse envelope to it, maybe youād reverse it and pitch it. Iām sure someone has done it, in fact someone did do it with the pingy noise of the keys on a Digitakt (that drives some people mad too.)
ADDED: Good luck Alinka with your problem.
Mine doesnāt necessarily feel or sound clicky exactly, but the action is a little bit lighter than I like. Itās no Fatar. It feels like the Korg Prologue in my opinion. That said, I got used to it very quickly, and Iām happy enough with it now. I definitely prefer my Prophet keys, but the HSK is fine.
Thanks, their support just said itās totally normal for it to be this loud.
Your keybed sounds project idea is great I hope you go through with it!
I guess Iāll see whether I can live with this sound or return the HSK. Iāve never been bothered by a keybed sound before so in light of their support saying itās just the way it is I am not sure what Iām hearing that others donāt.
I agree with you J3RK it is light, but i donāt loose expressiveness despite that, as on some keyboards. The range of settings helped me on that as well.
Right I was also thinking about my old Prophet and what a wonderful keyboard it had in comparison to this. I guess Iāll play with it for a few days and see how it feels.
You DO know Iām a dumb-ass right?
No my kb is no noisier than anything Iāve had. Definitely not clacky, maybe a little thunky.
I really like it. Best one out of the synths Iāve had. But Iāve never had anything super expensive. Iām also a terrible player.
But noiseā¦no. Itās good 
Hereās a compensation, and it makes NO keyboard noise. Play the poly-aftertouch. Pick a nice patch A011(?) or a one at random ā Random-Right Arrow or Left Arrow a few times. Pick and hold a nice large chord, maybe with a 9th in it, and rock your hand back and forth. Slide you other hand on the ribbon control.
Iām still too excited to turn it on 
thatās why it took me two days to even open the box. But gonna do this first thing in the morning !
ha, i love that you havenāt even turned it on! i do the same thing. Sometimes iāll just unbox a new synth and sit and look at it for a couple of days. out of fear or pondering its majesty, i donāt know. itās like a new roommate and weāre both shy.
I like that idea. Iāve been wanting to do a round of acoustic sampling. Iāll give it a shot soon.