Only keeping one Poly, which one?

He should stuck to being an OP-1 music channel. I feel everything he has done since has been rather lame.

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No, not at all. As I mentioned above, it really is a matter of taste. Everyone can decide for him/herself. Since I had both I actually had a hard time to decide which one to let go. Since the drive circuitry is not my main factor, I went for other sound sculpting features, and the Hydra offered more, imho. However I think both are on a very high level and we talk minor differences. Mercedes AMG vs Porsche 911.

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Yeah I would definitely agree that the video was lengthy, but not deep. He played boring simple patches with chords where all notes hit at the same time, doesn’t really show the complex interactions that really make a synth shine. I get why, he had to make patches simple so he could replicate them on both without spending a year on it, but still. Would have been a lot more interesting if he had actually… played some music on them. Not a bash really, I like his OP-1 videos a lot, this just wasn’t very good.

I think that there are some areas where the Hydra can make patches that might be difficult to replicate exactly on the Peak/Summit. However, the Peak/Summit sounds clearly more lively and juicier to me, which makes sense, it is a mostly analog synth.

BTW OP, I am also considering a Nord Lead A1. Have you checked that out?

I did a pretty thorough in house shootout between the hydra and peak when I was looking at desktop poly’s. I didn’t find the Peak’s osc’s noticeably better when running wide open, and negligible once I’d built similar patches, and since I was looking for a highly modulatable wavetable synth, the Hydra was by far the better option (both oscs and mods). What kept me up at night was the Peak’s filter (and to an extent, all the ways to add distortion). I know that the Hydra is supposed to be ‘proudly digital’, but the filters are (to me) the one let down in the design. In the end the Peak was returned, however it’s a fantastic synth that easily could have found a home here if the hydra didn’t tick a few workflow, oscillator, and modulation boxes that I was set on.

I loved having my Rev 2 (Keys) and Hydra Keys together. It was nearly a perfect combination. However, I had to consolidate my music space with my synth-building space, and could only keep one. I chose the Hydra, though it wasn’t an easy decision. Just too many good things about it, and I build analog synths anyway. I just sold it too, because I’m picking up the Deluxe version when they’re readily shipping. However, I think I also want to get another Prophet, but a desktop type. (and a Waldorf M) :smiley:

What’s not to forget is Panning. The Hydra is the big winner here. You can Pan the Oscillators, the Noise and the Ring. No Panning on the Peak.

This difference grows even larger when you take the Summit, the dual-filter modes are AMAZING. It’s a huge upgrade over the Peak.

I‘d like to try one. I can’t find a single interesting demo online.

That’s incorrect, there is voice panning on Peak/Summit. From the manual:

The Hydra does has more panning options with ring and noise panning. I also believe the Hydra handles panning differently with per-oscillator behavior, but I just want to be clear that the Peak/Summit has voice panning and it’s very very useful and sounds great.

Oh and don’t forget that the delay has an L/R Ratio setting that will pan repeats left and right, so there is a option there as well that can yield very cool stereo results with different feedback and time settings.

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I can only imagine! The Summit wasn’t even in the picture for me since it’s so large. I would have liked to have given it a go though

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Agreed. I guess what I mean is having much more control over Panning than just Voice Spread in the Stereo Field.

Yeah for sure, use whatever you like, the Hydrasynth is very powerful.

I guess I just don’t think they’re that close, in the sound department. The Hydra CAN sound good, depending on what you’re doing, but it isn’t always a given. I think there are several plug-ins that can do what it does and sound as good or better. I just can’t say the same thing for the Peak. I tried.

Since you’re getting into modular, do you want to swap it for an AK?(+decksaver +underbridge)
:grinning: and original box. Heck, I think the film is still on the screen
https://www.elektronauts.com/t/ft-oto-boum-analogkeys-subsequent37-nordlead-a1-sydaus/143704

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I would honestly consider this if I thought I could get a decent price for my A4 Mki.
Problem is, moving gear in Australia is proving to be, difficult.

beautiful.
Cant decide between this and the rev2.

yeah the A1 is kind of underrated, even clavia doesn’t talk about it much

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You think? Check out his latest Microfreak OS4 erm…celebrating video…
Far from being lame.

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He never hit the heights of his early Op-1 videos which attracted millions.