ASM Hydrasynth

[LoboLives]

I do wonder what ASM have in store for their next instrument. It seems like a lot of companies (ASM, Modal, UDO) are in the habit of making the same instrument but in different form factors/colors rather than moving on to a new instrument. I appreciate that approach but I'm more excited about what ASM is going to do next than I am about the HydraSynth.

[Soundquest]

A short demo of 3 Hydrasynth multilayer patches. 

[Jason]

Discussing and demonstrating my attempts to get classic Vangelis sounds using modern equipment, including attempts to get the Blade Runner Brass sounds from a HydraSynth and the Roland VP-330 strings from Prophet Rev2.

[Shaw]

I finally got on board and ordered one of these to pair with my Linnstrument.  It should arrive in a couple of weeks.

[Soundquest]

Shaw, Not sure if you are getting the keyboard version, I have  a Linn too, you'll be happy to know that I did try it and it worked good.  But ironically I have not used it much on my Hydrasynth.   I think   that between the great Poly AT and ribbon board  on the ASM offering so much dimensional control already, the outboard MPE controller hasn't been reached for much.  Its a nice problem

[Shaw]

Shaw, Not sure if you are getting the keyboard version, I have  a Linn too, you'll be happy to know that I did try it and it worked good.  But ironically I have not used it much on my Hydrasynth.   I think   that between the great Poly AT and ribbon board  on the ASM offering so much dimensional control already, the outboard MPE controller hasn't been reached for much.  Its a nice problem

For space considerations, I got the desktop module version.  I am making a run at going “all in” on the Linnstrument.  For someone who grew up playing (and still plays) guitar and bass, the Linnstrument is an absolute joy to own and use.

[Quatschmacher]

Nice 2.0 firmware update released today from why I can gather.

[LPF83]

Nice 2.0 firmware update released today from why I can gather.

I haven't tried it yet, but the new voice modulator feature alone seems like it has huge potential.  It basically allows you to add a modulation offset on a per voice basis, then modulate whatever you want via that offset -- similar to CreativeSpirals work on voice modeling if you're familiar.  It's in effect like giving us a customizable vintage knob, that "vintagizes" whatever we want (my first goto would probably be pitch fluctuations).

I'm eager to try it out on my desktop.  Also, I've only updated mine once since purchasing, but when I did the update tool was a joy, and exactly what all firmware updaters should be.

In terms of a sound-designers playground, it's hard to match the Hydra.  Some info on new features here:

[maxter]

If it wasn't dizzingly complex already, it certainly is now... Not only the voice mod, but now also the 5 LFOs in step-mode (substituting for sequencers up to 64 steps) can be Key-stepped. Just like what CreativeSpiral uses the Rev2 sequencers for. In one of the new tutorial vids, they state that this is one of the purposes and reasons for adding it, and also mention that this is what they programmed the "Analog Feel" value to do, offsets to individual voices, in pitch, intonation, filter and amp.

This is next level. I could use a couple of LFOs for this key-step modulation offset of individual voices, and have them offset more/less by modulating those LFOs depths with the Voice Mod... And/or use a bit of "Analog Feel" as well. I suppose you could throw in a few Macros in the chain, to organize it a bit and make the modulation offsets more "immediate" to control. And then you could use any other modulator to modulate those Macros through the Mod Matrix. I'm getting dizzy already.

Yes, in terms of a sound-designers playground, this has now truly become a dream synth. I was really hoping for the key-step LFO functionality, and here it is. I'm blown away, just wow.

https://youtu.be/gRTUec3u3nY?t=978

[LPF83]

Yes, in terms of a sound-designers playground, this has now truly become a dream synth. I was really hoping for the key-step LFO functionality, and here it is. I'm blown away, just wow.

One thing I always admired about Daniel Fisher, is his ability to apply sound design to musical context, often citing examples of how to use a particular feature from the live musician perspective... like what he demonstrates here about the LFO step advance functionality, and using it to overcome tempo challenges of live play:

https://youtu.be/aPvmiNKb-HY?t=333

The whole video is worth a watch, he's great at demoing.

[maxter]

100%

Daniel Fisher is my absolute favorite demo-dude, because of musical context like you said. Also very pedagogical and lagom pace. 

[jg666]

Ditto re Daniel Fisher

[tommym]

Kind of makes one hesitant to pull the trigger, regardless of how powerful the specs are.

“Made in China” means that the quality of the product could be anywhere from superior to terrible.  And it usually comes down to the size of the company having the product made in China. For example, the Apple iPhone is a superior product. That is primarily because Apple has the clout to enforce strict QC in factories that they purposely built in China for manufacturing their phones and nothing else.

Smaller companies, like ASM, who are having their products built in factories that were making vacuum cleaners last week, and hairdryers next week, generally have less control over quality and therefore the quality of these products can sometimes be more of a coin toss.

With respect (Love your programming!) I've read that these are made by Medelei, a parent company which manufactures many keyboard products. My Explorer feels quite SOLID to me. (wish it had a ribbon though, lol.) True Medeli is based in Shanghai, but they may have the clout that DS mentions due to their size, and the fact that vacuum cleaners may not be their bread and butter these days.