ASM Hydrasynth...Have One?..Your Thoughts....

Discussion in 'Instruments' started by Lois Lane, Jan 21, 2023.

  1. 9ty

    9ty Kapellmeister

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    Why VA? I never thought about the Hydrasynth as being virtual analog ... The following quote is from another forum, but that's kind of how I feel about this...

    "That being said, I feel like buying a Hydrasynth to have it pretend to be an analog synth is a bit of a weird idea, the Hydrasynth is unapologetic in its digitalness and that’s why I got it."
     
  2. Lois Lane

    Lois Lane Audiosexual

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    Yea, it's anything but analog sounding to me. I guess it just boils down to personal taste and the tool that one feels will assist them to achieve the sound in their head. Some love the Hydrasynth and others not.
     
  3. clone

    clone Audiosexual

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    well, I'd refer to page 11 of the manual for the reason they were also discussing the same sort of thing then, " Sound Engine - Analog Modeling (OSC 1-3), and WaveScan synthesis (OSC 1+2)." If you look at the "Filter Types", almost every one of them are related to analog styled filters. Ladder = Moog. Ms-20 flair, "botique modular synth", and so on.

    Page 64: "How Does Analog Feel" - Another thing that makes an analog synth seem so "alive" is its inherent instability. The "Analog Feel" parameter allows you to dial in as much of this behavior....."

    That's why. But it sounds no more "analog" than Serum. But it is very clean and digital. With all that verbage dedicated to "analog" in their User Manual; this thing does not sound like I would expect at all. It should come with a free copy of Decapitator.
     
    Last edited: Feb 5, 2023
  4. 9ty

    9ty Kapellmeister

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    Alright, your answer makes sense to me.

    That's why I don't rely on marketing in general - or at least I try to. Unfortunately consumers play their part in this game. Who wants to buy a "absolutely digital sounding synth", when there are so many people using the word "digital" as the baddest thing at all in the world of sounds? For example: digital = cold / analog = warm. In my experience this kind of equations are just cheap shortenings and in many cases nothing but wrong. It shouldn't have to be this way in my opinion.
     
  5. Kluster

    Kluster Audiosexual

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    2.0 firmware released with a load of new features:
     
    Last edited: Mar 16, 2023
  6. Lois Lane

    Lois Lane Audiosexual

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    I've been pondering Arturia's MaxiBrute. It has more of the stuff that my ears want to hear as well as better workflowfor me.

     
  7. Kluster

    Kluster Audiosexual

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    It's monophonic, but go for it if you're looking for a solo sound.
    With my new Tonex pedal and guitars I have plenty of solo although I use my KingKorg to layer extra guitar sounds and to keep my keyboard chops up.
     
  8. clone

    clone Audiosexual

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    if you are a synth nerd, or into some wild electronic music (like I am); the matrix brute is quite a synth.(but so is the hydra). if your styles lean more towards bands and real instruments and people skillfully playing them, but have around the same amount of money and do want a mono synth; go play the Grandmother for an hour. You will say "MatrixWho?". That one is simple, the Moog all day. I know they could not be much more different. One you will lose money on, and one you will not. :)
     
    Last edited: Mar 18, 2023
  9. emax2

    emax2 Ultrasonic

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    Just wait for Behringer to clone the Hydrasynth for less money
     
  10. clone

    clone Audiosexual

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    All they will do is make different cases at the same factory in China. The Hydra build quality is really nice; they are like a tank with a light show. Menacing like a tank from Jamaica. Inside is where they put the parts from Waziristan, where they also make nice soccer balls. A behringer isn't going to be much cheaper. It's already a toy.

    to clone the hydras sound you can just use any lackluster vst plugin synth you can download for free. then fire up your effects chain to try to make it sound good and you will spend the same amount of time for equivalent result.
     
    Last edited: Mar 18, 2023
  11. Lois Lane

    Lois Lane Audiosexual

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    It was a late night brain fart, it is the Polybrute which piques my interest. Thanks for the nudge.
     
  12. clone

    clone Audiosexual

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    look at the Matriarch then. One is a poly 2osc x 6 voice. the matriarch is paraphonic instead, but it is also a 4 separate oscillators synth. For 500 bucks cheaper. What about a Sequential? I'd probably still take the Moog, but I'd take any of the 3 before the hydra. :)
     
    Last edited: Mar 18, 2023
  13. Lois Lane

    Lois Lane Audiosexual

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    There is nuttin' that sounds as awesome to me as a Moog, the Matriarch being a sweet, sweet mother, though unlike Trent Reznor, unfortunately I don't dream of cables and my brain just very might literally explode all over my room and splatter the walls with my brain if I needed to use patch cables instead of the matrix of say the Polybrute to design my sounds. I've tried to use rack type vsti but it overwhelms and confuses me and I am always defeated by the profusion of wires in even the simplest of presets. Liken me to Dustin Hoffman's character Raymond in Rain Man when confronted with a stressful emotional confrontation. My three dimensional skills are marginal at best. I can drive and other such things, but when it comes to manipulating patch cables or building a wooden box (like the classical guitar that I'm currently building in a class that I'm taking) I blank out and disassociate. I had a major abdominal surgery about 35 years ago and gave never been the same in this way since. I've become spacially retarded.
     
  14. Lois Lane

    Lois Lane Audiosexual

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    The new insanity is choosing between the Rev2, Prophet 6 or Polybrute. It's a viscous circle and causes my dog to look at me in consternation which intones his utter frustration on my hedging in considering this 21st century predicament (Marley is a great dog but at times deeply critical of some of my mental and emotional foibles) . What I do know is that I wish to use an analogue synth as a go to because the digital sound of even my favorites such as Zebra, Diva and Surge grate on my ears as did the Hydrasynth when I played it those two times in the music store.
     
  15. Lois Lane

    Lois Lane Audiosexual

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    Marley be like, "What da fuk, dude!“

    [​IMG]
     
  16. Lois Lane

    Lois Lane Audiosexual

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    I'm ordering the Polybrute tomorrow. The filters are sweet, the mod matrix is wonderful, the VCO's are digitally controlled and seem stable. The ribbon controller takes me back to my Kurzweil 2500XS while the Morphée touch and pressure sensitive 3D controller is gonna be great fun. Morphing between two patches should lend itself to happyness unbounded.
     
  17. Kluster

    Kluster Audiosexual

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    Are you getting the wooden legs?
    Sweetwater is throwing them in free with the PolyBrute ($199 value)
     
  18. Lois Lane

    Lois Lane Audiosexual

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    No, I'm not getting the legs. They're not giving them away from where I'm ordering the synth here in Europe. I have a keyboard stand which used to belong to my keyboard controller that I'll be using before I had the Glorious desk. Unfortunately, the Polybrute weighs in at about 20 kilos (45 lbs) of analog oscillators and filters which is over the capacity of 12.5 kilos of the slide out drawer of said desk. It kinda sucks as the room is narrow and the two keyboards will be at 90° angles out of necessity. The wall at my back is full of string instrument cases and it'll be a tightish squeeze. I need a bigger room. If I'd have chosen either the Prophet 6 or Rev2 I'd have not bought the keyboard version. I've got to change my workflow.

    I'm also buying a new RME UCX II to replace my 11 year old Babyface...if they ever come back into stock. Everyone seems to have the 802 but it's both more expensive and overkill for my current or most likely future need, the UFX version the same. To begin with I'll plug the audio outputs of the Polybrute into my ancient Presonus Digimax XT. It sounds great with a sound of it's own that is warm somehow compared to the Babyface Babyface preamps. I record at 48k so it is still relevant. I hook it up with an ADAT cable to the Babyface. What's amazing about the Digimax is that it has inserts on all 8 channels for outboard gear..not that I've ever used it that way, LOL.
     
  19. Psychoacoustic

    Psychoacoustic Producer

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  20. Kluster

    Kluster Audiosexual

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