Learn With Me - Hydrasynth: Ep00 - First Impressions

In this video I unbox the synth, cover a few of my initial impressions and play a few preset patches.
In this series of videos you'll join me as I learn the ins and outs of the ASM Hydrasynth (Explorer). I've had it for about one month and used it to a limited degree alongside reading the manual. I'll demonstrate my end to end learning and exploration process starting with the basics of how to use the synth, through all the features, and ending with some sound design demonstrations.
Episode 00 - First Impressions - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Episode 01 - Overview & Paradigm - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Episode 02 - Oscillator 3 - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Episode 03 - Oscillators 1 & 2 - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Episode 04 - Mutants Part 1 - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Episode 05 - Mutants Part 2 - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Playlist - • Learn with Me - Hydras...
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#learnwithme #asm #hydrasynth #ashunsoundmachines #synthesis

[@MatzumiMusic]

I recently got the Hydrasynth Deluxe. Your videos are a wonderful guide to this extraordinary synthesizer.

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for your comment, and for watching. Have fun with your new synthesizer: the Hydrasynths, and the deluxe in particular, cover a lot of intriguing possibilities!

[@MatzumiMusic]

@@ChalkWalkMusic many thanx

[@Nickydo111]

Mines arriving in the next few days. This video series is going to be absolutely fantastic for me to watch. Thank you for this.

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for your comment, and for watching. It's an interesting and quite unique synth. Have fun with it: I appreciate your support!

[@kevint7291]

I bought this synths a month ago. Perfect timing for this video. Thanks a lot!

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for watching, and for commenting. I hope you enjoy the rest of the series, and it helps you get the most from your Hydrasynth!

[@dalemoore387]

I just bought the Hydrasynth Keyboard (the 49 key version) and your videos are really helpful. Thank you so much for creating these. I'm gonna watch 'em all.

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for watching, and for your comment. I think the only thing I didn't cover for the 49 key, would be how the ribbon controller works, so hopefully you'll get a good foundation. The 49 key having 8 encoders/displays and LED rings makes it slightly quicker to work with too. Have fun with your new synth!

[@stickman393]

I've been thinking of getting one of these. Looking forward to your series.

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for watching, and for your comment. I'll give you a quick summary of my opinion: The hydrasynth explorer is a very capable sound design centric synth; by this I mean, it's optimised to allow you to design complex sounds efficiently (it does about as good a job of managing the huge parameter set as I've ever seen), more than to design simpler sounds, live, on the fly. Live sound design is something I enjoy and this feels sub optimal for that use case: I think you need to create or use presets for live performance. If you are someone who likes to craft complex patches, including setting up expressive macro routings to perform the patch, it's a great synth. I could imagine someone doing a whole show with a single patch (8 macros, expression pedal, mod wheel, pitch bend and aftertouch). It also has a great midi implementation, so it works nicely as a controller (I use it with pigments).

[@WoodyPianoShack]

wonderful presentation, love your style!

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for your comment, and for watching. I'm a big fan of your presentations too: one of my gotos for a real keyboard player's perspective!

[@JDREV813Scott-hh7oy]

Good show! ASM should include your vids as a DVD in the package. Excellent tutorials, learning how to use the machine opens the door to endless sound creation. Thank for the assist! Cheers!🍻

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for watching, and I appreciate your support!

[@johnpaulgorman]

Thanks I've been looking to hear the plastic rebound sound on the explorer and some other things you showed (I can't get an in shop keyboard demo for love or money where I'm from). Looking forward to the rest of the series

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for watching, and for your comment. I'd say the build quality is well beyond what you'd expect for the price. Hopefully the rest of the series helps you decide one way or other on it.

[@PutItAway101]

Got an Explorer the other week and I love having this much power in such a small package sitting on my desk. This thing takes up about the same footprint as my old Minilogue but with vastly more capabilities and didn't even cost that much more.

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for your comments, and for watching. I guess that's (in part) the difference between analogue and digital; the incremental cost of features in digital synths (when you don't also add dedicated controls) is low, until you need to switch out the processor. Their UI design incurs a higher "zero feature cost" with the displays and encoders, but a low section cost (one illuminated button) and a low parameter per section cost (an item in a menu): the result has surprisingly few rotary controls, and the concept is one of the real stand out features. I appreciate that they didn't try and save an extra $100 by having cheap build quality: the build really is impressive for the price. Adding poly aftertouch to the keyboard really made it stand out from the competition too. All in all they did a lot right and, if you watch the series, you'll hopefully see that the synth has a very broad sound design scope. It's not without negatives and could definitely be improved, but I think they managed to bring something that feels new to market: considering they are a new company and the competition they have, this really is impressive.

[@PutItAway101]

@@ChalkWalkMusic I've also got a Novation Summit if I want to go into full realtime rotary knob and slider twiddling, but I have to say I'm making the short walk to the keyboard stand a lot less often since the Hydra's been on my desk. I don't think I'll get rid of the Summit though, the 61 keys and bi-timbrality alone are reason enough to keep it around.

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

@@PutItAway101 I did consider getting the summit when it was released, but in the end it was too big, meaning I'd have to somewhat rethink my whole setup, and I already had Peak since launch. It's definitely my pick for a flagship keyboard though: the engine also supports poly aftertouch, so it might be fun to control with the explorer!

[@richarddufresne2683]

Great video, thanks ! 🙂

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for the watching: I appreciate your support.

[@omarbonifacino3381]

Very great synth

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for watching, and for your comment. Despite some shortcomings and areas I'd like to see improvement, it packs a lot of synthesis into a well priced and built package. While I wouldn't say it's my favourite synth, I don't think you can argue with the value proposition it offers.

[@DawlessHouseMusic]

Thank you for this!

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for watching, and for your comment. Hopefully you enjoy the series!

[@bjamminsincebirth3494]

I love the very first patch! Geez😂

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

The opening patch is definitely a good one: it uses a number of features but isn't too "over the top". If you fill all 8 banks (with the 2.0 firmware update patches) you have over 1000 patches to explore, so even just browsing through takes some time, but also demonstrates a lot of what's possible.

[@guitarsrruss2009]

Thanks for this excellent overview video. If I'd not already purchased mine (6 months ago) it would definitely have helped with my decision. I'm going to share the video on my FB page as I buy, repair and rehome Keyboards / Synths but also have an active page 'community'. Your video is perfect for helping make a more informed choice and understanding the possibilities and limitations this Synth has. I'll also be following (and recommending) your Hydrasynth Explorer Video Series

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for your comment, and for watching. I'm glad you find it a helpful introduction and are sharing: hopefully your community enjoys it. There are quite a few episodes still to come so I hope it continues to prove useful. In any case: I really appreciate your support.

[@guitarsrruss2009]

I'm looking forward to watching the whole series. 👌

[@bjamminsincebirth3494]

I just got mine ordered.

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for your comment, and for watching. Hopefully it doesn't take too long to ship: it's definitely a fun and fairly unique synth. I hope you find the series useful as you get to grips with it.

[@helmski]

The Hydrasynth is on my hit list. Thank you for the overview and patch walkthrough! The strengths in the Hydrasynth are design depth, sound movement, FM (EP's, Keys, percussion), Pads, and wavetable. This thing ticks all the boxes for me. If you could consider improving your mix when showing patch sounds. From your video, I struggle to hear the synth sounds, and ALL nuances are lost in translation. Maybe consider a different mix setup when you switch to patch play. Appreciate your great works and I look forward to hearing more in this series!

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for watching, and for your comment. I think the Hydrasynth is one of those synths that sounds almost perfect on paper, but you really need to try it out. In particular it has a lot of sound design scope and a clever interface, but the workflow definitely isn't the classic knob per function many of us seek out. You can do a lot, but occasionally it feels like it gets in your way; in part, this frustration is because it's a good, and almost great synth that feels like it could have been exceptional with a slight shift in design and focus. As for the mix, I did realize the patches were a bit quiet part way through and adjusted; that's actually part of my Hydrasynth experience: there is a very large volume range between patches and big volume shifts as you design sounds; this is in contrast to almost every other synth I've used. On most synths I can set the mixer gain to a level that is just short of peaking on an init patch with all the voices sounding, then just make my patch: I might need a little gain tweak, but not that much; with them Hydrasynth I find myself adjusting the gain a lot. In any case, I'll try and keep a closer eye on the volume meter: Thanks for your feedback!

[@daemeonation3018]

My hs-explorer willl be here in a few days.

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for your comment, and for watching; I hope you find the series useful to kickstart your sound design on the synth!

[@breakingthebubblemusic]

Hello man, I just bought this beauty and saved your tutorials.. I'm gonna need them the next days.. Can I ask you what type of plug do you use to connect it to the interface? two stereo cables? I read that some people connect just a mono cable from L/mono to the line in and that's all. Thanks!

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for your comment, and for (soon) watching. To clear up the language slightly, what you are referring to as a stereo cable is probably a TRS cable (3 metal contacts on the jack, tip, ring and sleeve); this is used to carry balanced mono or unbalanced stereo audio. The main outs on the Hydrasynth are fully balanced mono (in contrast to pseudo balanced); the inputs on almost all mixers and audio interfaces are also balanced mono. This means that if you use TRS cable to connect the two, that cable will transmit balanced audio. If you use a TS (aka mono) cable you will get unbalanced audio. Since the Hydrasynth is fully balanced (vs pseudo balanced), using TS cables comes at the cost of a 6db volume loss (for pseudo balanced this isn't the case). As for connecting the L/R outputs, when it says L/mono it means if there is nothing connected to the R port, the L port will receive a mono down mix of the audio the synth creates. If you only connect a cable to the R port (vs L) you will only receive the right audio channel (meaning anything on the L gets lost vs down mixed in). Since the Hydrasynth has stereo audio for various aspects of the sound (oscillator panning, voice spreading and stereo effects), I'd say it's worth capturing stereo audio. This means you connect the L and R main outs of the Hydrasynth to a stereo pair on inputs on your mixer or interface. If you only have one input, you could connect only the L (don't plug anything into the R), but this loses the stereo aspects which are important for the overall sound.

[@breakingthebubblemusic]

@@ChalkWalkMusic thank you so much fot taking the time to answer me. Reading was was super positive. I have an apollo twin usb with two line/mic inputs so I bought a couple of stero jack cables and gonna connect there. thanks

[@24nikita]

Is there something the Explorer model can`t do that the other models can?

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for your comment, and for watching. The Deluxe is bitimbral, so it can do splits and layers, which aren't available on the Explorer. The Explorer lacks a ribbon controller which the Original and Deluxe provide. Finally, the Explorer and Deluxe keyboards support release velocity. Other than these differences, and the obvious physical ones, they all have the same sound engine with the same feature set.

[@MottiWolkenbruch]

My volume knob is weird when I play a new patch with headphones (with speakers it’s ok): Turning it clockwise, the volume does not increase as it should, but it has louder and less loud positions. Overall, the volume is extremely low. There is massive crackling with the movement. The problem disappears when I add OSC 1 pan value. I already had the unit replaced, but the replacement shows the same behaviour. Anyone know more?

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

It's definitely strange that this doesn't happen with speakers, as the crackling and non volume change seems like it relates to the volume knob. My guess is that there is a fault with the headphone output amp affecting one channel more than the other. In any case it seems like a warranty replacement type of issue.

[@MottiWolkenbruch]

@@ChalkWalkMusic Thank you for your answer. I did indeed replace the unit - only to discover the issue emerged again. Only then, to my ashamement I must say, I made a firmware update, and that solved the problem ... silly me.

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

@@MottiWolkenbruch The symptoms you describe really don't sound like a firmware issue. The hardware is a fixed quantity, so either this should happen on all devices, or none. It's possible that the firmware update caused some sort of recalibration, or the headphones were the wrong impedance. Either way: if it's working, then it's working!

[@KOCH71]

Seems challenging choice - hydra or opsix

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for watching, and for your comment. I'd say they are quite different synths in many regards, but both quite interesting. My take is that the Opsix offers some very unique possibilities thanks to the multiple operator types and user algorithms, and the quite unique "mixer section" that makes tweaking patches easy; where it lacks compared to the Hydrasynth is in build quality (which is reasonable, but not on the same level), keyboard (no aftertouch), modulation sources (3 modulation EGs and 3 LFOs), mod matrix slots (12), and no macros. The Hydrasynth's mutants, poly aftertouch keyboard, dual filters, and 5 EG & 5 LFOs, large mod matrix (30 slots) and macros (8, with 8 destinations each) really stand out. This sounds impressive on paper, but where it lacks is in it just being a "standard subtractive synth"; that's to say it brings a lot to the table, but in the end it's a fairly conventional concept pushed to an extreme. On the physical side, the Opsix seems unnecessarily large, especially given how light it is: I wish the panel had less space and they went with mini keys. In contrast the Hydrasynth is a nice size (something like a keystep 37 plus expanded panel) and feels reassuringly robust. This generally seems to lean towards the Hydrasynth having the edge, but it's not that clear cut. The signal flow options on the Opsix really are something unique. I'd say if you don't have a (non entry level) subtractive poly already, the Hydrasynth is a great start, though its control paradigm being unusual (albeit good) means I probably wouldn't want it as a first synth (I'd favor a well featured knob per function mono that could grow with you, such as the bass station 2). If you already have a good subtractive poly, the Opsix will probably diversify your setup more (which matters a lot to me). This also comes at the cost of learning a new way to design sounds. If I had paid the same for both synths, I'd probably say the Hydrasynth is the more tempting choice. Given the price I paid for the Opsix (the factory outlet "sell off"), I'd say it feels like I got more for my money that way. If the opsix had a few changes (double the mod matrix slots, more EGs & LFOs, bitimbrality for splits and layers at the expense of dropping the voice count to 12 or 16) I think it would move from "great and unique synth" to a "must have sound design go to".

[@KOCH71]

@@ChalkWalkMusic damn, thank so much for the reply. I have no physical synth and thinking what to buy as my first. Also considering minilogue, cause more important for me instead of complexity is the sound quality . Let's say that workflow is not a problem in any of this synth, cause O understand how it works overall. I am just thinking if 5lfos 5egs 30 slots isn't kind of Chinese design like with phones - 16gb of ram, but at the and some 8gbs work more plesent. I'll definitely will follow the hydra series because I am not in hurry:). And adding to opsix - I wish it was a module version, no need of this keyboard. Thanks again for the deep answer !

[@banwavy]

ADD SOME DRIVE FOR PUNCHINESSSSS

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for watching, and for commenting. I do quite like the filter drive; I actually sometimes modulate it with velocity to give more of a "crunch" as velocity increases (like a Rhodes). This sometimes makes it too loud, so I also negatively modulate the amp level to balance it out. Putting a compressor in the pre effect slots can be quite nice for this too.