Learn With Me - Hydrasynth: Ep23 - Sound Design - One Finger Vangelis

With the macro routing out the way, we experiment making a sound whose entire expression is in aftertouch, and that can be played one finger, while still sounding interesting.
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...
Episode 06 - Mutants Part 3 - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Episode 07 - The Filters - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Episode 08 - Envelopes Part 1 - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Episode 09 - Envelopes Part 2 - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Episode 10 - LFOs Part 1 - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Episode 11 - LFOs Part 2 - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Episode 12 - Mod Matrix Part 1 - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Episode 13 - Mod Matrix Part 2 - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Episode 14 - Effects Part 1 - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Episode 15 - Effects Part 2 - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Episode 16 - Voice Modes - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Episode 17 - Macro Controls - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Episode 18 - Sound Design - Aftertouch Pad - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Episode 19 - Sound Design - Modwheel Keys - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Episode 20 - Sound Design - Poly & Lead - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Episode 21 - Sound Design - Sequenced Plucks - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Episode 22 - Sound Design - Macro Drone - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Episode 23 - Sound Design - One Finger Vangelis - • Learn With Me - Hydras...
Playlist - • Learn with Me - Hydras...
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#learnwithme #asm #hydrasynth #ashunsoundmachines #synthesis #sounddesign

[@bruceallen2396]

You have been immensely helpful on this journey.

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for watching, and for your comment. I'm glad to hear it: helping people in their synthesis and sound design journey is my goal!

[@enoodle]

hell yeah. i got the hydra explorer delivered today, and now i see this at the top of my sub-box. saving your playlist now!

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for your comment, and for watching; I think you'll enjoy the synth: there are a lot of avenues to explore and a lot of possibilities to realize. I hope you find the series helpful, and have fun!

[@GertBoers]

23:31 You can always use the SHIFT key when you turn the encoder. Then the source (and also destination) changes by group. If you start with LFO5, SHIFT and one (tiny) step of the encoder brings you directly to MonoAftT. Then one step with the encoder without SHIFT brings you to PolyAftT.

[@GertBoers]

To add, on the siblings with 8 encoders for the macro / mod matrix you have 3 displays at your disposal to edit. You can then easily copy from one slot to one of the other two. That also can save a lot of time, when you want to use the same (or very similar) source. But this only works in these groups of three.

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

These are two good hints: thanks! I find myself not using shift very much as it sometimes quantizes, sometimes slows and sometimes accelerates adjusting the value. This is a function of getting used to it rather than an inherent limitation, but I've not got to it yet. I've also suspected that a lot of the apparent quirks of the explorer stem from the shrunken interface: which it appears they do. It's a shame they didn't develop some more explorer specific "feature language". More than that, I wish the explorer did away with the arpeggiator controls, moved the main display to the left, turned the filter controls vertical and retained the 8 encoder/3 display layout of its siblings.

[@enochroot9438]

picked up an explorer today and was browsing the presets, noticed there are some with a split? how is this achieved?

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for watching, and for your comment. The "keytrack" modulation source is a parameter that is 0 at C4, positive at higher notes and negative at lower ones. If you use this at high modulation intensity to positively modulate certain parameters and negatively modulate others you can have very different values for notes above and below C4. As an example you could modulate the oscillator levels in the mixer so some were audible above and some below. You could also modulate the filter cutoffs for filter one and two (used in parallel) so that only oscillators routed to one or other are audible. This isn't as flexible as true bitimbrality, but you can get some usable splits this way.

[@Vladi_mir_M]

Can the master tempo be modulated?

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

No, you can't modulate the tempo. You can modulate the arp subdivision, or the individual LFO rate and envelope stage times. In this case I only used the tempo to set those parameters, so if we set them all to be time based, 24 modulation destinations could allow the tempo to be increased or decreased. I think you'd set the default rate slow, and used 3 macros to control those 24 rate/time parameters. You'd then use a 4th macro to adjust those 3 which you could modulate with a cyclic source. This wouldn't be very convenient, but it should be doable if that type of effect is important to you.

[@evil-wombat]

What's happening with this display at 10:46?

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for watching, and for your comment. I've watched the video and I'm not sure I can see anything happening at that time; one strange artifact is that I have both displays slightly magnified so it's easier to see meaning if my hand enters that area it looks a little odd. Could you describe what you saw? FYI the flickering you see on the display is an artifact of the camera's exposure vs the display refresh: the look stable in real life.

[@evil-wombat]

@@ChalkWalkMusic oh, you magnified the display and overlaid it on top. That makes sense

[@Vladi_mir_M]

Just a hint: your voice is a bit too loud, I can not hear the synth well

[@ChalkWalkMusic]

Thanks for watching, and for your comment. I noticed the synth was a little quiet at times in this video, but hopefully it's okay in the "performance" at the end, as I adjusted it. The tricky part is I am talking as I'm making the sound so I often compete with the synth: I'm trading off hearing my explanation vs hearing the synth. The only real solution is to turn up the synth more and side chain more, or not to talk when playing the synth: neither works that well as the mic picks up sounds other than me talking too. Maybe I'll try switching to a lav mic at some point.