It can be a little hard to compare the Hydrasynths FM possibilities to a traditional yamaha DX type fm. Some algorithms are possible, but some cant be done. But there is a lot of possibilites anyways.
Only thing i noticed that can annoy me slightly is that there seems to be an agressive anti aliasing algorithm going on. So it can sound like the sound gets filtered as you play higher notes. But i found that using keytracking to increase mod depth on the modulators will offset this to a degree.
I think it’s best to try not to compare the HS FM to previous FM models.
First off it’s not sine based, it can use any of its 219 waveforms, though it does also have self generated Sine and Triangle in the four Mutants if you want to use that for the FM modulators.
Here are your options for FM modulators in each of the Mutants:
Second it’s got options galore for signal routing. Glen Darcey did a diagram to summarize some of the routing.
This allows stuff like routing all four Mutants to be a part of one larger operation, or using other inputs to be involved like the CV inputs, or the Ring Mod — which itself involves multiple inputs like the CVs again, and all the Mutants, etc.
Plus you can modify via the ModMatrix all the stuff in the signal routing. (Remember that external MIDI can be involved in the ModMatrix modifications too.)
There’s a good video that Nick Batt did as a Friday Fun with Glen Darcey, specifically on FM and the Hydrasynth. It’s almost 23 minutes long, but Glen is only in the first few minutes to introduces things and then Nick shows off the ideas by generating a few patches in the rest of the video. (Those patches are available for download.)
All this is very Hydrasynth in spirit — meaning it’s all there with a million and one options. Not all the options will be fruitful for you, but if you’re inspired to try something else it’s there to try. (Some people experience the Octatrack this way too.)
It is an option though to keep it simple if you want — One FM Mutant, with a Sine modulator.
Whoa, I had no effing clue it can do FM this elaborate, I dismissed it as mainly a WT/VA Synth with a little FM. Sounds wonderful and shows what potential the unique mutator concept has hidden. And Nick was only showcasing with sine waves. Thank you for sharing this!
Hey there, just discovered this thread and wondering if anyone here knows a way round a problem i’ve come across (I’m sure it’s becuase I don’t know the hydra well enough yet!).
Trying to recreate a simple synth patch on the hydrasynth using a drone oscillator but also using glide (so oscillator 1 set at a constant pitch while oscillator 2 is key-tracked as usual and moves smoothly between pitches) - problem is the glide affects the drone oscillator even though keytrack is set to 0% making oscaillator 1 jump all over the place… it’s ruining my drone!
Is there a setting somewhere I’m missing? (looked in voice settings already)
Have you set it to “mono”? Or are you still using polymode? If in polymode i guess it can be confused by the voice chainging when you play new keys.
Does Hydrasynth do West Coast synthesis? I know there is the bouncing ball one replicating Make Noise Maths patch with LP Gate in the preset bank, but love to see more buchla bongo and krell patches.
I would say yes. I havent done all kinds of self evolving sounds on it, but i have made some self generating melody patches.
Here is a patch i made. Ive got several random lfo´s modulating the other lfo´s, and those trigger the envelopes. All lfo´s are tempo synced. Just press an 8 note chord, and all the individual voices will play a random melody. I had a good laugh when i made it, as it does some crazy stuff once in a while.
yes, should have said it was set to mono so that’s not the issue
looks like it’s not possible to use glide if you want an oscillator to be anything other than 100% keytracked, maybe it’s something they can fix in one of their amazing firmware updates 
This is a bug. Did you write it up and submit it ?
There is another way to do something close to what you want. Use an HSK, in Poly Mode, with Glide Off, and KeyTracks all set to 100% and hold a note (or many) down for your drone, and then use the ribbon in Theremin Mode, to do your glides. The advantage is you get to control your glides, and can have a chord for your drones that you can easily change and move, and use poly-aftertouch with.
The bug specifically has to do with how it calculates the starting frequency for the glide. It fluffs the Keytrack setting whether it be 0% or 1% or 50% for the initial frequency and assumes it is 100%.
Notice it gets things correct if you set Keytrack to 100% and use a Microtuning Scales – like for instance the 31 tone scale – with Glide On. Potentially you could have a Microtuning Scale, set to all the same note, but that of course locks you out of having the one oscillator that has a normal scale like you want.
The Glide Legato feature (turned ON) is nice, allowing you to easily enable or disable the Glide, just by how you lift your fingers. I think that’s the only way i’d use Glide.
Another take away that i learned from this – If you want to use Glide, only do it with a Mono Patch, despite the Glide button being right there on the front of the HSK.
ADDED: Changed my mind, Glide and Poly can be used together, see post below.
In your bug report skip the part about mixing a drone oscillator, with a non-drone using Keytrack. What counts is that it doesn’t work correct with Glide ON and Keytrack values other than 100%. Give detail on how to recreate the bug, like setting the Glide time to something like 80.
I wonder if the Filter Keytrack is done correctly or not, or perhaps it has the same bug ?
To be clear Keytrack is not set up as a method to turn key control of pitch ON and OFF. Keytrack is another way to do Microtuning, in specific Equal Temperament Scales with note counts other than 12. The 0% option is just thrown in, as a Hydrasynth why-not sort of option.
So with a Microtuning Scale and a Keytrack setting other than 100% together you get into the typical sort of Hydrasynth world where it lets you do weird things, just because you want to.
Thanks, yes I thought as much and yes I’ve sent a bug report already - i hope it’s fixed at some point
I’ve got the desktop Hydra as I mainly use it sequenced from something else, plus i wanted the drone oscillator to be different to the melody oscillator
I usually go for legato mode on a lead/bass type synth but in this case I’m actually wanting glide to affect all the notes so i can have a slow release playing out but still slide to the following note… I’d can automate the glide amount if there are times I don’t want a slide
I had quite specific requirements for the patch as I’d created this on my modular first and liked the sound of it but wanted to free up the modular to do other things and felt like the hydrasynth should be up to the task… sadly it’s not! Plenty of other things it is good at though
patch it WITH your modular for ultimate options…
I really like trying to answer questions here. It sends me off in new directions.
So this is about using really long glides in poly mode. You can’t really predict how the voices move so it’s an adventure, which is cool.
Here’s my setup more or less: HSK. Oscillator(s) Mellow waves, or wavescan. Sustain ON (i like to invert the pedal, turn the HS on with the pedal down. That way you can kill sound by touching the pedal.) Glide ON, GlideTime: Between 55 and 110 (more on that below). Glide Curve: Log -64. Glide Legato: OFF. Select some sort of Key and Scale unless you want to try being stoic selecting notes carefully. I like lots of scales but let’s start with Pentatonic Major, which has fewer notes.
Nice to use a stereo mode and stereo width. Nice to use a high pass filter to unmuddy the lows in the very wide chords. You can animate stuff like the filters, especially with something with a complex rhythm.
Playing: Think THX chords at the start of a movie, with a little more adventure in chord selection. Try GlideTime at about 110. Start out with a nice wide mash on the keyboard. Wait until the glide stops, and then every one to two seconds hit a “random” note or two on the keyboard.
With the GlideTime lower you will probably hit more notes quicker. You could start slower and build tension. Use your imagination. Go ahead and change the Scale. Go ahead and use the Microtuning Scales.
The floating gliding notes going through large chords gives this an unmoored feeling but is still tonal. Faster GlideTimes gives this more tension. Try clustering and unclustering notes.
BTW: Glide and everything above also works with the arpeggiator. Use four to six note patterns with the arp. That tends to regularize the Glide fest. Best if run at really low tempos, or use Tap Trig.
No patch, no audio. This is a recipe for you to make your own.
SIDE NOTE AND REMINDER: This is unrelated to any of the above, but for those of you that have an HSK – Remember the Theremin does Microtuned scales.
This is definitely on my roadmap but I want them as separate sources for now!
EDIT plus it’s a streatch to call it a modular yet - it’s a eurorack case with a lifeforms sv-1b in it, so really just a monosynth right now… baby steps!
Although my planned patch is a mono patch this also sounds fun, I will definitely give it a spin!
And fwiw, ASM have confirmed the glide bug so with so bit of luck one day I can have my hydra pretend to be the sv-b1!
Hy guys. I am thinking of getting one and use it as a center controller for other synths, for the keyboard seems amazing. Is it convenient to change its output MIDI channel? I used to use an Arturia Keylab and changing MIDI channel is very convenient on it. I hope Hydrasynth can do it too.
There is an issue. Let me explain.
First off by itself the HSK cannot do a keyboard split.
Getting to the MIDI TX change is fairly quick. It’s on System Setup, page 4, #3 – so you press the System Setup button four times, and dial the channel with encoder three. That’s pretty fast. The output channel changes as quickly as you turn the knob.
The problem, and this is an issue with the Hydrasynth in general, is that it takes time ( a few seconds ) to write and save changes to memory, and during that time the HS goes away. Very far away ! I mean the sound drops out and the midi stops momentarily.
You’re free to change the output MIDI channel all you want with no drop out, but once you leave System Setup, get prepared for the drop out. You can move around in the System Setup menu, it is when you start any other menu, like you want to change something else, that the write occurs.
So if you can’t deal with that it’s best to do MIDI TX channel changes, along with splits, external to the HS.
This is a shortcoming you need to work around, if you do these sorts of System changes.
ADDED: As long as the state, like the MIDI TX channel, is the same when you leave the System Setup menu as when you entered it, it knows enough not to do a write. This could be used by changing your MIDI TX channel for a period of time, and then changing it back before leaving System Setup, and thereby causing no memory write.
Thanks a lot! I guess that would drive me crazy during a live gig…
I am aware that the Hydra has no onboard sequencer but do have LFOs (64 steps now I think?) as a workaround. It seems that the LFO needs some manual input which is daunting. So… Is it recommended to use an external sequencer with HS? Anyone has any recommendation? I think the mod sequencing is also necessary. I was thinking of getting a Novation SL MKIII kind of thing but it is kin of pricey, so maybe other affordable options are welcoming…
The 64 step lfos is a good workaround. I would prefer a “real” sequencer personally but it works. I’ve heard examples of it being used to very good effect.
I have the HSK rather than the hsd and I almost always just play it as a keyboard instrument, unsequenced, since I feel like it just begs for that kind of use. Poly aftertouch makes me forget about sequencing. However I’ve had fun playing it with a couple of external sequencers. So far I’ve had the best luck with the digitone and the mmt8, both of which I had anyway. The dn is way too expensive to buy strictly for use as a midi sequencer but you can pick up an mmt8 on the cheap if you can find one. They’re basic but they’re great.
Absolutely ! Same with me. The poly-aftertouch is surprising how much it adds. I did not have any expectation of that before.
Also filling in for the “missing” on-board sequencer is the arpeggiator. That the arpeggiator notes can be repeated and the sequence of notes be very long makes the HS arpeggiator immediate and different and special. ( I admit it, i do use Phrase as well. )
The chord feature too on the HSK, particularly in combination with the Scale and Key feature is also a nice adventure. Plus the ribbon. Oh and the effects, and the FM, and the surprises … Mod-Matrix, CV …
I am waiting to see the next product from ASM ( soon ?? i hope ) before i make too many other purchase decisions because i am expecting something big, and a no-brainer buy for me.
