Hydrasynth Explorer evaluation | Engadget

As you progress from left to proper within the sign chain you’ll subsequent encounter the Mutant 1-4 buttons. Press one and the OLED on the proper brings up the parameters. (Noticing a development?) Depending on what Mutator you choose utilizing the highest left encoder you’ll see totally different choices right here to regulate. But at its most simple, you simply flip one knob to decide on, say PWM, then one other set the moist/dry worth you need.

There are eight totally different Mutators to select from, however I need to focus briefly on PW-ASM, or Pulse Width ASM. There are two issues that make pulse width modulation particular on the Hydrasynth. One, you should use it on any waveshape — normally PWM is related to sq. waves. And two: in ASM mode you may create your individual customized pulse width patterns. PW-ASM breaks a wave into eight distinct sections and also you dial within the quantity of modulation round every of the slice factors. It’s not precisely the simplest factor to clarify, however suffice to say I don’t know of some other synths on the market with this function. (If you do, please inform me within the feedback.)

Under the Mutants is the button to convey up the ring modulation and noise parameters, after which as you observe the road illustrating the sign chain to the proper, you see all of them feed into the mixer. Here you may dial within the quantity of every oscillator, the ring mod and noise part, in addition to panning for every. And that is additionally the place you’ll resolve how a lot of every to ship to which filter and whether or not the filters are in collection or parallel. This is among the sections with essentially the most pages of choices to scroll via, nevertheless it’s nonetheless easy. Just press the up and down buttons subsequent to the show till you see the parameter you need, then flip the knob subsequent to it.

After the mixer, you’ll see the sign chain branches off once more together with your envelopes (ENV) alongside the highest, LFOs alongside the underside and down the center your audio sign, together with filters, amp and results.

By default ENV 1 and LFO 1 are related to the filters, whereas ENV 2 and LFO 2 are related to the amp. There’s no approach to break the connection between ENV 2 and the amp, it would all the time outline the full quantity of your sound. That doesn’t imply you may’t management the amount of the oscillators individually; it simply means you must get inventive.

So for those who wished OSC 2 to come back in barely after OSC 1 you possibly can use ENV 3 to regulate it, simply with a barely longer assault time than ENV 2. To make the connection you possibly can press the mod matrix button on the high and scroll via all of the choices. But the better manner is to carry the ENV 3 button, then press the mixer button. Then these two modules might be robotically related and all you must do is decide the parameter you need (OSC2CVol on this case) and dial within the depth. It’s additionally value mentioning that the Hydrasynth’s envelopes have six levels — delay, assault, maintain, decay, maintain and launch — versus the extra frequent ADSR. That means you may truly delay the beginning of the envelope for a sure period of time after a key press.

Even extra fascinating are the LFOs. While you should use them to create whooshing filter sounds and delicate pitch warbles, you may also use them as a sequencer. Step mode allows you to create a personalized modulation sample of as much as 64 steps.

On the fourth web page of the LFO settings, although, you’ll discover the SemiLock choice — that is the place the magic occurs. See, Hydrasynth doesn’t have a correct sequencer, however you should use the LFOs locked to semitones because of the most recent firmware. So, with pretty minimal work, OSC 2 might are available behind OSC 1 and play melody over a pad. This is only one instance of easy methods to use this energy. You can sequence something from filter cutoff to the moist/dry combine on the reverb to the detune or glide time, and even the parameters of the Mutators. This stage of management opens an entire world of potentialities.

At the top of the sign chain you’ve 4 results slots to work with: one pre-fx, one post-fx and sandwiched between them are devoted delay and reverb modules. There are a number of totally different forms of the latter two. The reverse delay is great, and whereas the plate and corridor reverbs are strong, cloud is my favourite setting.

The post- and pre-fx sections have the identical choices to select from, together with phaser, distortion, compression, rotary, tremolo and extra. But my favourite to stay on the finish of virtually each patch is Lo-Fi. You can flip down the pattern charge to get some crushed digital sounds and there are numerous filter sorts to select from that provide the high quality of one thing being performed via a telephone or over a radio. It’s only a good contact to maintain every little thing from getting too crisp and clear.

Here’s the factor: This is just simply scratching the floor of what the Hydrasynth is able to. There are numerous choices within the Voice menu for including depth and heat, just like the type of obscure Analog Feel. There’s an extremely succesful arpeggiator with eight totally different modes. There’s a macro part the place you may assign a number of parameters to a single knob to dramatically rework sounds in a performance-friendly manner. And I barely even talked about the keyboard which has polyphonic aftertouch — one thing principally remarkable at this worth level.

The Hydrasynth Explorer, at the very least below the hood, is just about indistinguishable from it’s bigger counterpart the Hydrasynth Keys, which prices virtually twice as a lot. So what are you giving up right here? Well, one the Explorer has mini keys as a substitute of full-sized ones, however which may not be a con for some folks like myself with small fingers and restricted piano abilities. There’s additionally no correct pitch and mod wheels, as a substitute you get touchstrips; they’re nice, however not almost as correct. The largest loss is the lowered variety of controls. The filter knobs have been lowered from 5 to 3, and there’s solely 4 macro / parameter knobs, versus eight on the bigger fashions. But truthfully, these are minor sacrifices to succeed in this worth.

The one final thing to handle is that ASM calls the Hydrasynth Explorer “portable,” however that’s solely true in essentially the most technical of senses. In addition to the included AC adapter you may energy it with eight AA batteries — which isn’t a trivial quantity — for 3 to 4 hours. Plus, the Explorer weighs 7.5 kilos and it’s almost 22 inches lengthy. Sure, that’s petite in comparison with the 22 kilos and 32 inches of the Hydrasynth Keys, however this isn’t one thing that you simply’re gonna toss in a backpack and convey to the park on a whim. While it’s simple sufficient to toss within the trunk and convey to a jam session, that ASM doesn’t embody or promote a journey case for it, sort of undermines the portability pitch.