T. O’Brien@TerrenceOBrienDecember 7th, 2021In this article: hydrasynth, equipment, ASM, synthesizers, Hydrasynth explorer, musical instruments, Ashun Seem Equipment, critique
Ashun Sound Equipment, or ASM, arrived nearly out of nowhere to deliver 1 of the most hyped synths of 2020. The Hydrasynth is an unabashedly digital instrument with an spectacular assortment of seem style equipment and a proprietary keyboard that has polyphonic aftertouch. For individuals hunting to depart driving the warm but staid entire world of analog for the complicated frontiers of digital, it is really alluring. But, while its $1,299 checklist cost isn’t absurd presented the function established, it is also out vary for lots of hobbyists. Even the desktop design, which ditches the keyboard in favor of 24 pads, is a bit expensive at $799.
The new Hydrasynth Explorer, nevertheless, is expressly developed to get ASM’s keyboard and synth engine in the arms of as quite a few folks as possible. And it’s “portable” to boot. (Even though, as I’ll get to later, the company’s definition of portable is hugely questionable.) Of class to arrive at the much more attainable price tag of $599, some points had to be sacrificed. But the excellent information is, most of what’s lacking quantities to minor conveniences.
ASM
Hydrasynth Explorer
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Execs
- Exclusive wavemorphing audio motor
- Exceptional keyboard with polyphonic aftertouch
- Seemingly bottomless seem layout choices
- Incredibly uncomplicated interface
Disadvantages
- Developing patches will get sophisticated quick
- Pushes the boundaries of what can be viewed as “portable”
Ahead of we go any even more, let’s set some anticipations: I are not able to potentially cover every aspect of the Hydrasynth Explorer in detail. Even the 88-page handbook feels like it’s just skimming the surface area. If you’re on the lookout for an exhaustive walkthrough, I really endorse Loopop’s approximately hour-extended tutorial on the authentic Hydrasynths and its fifty percent-hour prolonged comply with-up searching at what’s diverse on the Explorer and Deluxe.
The most essential detail you have to have to know is that the main of the Hydrasynth — its wavemorphing motor — stays unchanged and it really is working on the exact components. So the Explorer continue to has 8-note polyphony, with three oscillators per voice, and around 200 waveforms to select from. The first two oscillators can be static or in “wavescan” mode, which basically signifies you can pick out up to eight waveforms at a time to morph involving. Although you cannot import your individual customized wavetables, you can basically build your possess from the pre-accepted ingredients.
Terrence O’Brien / Engadget
Those oscillators can be put together and manipulated applying what ASM calls Mutators — two every single for oscillators a person and two. There are 8 diverse Mutators to select from, ranging from typical FM (frequency modulation) and hard sync, to the a little far more exotic PhazDiff, and even 3 diverse flavors of pulse width modulation.
The third oscillator is a significantly easier affair. It’s a static wave and it cannot be sent as a result of a Mutator, but it can even now incorporate depth to a audio. The most apparent use is as a sub-oscillator to include a very little bass, but it can also be fed through the ring modulator. Which, by the way: Certainly, there is a ring modulator and a noise resource as nicely.
There are also two filters, which can be in collection or parallel, and you can regulate how significantly of each oscillator goes to which filter. The to start with filter has 16 unique modes, ranging from common 12db small go to a speech-like vowel filter, even though the next sweep from low move, as a result of bandpass or notch, and into large move.
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To manage all these several elements, you have received 5 six-stage envelopes and five LFOs that all feed into a 32-slot modulation matrix. In overall there are 29 modulation resources and 155 places. It’s a lot of variables to contend with. Frankly, it can come to feel too much to handle, and that is even before you start off digging into the effects and voice options like “density.”
The very good news is, to get began with the Hydrasynth you don’t need to master its seem style and design resources, you can just dig into the presets. The stock sounds are quite solid and include a large assortment of kinds, however it does specifically excel at icy atmosphere, strings and plucky keys. But even navigating those can be challenging, particularly as some of them start out to seem indistinguishable. There is a grand overall of 640 presets spread over 5 financial institutions of 128 patches. Scrolling through them one by one with the large patch knob can get tiresome. But if you convert your interest to the smaller OLED to the proper of the “Main Systems” area, you can use the encoders there to filter presets by category, this kind of as brass, ambient or e-piano. There is also a favorites menu, the place you bookmark 32 of your most utilized patches.
Some parts of this article are sourced from:
engadget.com