Hydrasynth opinion - my thoughts
As we all know every synthesizer has its limitations when it comes to sound design. Paradoxically, it is often the limitations that show the nature of the instrument - manufactures, wanting to compensate for the shortcomings, focus on the unique sound of oscillators or filters, thus creating the instrument's identity. And it is this identity that stimulates our enthusiasm, creativity, willingness to work with the chosen syntesizer.
In the case of Hydrasynth, the assumption was different in my opinoin - the manufacturer decided to minimize the limitations to minimum. Here’s a machine with enormous possibilities of creating sound, modulation, waveforms, effects, etc. On the one hand, it gives room for showing off and experimenting, on the other - it can lead to a situation where it is difficult to define the true nature of the instrument. How to treat a synthesizer that allows us to emulate the filters of other famous machines? Or choose from several hundred waves? Is it still an instrument or is it a VST with a dedicated hardware interface?
I had all these questions in my head when I started making Hydrasynth patches. It wasn't easy at first - I couldn't go beyond this digital sound which Hydra is famous for. After some time, however, we liked each other, and the multitude of possibilities, thanks to the fantastically solved usability, became inspiring. What's more - there are some clever solutions here that turn out to be extremely helpful in developing an „analog” sound. For example, the ability to mix two independent filters and decide how much sound (including noise) should go to these filters. Excellent functionality which I used very often (it is easy to get the effect of warm tape hiss which is not connected with the dynamics of the filters envelope).
My favorite feature was also the EQ - when increasing the mid frequencies, the sound of the Hydrasynth got the secific grain, so characteristic for analog instruments. This way I didn't have to use the dedicated "warm" function, which in my opinion makes the sound too muddy.
The Hydrasynth is also a monster when it comes to expressive playing elements. We can define Macro knobs, combine several of them into one, assign them to aftertouch, ribbon or modwheel - I do not know a synthesizer that would give such a wide range of configuration of sound sculpting elements in real time, although of course it means more work for a sound designer.
I recommend spending more time mapping the knobs to individual parameters or groups of parameters – for instance the elements that modulate the oscillators, especially osc sync, which can add beautiful harmonics to the sound.
While working, I did not use the wide range of available filters too often - I believe that the basic 2 and 4 pole filters are enough for effective work. An interesting fact here is the 8 pole filter - the only unusual one that I used more often.
There are a lot of features in Hydrasynth that I rarely use. They encourage you to experiment with sound - it's the perfect synthesizer for people fascinated by sound design. For others, Hydrasynth may turn out to be less accessible - not when it comes to usability (which is great), but when it comes to obtaining sweet spots. I have the impression that it was much easier in the case of the Novation Peak or the Prophet REV2 - perhaps because of the analog filters? Hard to say.
I'm wondering if I should keep the Hydrasynth. I'm very tempted to experiment with the ability to modulate the sound via CV inputs - it gives me hope to get interesting rhythmic structures. I am also aware that it was enough for me to use about 50% of the machine's capabilities to create this set of sounds. I am very pleased with the results, although I did not feel that I was dealing with a real instrument with its own character.
Lastly, we should remember about the unique feature: polyaftertouch, which is great for musicians. Moreover, the Explorer version, which retains all the features of the original, is probably one of the most versatile mini-synthesizers on the market today. So the Hydrasynth can be extremely usefull (in daily studio work for instance) but at the same time not so much exciting when you want to be inspired by the real instrument with it's own identity. For now – I’m keeping it!
