HydrasynthDeluxe

Every voice has three oscillators. OSC 1 and OSC 2 can run in Single mode (one waveform) or WaveScan mode, where you load up to eight waveforms into a Wavelist and glide between them with the WaveScan parameter. A value of 1.5 sits halfway between WAV 1 and WAV 2. OSC 3 is Single mode only.

WaveScan is the Hydrasynth’s version of wavetable synthesis: the timbre moves while the pitch stays put. Hand the WaveScan parameter to an LFO or envelope in the Mod Matrix and a static tone starts to evolve on its own.

Each of OSC 1 and OSC 2 feeds a pair of Mutant modules (the manual also calls them Mutators). A Mutant reshapes the waveform before it reaches the Mixer; ASM compares it to a mask over a face. There are eight modes: FM-Lin, WavStack, OSC Sync, PW-Orig, PW-Sqeez, PW-ASM, Harmonic and PhazDiff.

Most modes share Ratio, Depth, Feedback and Dry/Wet. Ratio is the unusual one: it sets how many times the process happens per wave cycle, so 2:1 means PWM or sync happens twice per cycle instead of once (p. 47). Dry/Wet at 100% gives you only the mutated wave.

The Mixer sets levels and pans for OSC 1–3 plus the Ring-Noise module (a ring modulator and a noise generator with seven colours), and decides how much of each source goes to Filter 1 versus Filter 2. Page 3 holds Filter Routing: Series (Filter 1 always passes through Filter 2) or Parallel.

Solo, on Mixer page 1, lets you hear one source on its own while you edit it.

Filter 1 collects 16 filter models: ladder low-passes at 12 and 24 dB, MS-20-flavoured low- and high-pass, a low-pass gate, a 48 dB 8-pole, band-pass and high-pass options and a Vowel formant filter. ‘Compensated’ ladder types keep their bass as resonance rises; ‘uncompensated’ ones thin out. Its page 2 adds Drive, placed Pre or Post the filter.

Filter 2 is a 12 dB state-variable filter whose Morph control slides from low-pass (0) through band-pass or notch (64) to high-pass (128). On the top panel, the FILTER 1 and FILTER 2 buttons choose which filter the five FILTER CONTROLS knobs edit, and the third knob becomes DRIVE for Filter 1 or MORPH for Filter 2.

Three parameters: LFO 2 amount (tremolo, pre-wired), Velocity (how much key velocity changes loudness) and Amp Level, which caps the level before the effects so modulation can’t clip them. ENV 2 is the amp envelope, but it doesn’t appear by name here; Amp Level sets how much of it gets through.

Each envelope is ADSR plus Delay before the attack and Hold after it. ENV 1 is pre-wired to the filters and ENV 2 to the amp. ENV 3–5 are free for the Mod Matrix. Segments can be timed in seconds or synced to tempo (BPM Sync), curved from logarithmic to exponential, looped, and triggered by up to four sources.

LFO 1 is pre-wired to the filters and LFO 2 to the amp, and all five can go anywhere through the Mod Matrix. Rates run from 0.02 to 150 Hz or lock to tempo. TrigSync chooses whether each voice gets its own LFO (Poly), one LFO retriggers on every note (Single), or one runs freely (Off). The Step wave turns an LFO into a 64-step mini-sequencer.

The mod wheel’s vibrato is a separate, sixth LFO set on the Voice module (Vibrato Amount, Voice page 2, p. 77).

A 32-slot patch bay with no cables. The quickest route is the shortcut: hold a source module button, then press a destination module button. The matrix opens at the first empty slot. Sources include the envelopes, LFOs, both kinds of aftertouch, velocity, keytrack, wheels, ribbon, pedals, CV inputs and MIDI CCs. Destinations include almost every parameter, even the depth of another route.

Polyphonic aftertouch (PolyAftT) is the Deluxe’s headline source: press harder on one key and only that note changes. Per-voice destinations such as filter cutoff follow each note. Shared ones such as Reverb Time just take the latest value (p. 93).

On the Home page, the eight Control knobs around the right display turn into Macros. Each Macro can move up to eight parameters at once by different amounts, positive or negative, and its paired button can toggle, trigger, switch or reset. Macros are set up on the MACRO ASSIGN page and named from a preset list (Cutoff, Mangle, Wobble, Thicken…) or by hand.

Hold a chord, press ON, and the arpeggiator plays it in order. The top-panel knobs set RATCHET (1, 2, 4 or 8 repeats inside a step), CHANCE (how likely a ratchet is), GATE, MODE, OCTAVE, DIVISION and SWING. LATCH keeps it running after you let go. Mode includes Up, Down, Up / Dn, Up & Dn, Order, Random, Chord and 64 preset Phrases.