Gear route · Stop 01 · Hydrasynth Deluxe

Hydrasynth playground

One Hydrasynth-shaped voice, eight times over. Every control carries the name it has on the hardware, so what your hands learn here works on the real panel.

Read alongside

Architecture Sound recipes Filters Modulation

Power · off

The Hydrasynth is asleep

Power on to load the oscillator module, then play the keys, your computer keyboard (A–;) or the arpeggiator.

Patches

A saw through LP Ldr24, every module near neutral. Build from here.

Experiment #H-1

One knob, many moves

Use a Macro to change several parameters at once.

On the Home page the eight knobs are Macros. Each one is a little private mod matrix: one knob, several destinations, each with its own depth.

1.Press POWER ON and load the INIT patch.
2.Hold a chord (HOLD keys or Latch on the Arp).
3.Turn MACRO 4 “Mangle” slowly up. The display lists what it moves.
4.Now try MACRO 6 “Wobble”.

You should hear…

Mangle drags Mutant Depth and Dry/Wet up together, so the tone gets gnarlier as one gesture. Wobble brings in LFO 1 on the filter and speeds it up at the same time.

Doesn’t sound right?

No change? Make sure you’re on the HOME page; the other pages turn the knobs back into parameter controls.

On your Hydrasynth

Press [HOME]. The 8 Control knobs around the right display are now Macros (p. 88).
Press [MACRO ASSIGN], choose a Macro, press Control button 2 to Assign, then press a module button to pick a destination (p. 88–89).
Set the amount with Control knob 6. Repeat for up to 8 destinations.

Owner’s manual p. 88–89

Module selectLit = playable

Oscillators

Mixer

Filters

Amp

Envelopes

LFOs

Effects

Master control

Shortcut, as on the hardware: hold ENV 1, LFO 1 or LFO 2 and press OSC 1, MUTANT 1, FILTER 1 or AMP to add a Mod Matrix route. With a mouse, Shift-click the source first.

Master controlControl knobs 1–8

Cutoff

Reso

Wavescan

Mangle

HOME · MACROSManual p. 88–89

Cutoff: 0.0
Reso: 0.0
Wavescan: 0.0
Mangle: 0.0
Bite: 0.0
Wobble: 0.0
Attack: 0.0
Release: 0.0

Macro 4 “Mangle” moves Depth +96.0, Dry/Wet +100%.

Bite

Wobble

Attack

Release

Filter controlsp. 23

Cutoff

Resonance

Drive

ENV 1

LFO 1

The third knob is DRIVE for Filter 1 and MORPH for Filter 2, exactly as on the panel.

ArpeggiatorOff

Edit

Sustain

Tempo

Ratchet

Chance

Gate

Mode

Octave

Division

Swing

Tempo

OCT 3

Mod

Press

Play chords: up to 8 voices. Tap low on a key for a harder hit. Slide up while holding a key to press harder (poly aftertouch). Computer keys A W S E D F T G Y H U J K O L P ; play notes. Knobs: drag, arrow keys, double-click to reset.

How to read this panel

Five sections, same as the hardware

Module select: Choose a module, as with the panel’s Access buttons. Dashed buttons are hardware-only modules: press one to learn what it does.
Master control: Eight Control knobs around a display. They edit the open module; on HOME they become the eight Macros.
Filter controls: FILTER 1 or FILTER 2 chooses which filter the CUTOFF, RESONANCE, DRIVE / MORPH, ENV 1 and LFO 1 knobs edit.
Arpeggiator: ON, LATCH, TRIPLET and TAP plus the RATCHET, CHANCE, GATE, MODE, OCTAVE, DIVISION, SWING and TEMPO knobs.
Keyboard: Eight-voice polyphony. Strike low on a key for more velocity; slide up while holding for poly aftertouch. The MOD strip is the mod wheel.

What’s modelled

Honest about the gaps

OSC 1 · OSC 2 · OSC 3
OSC 1 in WaveScan mode with a 4-slot Wavelist, Semi, Cents and BitRedux. Our waves are our own tables: Sine, Triangle, Saw and Square share the hardware’s Classic names; Pulse, Organ, Vox and Glass don’t exist on the hardware.
MUTANT 1 · MUTANT 2 · MUTANT 3 · MUTANT 4
MUTANT 1 with seven of the eight modes (PW-ASM’s Warp points aren’t modelled), plus Ratio, Depth and Dry/Wet. Window and Feedback are hardware only.
MIXER · RING-NOISE
Not modelled. Our voice is OSC 1 into Filter 1 and Filter 2 in Series.
FILTER 1 · FILTER 2
Five Filter 1 types (LP Ldr12, LP Ldr24, LP 8 Pole, BP Stn12, HP Stn12) by slope and resonance, not ASM’s circuit character. Drive is Pre only. Filter 2 has both types with Morph. Vel Env is hardware only.
AMP
All three parameters.
ENV 1 · ENV 2 · ENV 3 · ENV 4 · ENV 5
ENV 1 and ENV 2 with Delay, Attack, Hold, Decay, Sustain and Release. Curves, looping, BPM Sync and trigger sources are hardware only.
LFO 1 · LFO 2 · LFO 3 · LFO 4 · LFO 5
LFO 1 and LFO 2 with five waves, Rate, BPM Sync and Level, free-running (like TrigSync Off). Step, S&H, Delay, Fade In and Phase are hardware only.
MOD MATRIX
Four slots, seven sources (LFO 1, LFO 2, Env 1, ModWhl, PolyAftT, Velo On, Keytrack) and six destinations.
MACRO ASSIGN · HOME
Eight Macros with one to three destinations each, using names from the hardware’s preset list. Button Values are hardware only.
ON · LATCH · TAP TEMPO · TRIPLET
Seven Modes (Phrase is hardware only), Octave Mode Up, Division with Triplet, Gate, Swing, Ratchet, Chance, Latch and Tap Tempo.

Warming up the panel…

One knob, many moves

Use a Macro to change several parameters at once.

On the Home page the eight knobs are Macros. Each one is a little private mod matrix: one knob, several destinations, each with its own depth.

1.Press POWER ON and load the INIT patch.

2.Hold a chord (HOLD keys or Latch on the Arp).

3.Turn MACRO 4 “Mangle” slowly up. The display lists what it moves.

4.Now try MACRO 6 “Wobble”.

You should hear…

Mangle drags Mutant Depth and Dry/Wet up together, so the tone gets gnarlier as one gesture. Wobble brings in LFO 1 on the filter and speeds it up at the same time.

Doesn’t sound right?

No change? Make sure you’re on the HOME page; the other pages turn the knobs back into parameter controls.

On your Hydrasynth

Press [HOME]. The 8 Control knobs around the right display are now Macros (p. 88).
Press [MACRO ASSIGN], choose a Macro, press Control button 2 to Assign, then press a module button to pick a destination (p. 88–89).
Set the amount with Control knob 6. Repeat for up to 8 destinations.

Owner’s manual p. 88–89

Five sections, same as the hardware

Module select

Choose a module, as with the panel’s Access buttons. Dashed buttons are hardware-only modules: press one to learn what it does.

Master control

Eight Control knobs around a display. They edit the open module; on HOME they become the eight Macros.

Filter controls

FILTER 1 or FILTER 2 chooses which filter the CUTOFF, RESONANCE, DRIVE / MORPH, ENV 1 and LFO 1 knobs edit.

Arpeggiator

ON, LATCH, TRIPLET and TAP plus the RATCHET, CHANCE, GATE, MODE, OCTAVE, DIVISION, SWING and TEMPO knobs.

Keyboard

Eight-voice polyphony. Strike low on a key for more velocity; slide up while holding for poly aftertouch. The MOD strip is the mod wheel.

Honest about the gaps

OSC 1 · OSC 2 · OSC 3

OSC 1 in WaveScan mode with a 4-slot Wavelist, Semi, Cents and BitRedux. Our waves are our own tables: Sine, Triangle, Saw and Square share the hardware’s Classic names; Pulse, Organ, Vox and Glass don’t exist on the hardware.

MUTANT 1 · MUTANT 2 · MUTANT 3 · MUTANT 4

MUTANT 1 with seven of the eight modes (PW-ASM’s Warp points aren’t modelled), plus Ratio, Depth and Dry/Wet. Window and Feedback are hardware only.

MIXER · RING-NOISE

Not modelled. Our voice is OSC 1 into Filter 1 and Filter 2 in Series.

FILTER 1 · FILTER 2

Five Filter 1 types (LP Ldr12, LP Ldr24, LP 8 Pole, BP Stn12, HP Stn12) by slope and resonance, not ASM’s circuit character. Drive is Pre only. Filter 2 has both types with Morph. Vel Env is hardware only.

AMP

All three parameters.

ENV 1 · ENV 2 · ENV 3 · ENV 4 · ENV 5

ENV 1 and ENV 2 with Delay, Attack, Hold, Decay, Sustain and Release. Curves, looping, BPM Sync and trigger sources are hardware only.

LFO 1 · LFO 2 · LFO 3 · LFO 4 · LFO 5

LFO 1 and LFO 2 with five waves, Rate, BPM Sync and Level, free-running (like TrigSync Off). Step, S&H, Delay, Fade In and Phase are hardware only.

MOD MATRIX

Four slots, seven sources (LFO 1, LFO 2, Env 1, ModWhl, PolyAftT, Velo On, Keytrack) and six destinations.

MACRO ASSIGN · HOME

Eight Macros with one to three destinations each, using names from the hardware’s preset list. Button Values are hardware only.

ON · LATCH · TAP TEMPO · TRIPLET

Seven Modes (Phrase is hardware only), Octave Mode Up, Division with Triplet, Gate, Swing, Ratchet, Chance, Latch and Tap Tempo.