Hydrasynth 49 key and Deluxe

[BWC]

It's letters to name the physical connectors, and numbers to name the protocol versions*. Sorry if A-B-C, 1-2-3 is too complicated for you.

I think it's perfectly named, all very logical and practical, as a protocol, and its naming, should be.

Power Delivery, On-The-Go, and Thunderbolt are additional features / protocols that USB can support.** A shame they made it so flexible?

The "gen" thing and other such inconsistencies are down to manufacturers and their marketing overlords. In the spec, it's just numbers, 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, and now, 4.0. It's really not that hard, is it?

*...and if there weren't newer protocol versions it would've been replaced by something entirely different in order to gain more speed, which would be even messier. USB won out over Firewire because USB was promised to get faster and faster with ever increasing protocol versions, whereas Firewire's speed was as fast as it would ever be able to be.

**If you just want something to complain about, how about the fact that auto-corrupt just tried to change "protocols" to "gents" in this sentence.

[BWC]

I think it's perfectly named, all very logical and practical, as a standard, and its naming, should be.

That's where auto-corrupt should've questioned my use of "protocol", and here I am outside the edit window.

[Michael Dow]

It's not hard for me no as i spent the time looking them up and seeing what was right for me. But we here are technically minded people. most are not. And adding many many suffixes to an already abreviated name is confusing for lots of people.

[BWC]

But it's not "many many suffixes", it's two, a letter and a number, simples.

It's the marketing folks, and people spouting nonsense on the interwebs, that cause the confusion. The actual naming convention is as simple as it can be, and if it's too much for some people, maybe they aren't ready to be playing with such tools.

[Michael Dow]

But it's not "many many suffixes", it's two, a letter and a number, simples.

It's the marketing folks, and people spouting nonsense on the interwebs, that cause the confusion. The actual naming convention is as simple as it can be, and if it's too much for some people, maybe they aren't ready to be playing with such tools.

Ok sure

[Blott]

I snagged myself a cheap Deluxe and I absolutely love it.
Due to the Poly aftertouch the keyboard is a bit strange. It's a bit like the old Ensoniq keyboards and is a bit 'clacky', though a lot more refined than the old Ensoniq's used to be.

When left unused for a while the keys are a little 'stiff' on first press (almost like they stick), so I've got into the habit of just running my fingers over the keys before playing it to 'loosen it up'.

This is a minor quibble and doesn't diminish the experience of playing the Deluxe at all, it's a truly wonderful synth with a great UI and Poly Aftertouch is great - l really love the touchstrip too!

I have recently added a Novation Summit to my arsenal (which is also really good synth), but if I had to choose between the two I'd pick the Hydrasynth without pause.

It's got some unique features like 'wave stacking' on a single oscillator.
I think with the Deluxe model effectively being two Hydrasynths, gives it far more sonic flexibility too and you can create some stunning sounds when using layers.
It's built great, plays great, sounds great and has a fantastic UI - I can't recommend it enough.

Fabulous synth!

[ajay_m]

I'm trying very hard to pursue myself that I don't need a Leviasynth to put on the upper deck of my two keyboard stand (which has the HS deluxe on the bottom and a Roland A800 controller keyboard on top currently). Then turn on the fs1r as well, put everything into unison mode and press middle C..... Could be a truly cosmic experience!

[FrankF]

A quick graze of the HS manual informs me that you can only save 32 "Favorites" - is this correct? Should I emit a hollow laugh (with added reverb for depth)?
Even my 99 year old Alesis Fusion has hundreds more Favorite slots than that, although it doesn't have a search function.

Looking at the Search/Browse function in the HS, I can't see a "search by character string" function, which even my 105 year old EMU sampler has. Apart from scribbling down preset names, how do you find stuff when you have thousands of voices to choose from (and only 32 Favorite slots)?

Also, do any of the models have a MIDI scratchpad, also known as a sequencer? Every synth should have one! Especially synths with hundreds and thousands of presets. When you're scrolling through hundreds of voices, inspiration often strikes, and you need to get those idealets down pronto.
For, as Brel rightly said, inspiration is like ice cream: "Ça fond, ça glisse entre les doigts…”

[The Elf]

I've never used a built-in sequencer, and likely never will. So I am quite content the HS don't have them. It's bad enough having all those front panel controls dedicated to the arpeggiator. If I had an idea that was so great, but somehow didn't warrant loading up Cubase (yet I'm always running in Cubase), then a phone is a handy audio recorder.

As to a list of 'favourites' beyond 32... At the stage where 'favourites' run into hundreds I'd just place them all in a Bank. And I've never used the 'favourites' facility anyway; yet again, Cubase takes care of that - and patch searching by name.

The HS synths sound wonderful and play like a dream - and that's enough for me. After that it's just down to which of us might be the more typical user.

[ajay_m]

I would agree that logically the best way to group favourites is just put them in a bank. I mean, you have a thousand patch slots, and 8 banks of 128 patches each, and the HS patch manager makes it easy to manage these so you can just back everything up onto your PC and swap stuff around as required. The browser can scroll by name, so generally I don't find it arduous to spin the encoder to find that patch beginning with 'xyz' to be honest.

The HS does, kind of, have a sequencer in that envelopes can have up to 64 steps that can be mapped to pitches. It's more a creative tool than anything else, but still pretty interesting in terms of what you can do with it.

Now the Leviasynth, of course, does have a sequencer, for what it's worth. The only weird thing is that the filters on the LS are permanently in series. This is an odd decision, because often putting the two filters in parallel is a good idea - you can control top end 'sparkle' while still having cutoff for the main body of the timbre, which can produce some very attractive sounds. Still, the immense power of the LS oscillators and FM algorithms probably gets round this to a large extent. I do not *need* one, but I certainly *want* one, to complement the HS deluxe and avoid faffing around on the PC. Softsynths are great but without a physical control panel, they are an enormous pain to program patches from scratch in my experience, and then there is the question of live performance controls, where on the HS you have both the expression pedal input, all those analogue inputs plus its existing complement of knobs and buttons and the incredible macro feature. I don't know, though, whether the LS is going to feel as immediate. I really need to have a play with one but it looks like Anderton's won't have any for quite a while, so I'll just have to be patient I guess. It took a fair while for me to actually get access to the Deluxe to try out - I had bought the HS49 during Covid, sight unseen, so that was a bit of a gamble, though it paid off....

[Hugh Robjohns]

A quick graze of the HS manual informs me that you can only save 32 "Favorites" - is this correct?

I don't think it is... at least not for the Deluxe (v2.2) which has 128 favorites (16 banks of eight favorites). There's also 8 banks of 128 patches of course and, like others here, I tend to group my long-term favorites into a separate patch bank via the patch manager software.

Looking at the Search/Browse function in the HS, I can't see a "search by character string" function...

You can search in the onboard Browser by patch number, patch type or patch name (as an alphabetical search). You're right that you can't search by a specific character string... but I can't say I've ever struggled to find a particular patch when searching via type or alphabetically.

Also, do any of the models have a MIDI scratchpad, also known as a sequencer?

Not a dedicated sequencer, no. But, as has been said, the envelope facility can be employed as a sequencer if really necessary. Like others, any sequencing I do on the HSD is done in the DAW. It's not something I've found a big desire for.

At the end of the day, the Hydrasynth is what it is. Either it suites your workflow and requirements or it doesn't. There are plenty of other synths out there with different features to suit all tastes.

For me, it's all about the real-time performance playability and the sounds it can make — and I adore it. None of the points you find lacking have ever bothered me at all.