New Hydrasynth Models

[The Elf]

...to keep the cost down?
Maybe?

FTFY

[Drew Stephenson]

...to keep the cost down?
Maybe?

FTFY

[Luke W]

I get the impression that neither or you are ever going to budge on this

External PSUs do really bug me I have to say. Everything else aside I like my neat cabling, and they make that much more of a pain.

[Folderol]

Ummm... an internal PSU doesn't have to be grounded. it is considered 'good practice' to carry an earth through enveloping the high voltage side for added safety, but I don't know of anywhere that requires this. it is immaterial just where the 'double insulated' bit takes place.

Also, having a well designed PSU inside the kit would reduce the possible EMC as you can use the structure itself to provide additional screening, and wouldn't have a long cable acting as an aerial both sides of the PSU.

Compared to the profits made on sales, the cost of certification is peanuts.

There is a fairly small company I know of that makes transport information systems. They not only require CE etc, but the railways have very strict regulations - they don't seem to find meeting this much of a problem.

Finally, there are companies out there that are in the business of getting kit certified. The good ones are well known across the industries and can do all the donkey work for you at a good price.

[resistorman]

The one big advantage of external PSUs is that I've been able to easily take my Hydrasynth, Wavestate and Cobalt 8 to outdoor jams using a small simple battery pack. It's been great since we haven't been able or inclined to meet indoors for well over a year.

[Eddy Deegan]

I have a somewhat different, and non-technical, angle on it.

I'm with The Elf. I want internal supplies. The reason I want them is because I have getting on for 30 synthesizers. I also have half as many other gizmos in the form of hardware sequencers, powered MIDI devices, drum machines and tabletop devices and I use all of them.

One external lump doesn't seem too bad but once you have many, a small number of which don't play well with accompanying devices in adjacent sockets, it becomes an absolute nightmare.

More than half my gear uses IECs but a lot of it, especially newer stuff, doesn't. External supplies take up external space. An accumulation or them of them takes up lots of space. I'm in the middle of a studio relocation project and as a result I've put half or more of my gear in 'temporary storage' in the house. I have a shelf that looks like something out of Aliens, holding a big collection o' 'orrible black lumps 'o plastic. Sure I label them but there's always one that you missed or that the label fell off from and it's a royal pain to track that missing one down.

Further, the flimsy leads on externals are fixed length and often too short. If they're not too short they're too long. If everything used IEC sockets I'd be far better off organisationally. If you have a built-in supply you can use the correct cable length for the requirement. Thicker cables, yes, but far preferable due to no lumps, more sturdiness and a consistent aesthetic right down to the plug.

I want a Hydrasynth positioned a foot or three further from the power sockets than the provided cord is long. I want to snuggle my nice consistently-sized plugs into tight spaces and forget about them.

What I don't want is a haphazard bunch of large, randomly sized ugly plastic blocks with cables ranging from too long to too short. Not to mention all the heat concentrated on the power strip as opposed to distributed between the relatively wider spacing of the synths and devices themselves.

My dislike for external power supplies is directly related to the number of them I have, and right now I absolutely hate them. I'm drowning in them and aroundabout now I've had enough, will be making future buying decisions based on them, and providing (polite) feedback to the vendors as to why.

I don't care about the cost, I don't care about the technicalities. I'm a consumer for whom companies are building these instruments and devices and in my case externals en-masse suck. I've seen youtube videos featuring desktop-device arrangements exhibiting unrealistically tidy cabling where I know full well that just out of shot the power strip looks absolutely ridiculous.

None of this has anything to do with the technicalities or costs of providing power to circuits; it's very much about the consumer practicalities.

Built-in supplies all the way, in my book. External power supplies are simply wrong

[resistorman]

The reason I want them is because I have getting on for 30 synthesizers. I also have half as many other gizmos in the form of hardware sequencers, powered MIDI devices, drum machines and tabletop devices and I use all of them.

Yikes! I have 8 or 9 wall warts spread out through the studio which I thought was excessive...

[N i g e l]

At the price point, my preference for the Hydrasynth would have been an IEC lead.

I would have prefered IEC on my MODX as well, which is at a similar price point to the Hydrasynth. I was a bit surprised that it was an external PSU. The MODX is son of MONTAGE, which is twice the price and has an IEC.

I assume Yamaha are big enough to have a "PSU department" and that design/migration and qualification of an internal PSU would have been trivial.

The one big advantage of external PSUs is that I've been able to easily take my Hydrasynth, Wavestate and Cobalt 8 to outdoor jams using a small simple battery pack....

interesting point

[Zukan]

Who are you lot sleeping with? It seems you buy a synth every other week. I need to change my client list. Maybe working the Yemeni angle wasn't so prudent.

I'm still saving up for a Midisport 4x4.

[N i g e l]

not me sir !

My MODX was funded by selling a legendary 1U FM rack module from the 90s {+ a slight top up} .

Although Ive gained on polyphony, 7" touch screen, sample replay, sequencer, motion control, external i/p processing, USB & computer integration, Ive lost out on being able to menu dive >2000 parameters on a 2 line LCD using buttons normally reserved for a reset function.

[The Elf]

Those of us who attended the 'bring a cake, win a synth' at the last meeting now get a free synth every month for life. I didn't realise you didn't get in on it, Zuke!

[Zukan]

not me sir !

My MODX was funded by selling a legendary 1U FM rack module from the 90s {+ a slight top up} .

Although Ive gained on polyphony, 7" touch screen, sample replay, sequencer, motion control, external i/p processing, USB & computer integration, Ive lost out on being able to menu dive >2000 parameters on a 2 line LCD using buttons normally reserved for a reset function.

FS1R?

[Zukan]

Those of us who attended the 'bring a cake, win a synth' at the last meeting now get a free synth every month for life. I didn't realise you didn't get in on it, Zuke!

No one mentioned cake.
Why did no one mention cake?

[Folderol]

Who are you lot sleeping with? It seems you buy a synth every other week. I need to change my client list. Maybe working the Yemeni angle wasn't so prudent.

I'm still saving up for a Midisport 4x4.

Maybe we need a "Desitute Muso" forum - I'd be spending a lot of time there too!

[Luke W]

One external lump doesn't seem too bad but once you have many, a small number of which don't play well with accompanying devices in adjacent sockets, it becomes an absolute nightmare.

Further, the flimsy leads on externals are fixed length and often too short. If they're not too short they're too long. If everything used IEC sockets I'd be far better off organisationally. If you have a built-in supply you can use the correct cable length for the requirement. Thicker cables, yes, but far preferable due to no lumps, more sturdiness and a consistent aesthetic right down to the plug.

This sums up what I was too tired to type last night very well. Wiring racks etc and having to accommodate external lumps and have the cable lengths dictate where things can go is infuriating. There are always ways to make it work, and I've taken fairly extreme measures in some builds, but wherever possible I try to avoid gear that requires said effort.

[Zukan]

Who are you lot sleeping with? It seems you buy a synth every other week. I need to change my client list. Maybe working the Yemeni angle wasn't so prudent.

I'm still saving up for a Midisport 4x4.

Maybe we need a "Desitute Muso" forum - I'd be spending a lot of time there too!

I like that.

[N i g e l]

FS1R?

yeah thats the one. It had an IEC cable but used to nag "Replace battery CR2032", which made me sad..... another 10 years had passed.

[Zukan]

I've owned a number of them before. The classic 'I sell it then realise my mistake and buy another one'. I wish I'd kept it though because it really was damn good even with the painful editing.

[N i g e l]

If you ever get the FS1r urge again, be sure to checkout the MODX 1st [or MONTAGE for those on the synths for cakes scheme].

FS1r was FM & formant whereas MODX is FM & samples but it has formant filters, multiple parts & motion sequencing which might be an equivilent and faster to set up !

I think there are tools for transfering DX7 patches to the MODX [ alot of the FS1r presets were DX7 patches layered up with added Fx]

MODX factory presets dont do it justice.

[John Stafford]

I don't mind external PSUs if they have a separate mains cable. I hate the ones that are just a fat plug.