The Behringer Keyboards 'n' Stuff Thread #3

[N i g e l]

More than that! The Hydrasynth deluxe weighs around 14kg, whereas the CS80 was about 92kg.... but then it did come in its own substantial wooden case.

I well remember just about carrying it single-handed on the flat, but needing a mate to get it up and down stairs. And that was thirty plus years ago. Certainly couldn't do it now!

so 92 - 14 = 78kg excess baggage

I actually cant get my mind around that. My heaviest lift is an 88key kurzweil at only a toe crushingly 25kg.

Anyway , have a good time tomorrow

[Hugh Robjohns]

I under-rated it. I've just checked the manual and that states 220lbs/100kg.

Maybe the 92kg figure i (mis)-remembered was without the lid!

The weight isn't that surprising if you see inside the thing. The case was solidly built from heavily braced plywood. The keybed comprised very long wooden keys in a metal frame. Most of the electronic cards were housed in a separate steel frame, and there was probably 20kg of cabling in the thing. And the mains transformer was bigger than many beefy power amps. Everything about it was heavy duty!

...but it was still lighter than my Hammond A100!

[resistorman]

The Hydra Deluxe is the perfect controller for a software emulation such as ME-80, or Arturia's CS-80 - or maybe the Novation Peak, which does some wonderful CS-ish things. The Hydra itself is damned good itself, anyway, and does a great analogue emulation, so may be all the CS fix you'd need.

Dammit Elf!

You're a very bad influence...

There's one arriving here tomorrow!

Good times ahead!

At this rate people on the forum who don't own a hydrasynth are going to be a minority.

Indeed, it's like a cult or something

[The Elf]

Dammit Elf!

You're a very bad influence...

The story of my life. I'm loved by my nephews and nieces and dreaded by their parents!

Think of it less as the cost of the Hydrasynth, and more as the saving of the price of a DS-80.

[Hugh Robjohns]

I like your thinking... and hopefully so will Mrs R!

[Arpangel]

There are a couple of artists out there that can copy any old master, painting, even forensic investigations prove nothing.
It’s amazing that its so difficult for some people to accept this in the synthesiser world.

Er, but people have gone to prison for copying old masters

Er, now there’s a whole book, just there, the illegality of certain "art" protecting perceived value, the inability of so called experts, to tell the differences anyway, it’s the same in music, I’ve lied about tons of things, and people believe me, instruments, techniques, methods, I love making things up, it makes no difference to the music, but it affects how people see me, and the respect I get, when I get it.
We were almost signed by a large label, in the 90’s, very trendy label, they asked if we used analogue keyboards, yes, and no, , that’s great they said, can we see your studio? ( ) they came round and asked where all our analogue stuff was, I said we didn’t have any, we never heard from them again.
But they loved our music?

[Drew Stephenson]

We were almost signed by a large label, in the 90’s, very trendy label, they asked if we used analogue keyboards, yes, and no, , that’s great they said, can we see your studio? ( ) they came round and asked where all our analogue stuff was, I said we didn’t have any, we never heard from them again.
But they loved our music?

Maybe they didn't like being told porkies?

[Hugh Robjohns]

...I’ve lied about tons of things, and people believe me...

Not everyone!

...I love making things up, it makes no difference to the music, but it affects how people see me, and the respect I get, when I get it.

Yep, I can see how it affects the level of respect!

[Arpangel]

We were almost signed by a large label, in the 90’s, very trendy label, they asked if we used analogue keyboards, yes, and no, , that’s great they said, can we see your studio? ( ) they came round and asked where all our analogue stuff was, I said we didn’t have any, we never heard from them again.
But they loved our music?

Maybe they didn't like being told porkies?

This is why I hate the music business, no sense of humour (not you)
To get all upset about something like that is so laughable, it’s just beyond, if they liked us that much, it shouldn’t have made any difference to anything.
They asked to meet in a pub we all hated, that should have been a sign.

[Hugh Robjohns]

Think of it less as the cost of the Hydrasynth, and more as the saving of the price of a DS-80.

It's a bargain, whatever the price!

Just spent four hours playing with it (after the inevitable firmware update!).

Recalling presets and twiddling... not bowled over with a lot of the presets, but that's not really surprising. There are at least some hints at real greatness in there which I shall explore more fully later.

And now at last I can play the Arturia CS80 reasonably realistically. It was almost worth it just for that!

Now to sit down with the big book and start figuring out how to drive the thing properly. It's a bit of a beast, innit?

[resistorman]

Think of it less as the cost of the Hydrasynth, and more as the saving of the price of a DS-80.

It's a bargain, whatever the price!

Just spent four hours playing with it (after the inevitable firmware update!).

Recalling presets and twiddling... not bowled over with a lot of the presets, but that's not really surprising. There are at least some hints at real greatness in there which I shall explore more fully later.

And now at last I can play the Arturia CS80 reasonably realistically. It was almost worth it just for that!

Now to sit down with the big book and start figuring out how to drive the thing properly. It's a bit of a beast, innit?

Yes, the presets are surprisingly unrepresentative of the sound capabilities. Once I started making my own, I didn't have any reservations whatsoever! Fortunately, I find this machine a lot of fun to program

[Eddy Deegan]

Good to hear you're enjoying it Hugh! It's one of the friendliest synths in that you can almost randomly twiddle things and produce interesting, lovely and playable noises.

Of course one key to success with it is to stop playing massive dive-bombs with the ribbon for a few seconds every now and again

[The Elf]

Recalling presets and twiddling... not bowled over with a lot of the presets, but that's not really surprising.

A few too many 'instant dancey-prancey' repetitive presets for my liking. Yes, it's all about getting in there and making your own sounds.

One hint - always leave yourself a few options with the macro controls. Typically I might have an on-hand phaser set on some of string synth patches, for instance, or attack/release controls. You thank yourself for those macros later on.

Enjoy the journey of discovery, mate!

[Guest]

Talking about the macros, just choosing one of the factory presets and then playing with the macros takes you into many totally different territories,

The factory presets do make good use of them.

[Arpangel]

A few too many 'instant dancey-prancey' repetitive presets for my liking. Yes, it's all about getting in there and making your own sounds.

There has to be a great track lurking in these sounds somewhere, I’ve had this plan, take a few modern synths, go through all the dancey prancey presets, and layer them in a 150 track Reaper project, it’ll be just a fraction of these types of sounds, but it would be fun fading them all in and out, or layering them, nothing synced either, and my voice, just droning along over the top, reading a synth manual.

[t-sun]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtl8FVHmvu0
https://www.synthanatomy.com/2022/08/be ... chine.html

I know someone was waiting for news about the Solina. Sounds pretty good, that is a very packed circuit board. Smart to make the phaser an independently accessible circuit.

Quoted price at $359 MSRP. Release date ????

[The Elf]

This one is on my 'definite' list. I adore the sound of the Solina. I've made many recreations of it on many synths, current ones included, but to have something so close and ready to go is a dream come true.

[sonics]

This one is on my 'definite' list. I adore the sound of the Solina. I've made many recreations of it on many synths, current ones included, but to have something so close and ready to go is a dream come true.

Which version? I recall the Eminent sounding very different to the ARP. I played quite a few and can still "hear" the difference in my head. I never bothered to find out the exact reason. I have a soft spot for them myself having played one for almost a decade. I think it's lurking in a storage facility right now...must go and check!

[The Elf]

For me it's all about the ARP. I never played an Eminent.

[resistorman]

A few too many 'instant dancey-prancey' repetitive presets for my liking. Yes, it's all about getting in there and making your own sounds.

There has to be a great track lurking in these sounds somewhere, I’ve had this plan, take a few modern synths, go through all the dancey prancey presets, and layer them in a 150 track Reaper project, it’ll be just a fraction of these types of sounds, but it would be fun fading them all in and out, or layering them, nothing synced either, and my voice, just droning along over the top, reading a synth manual.

I like the concept, but is it Art?