Hydrasynth tips

[MarkOne]

I watched “Sisters with transistors” last night, a Sky Arts documentary about women in electronic music.
It was, mostly, a melody free zone, except for the Doctor Who theme and Switched on Bach, both written by men. It did no favours to women composers in the electronic music field.

I often think that some of these programs come across as producer tells junior researchers to come up with examples of say “women in the field of electronic music” and said researchers do an hours googling and pull together some random links. Meanwhile you have folks like Neon Vines and Rachel K Collier doing a lot of interesting things. (It’s not my cup of tea by any means but it is musical, clever and electronic)

[Martin Walker]

Check out Resistorman’s submission in the OSC last time I think. A great demo of its capabilities IIRC. I thought it was a prophet at first! (And I’ve got a prophet )

Thanks! It was for the last OSC. I programmed most of the sounds from scratch and heavily modified a couple of presets.

https://soundcloud.com/dan-simpson-4976 ... ntain-pass

Bravo Dan!

[resistorman]

Thanks y'all! Wonder if I can make something different enough using the Hydra to fool everyone for this OSC

[Arpangel]

I watched “Sisters with transistors” last night, a Sky Arts documentary about women in electronic music.
It was, mostly, a melody free zone, except for the Doctor Who theme and Switched on Bach, both written by men. It did no favours to women composers in the electronic music field.

Éliane Radigue
Jade Rose
Delia Derbyshire

I’m having trouble, there are loads, but not like these, is this because generally women aren’t interested, or is it because there a less opportunities, I don’t think so, I think, it’s because electronic music, does demand a certain level of practical "technical interest" and the way women and men approach this is different IMO.
Women want to drive the car, get from A to B they don’t want or need to look under the bonnet, men are different, we have this desire to tinker, it’s not just the end result that matters.
This is by no means general, and exceptions abound, in varying degrees, I knew a girl, a few years back, who got into modular synthesis in a big way, every time I met her she would ask me loads of questions, can you show me this, what modules do you think are best for this, or that, how do I put this in a case, loads of stuff, but as soon as she knew what she wanted, she never talked about it again, this is important, this was all a means to an end, not an end in itself.

[Arpangel]

I've had a casual look at some vids. Interesting beeps and burps, but not a single piece of real music being played - does the synth no favours.

I agree... why no Mozart or Beethoven sonatas?

You need a Moog for those.



This continuing Hydrasynth thing, some synths just fascinate, some enough to make me want to try them, some, enough to make me want to buy them,
this fascination isn’t definable sometimes, it can be a mixture of lots of things, not just sound, I look at the HS, and it looks unfriendly, and it ends there, I see trouble, lots of it.
Also, presets "are" important, they can be deal breakers, you should at least see a bit of potential, also, a synth that is marketed as being very versatile, and is good at many things, often isn’t, it’s appeal is that it can do many things sort of "OK"
I’d rather have one keyboard, that is excellent at just one thing, this can lead to a crowded studio, but it’s worth it for me, it’s difficult finding a one box solution, I’ve tried.

[Luke W]

is this because generally women aren’t interested, or is it because there a less opportunities, I don’t think so, I think, it’s because electronic music, does demand a certain level of practical "technical interest" and the way women and men approach this is different IMO.

But, if true, why is that so? I personally think the answer is based more in society than any sort of fundamental difference between people. Some of the most keen and eager technical minds I've worked with whilst working in education have been young women, who had almost always been met with "Why do you want to do that? That's what boys do..." comments and attitudes at some point in their lives, even in today's times.

Slightly off-topic, and I know you said yourself that it wasn't intended as a general statement, but I do think that if we carry on the way we're going then it'll (hopefully) end up as a thing of the past, and the only things that will be of relevance for people entering the technical industries will be how interested and skilled they are.

[Arpangel]

is this because generally women aren’t interested, or is it because there a less opportunities, I don’t think so, I think, it’s because electronic music, does demand a certain level of practical "technical interest" and the way women and men approach this is different IMO.

But, if true, why is that so? I personally think the answer is based more in society than any sort of fundamental difference between people. Some of the most keen and eager technical minds I've worked with whilst working in education have been young women, who had almost always been met with "Why do you want to do that? That's what boys do..." comments and attitudes at some point in their lives, even in today's times.

Slightly off-topic, and I know you said yourself that it wasn't intended as a general statement, but I do think that if we carry on the way we're going then it'll (hopefully) end up as a thing of the past, and the only things that will be of relevance for people entering the technical industries will be how interested and skilled they are.

The reality is that women are still massively under-represented in some areas, engineering in particular, you are right, some people are seen by others in a strange way, if you pursue things that are gender stereotyped, and that can be a deterrent.
But male domination even extends to the holy grail's of femininity, the top names are always male, hair dressing, dress design, make-up, shoes, this is so ironic, it’s beyond belief.

[Folderol]

Thanks y'all! Wonder if I can make something different enough using the Hydra to fool everyone for this OSC

I've actually found some links that show this far better as a performance synth, rather than a step-wise programmed construction - interestingly all done by the same person. However I still find the snatches of music far shorter than I'd like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfbz6KWAgUo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u2SxLwP4tk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUnrwTMW08Y

This one is the best:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfuC1B2qau8

P.S.
No I won't be buying one

[Hugh Robjohns]

I've had a casual look at some vids. Interesting beeps and burps, but not a single piece of real music being played - does the synth no favours.

I agree... why no Mozart or Beethoven sonatas?

You need a Moog for those.

I think Don Dorsey would beg to differ...

I look at the HS, and it looks unfriendly, and it ends there, I see trouble, lots of it.

I suspect 'unfriendly' really just means 'unfamiliar', and it's certainly a non-traditional control paradigm. But actually, once you understand the concepts I'd say it's by far easiest synth to programme I've yet found. It's utterly brilliant and more versatile and creative than anything else I've seen.

You just need an open mind and to be willing to climb that small learning curve...

[Arpangel]

My mind is open, it’s that learning curve that bothers me, even a 1/100 gradient puts the fear of god in me these days.

[ajay_m]

I can reassure you that the HS is incredibly intuitive. Although the front panel looks overwhelming most of the left hand side deals with the arpeggiator and can be ignored otherwise.
Very few things require more than a couple of button presses to get to, and setting up any of the classic subtractive synth patches is dead simple as, like the Minimoog, the default signal path is set up for the most common scenarios.
It is true that the supplied presets often try a bit too hard; the third party libraries available on the ASM site as well as a heap of user-contributed patches on the official Facebook page are much more impressive.
Most importantly the poly aftertouch and ribbon are really well designed.
Personally I believe the HS can emulate virtually any classic synth, the trick is 'less is more' and although it has an incredible set of features like wavescanning and mutants, you can create great patches without any of that malarkey.

[Eddy Deegan]

The signal path after the oscillator is analog, so if it were multi-timbral it would require the ability to separate the signal paths.

If you're talking about the Hydrasynth I don't think this is correct*. As far as I'm aware the oscillators, filters and envelope/amps, LFOs and FX are digital. The signal path is only converted to analogue at the output stage (and obviously taps are run through DA for the CV outputs).

* Unless you can reference something that demonstrates otherwise, in which case I'll stand corrected.

[The Elf]

The signal path after the oscillator is analog, so if it were multi-timbral it would require the ability to separate the signal paths.

If you're talking about the Hydrasynth I don't think this is correct*. As far as I'm aware the oscillators, filters and envelope/amps, LFOs and FX are digital. The signal path is only converted to analogue at the output stage (and obviously taps are run through DA for the CV outputs).

Yep, that sounds more like a description of the Novation Peak.

[N i g e l]

...overlooking any effects section, it also covers the Arturia μFreak and the "vintage"* Korg Prologue.

I thought the HS was all digital. Absolutely every small detailed parameter gets saved in a patch. Even down to whether the attack is exp/lin/log etc !

* "vintage" because it's no longer available ????
Theres probably a more accurate word than vintage or "no longer stocked"

[MarkOne]

...

* "vintage" because it's no longer available ????
Theres probably a more accurate word than vintage or "no longer stocked"

Legacy?

[N i g e l]

thats on the button.