Curious about modular synthesis, electronic music, and sound design, but unsure how to get started? I have something for you! Join my free "intro to synthesis" mini course here: www.soundandsynthesis.com/firstpatch2022 PS: You don't need any special gear to do this-just a computer with VCV Rack (which is free to download).
Very interesting. I much prefer the sound of the ASM Hydrasynth doing these types of sound than used to emulate something else. This is it's character, ASMR Hydrasynth. Sounds kind of like a tiny cookie monster trapped in a modem.
I've had the hydrasynth for 3 weeks now, I've always been making interesting sounds, but this video first showed me what's abysmal and otherworldly in the hydrasynth... I'm seeing the synth again with completely different eyes and would like to thank you very much for this incredibly inspiring video!
The ultimate fun for the feedback mutants is to try and lock values like so that they are synched to your project bpm. It is beautiful random noise, change or what not, but if you want to incorporate this in a song with different other elements, you might want to for instance, figure out ratio and depth for respective bpm, and then apply ramp lfo to either ratio or depth and that will change pattern of your feedback, thus the character of your tone in a way that you can lock to the tempo.
Now this is my kind of patch programming!! Total chaos. There's some nice stereo panning going on with these patches as well. Thanks for the ideas, some of this i probably never would have thought to try.
Thanks for the video! I got Hydrasynth Explorer recently because I wanted a poly synth and the Black Friday deal made it a pretty easy choice. I had no idea it had so much depth.
Great tutorial Sarah. Your examples really demonstrate the potential this synth has for new sounds. In my experience with it, the Hydrasynth comes closer to the dream of a polyphonic modular synth than just about any modern poly synth I can think of.
These are the sorts of things that made me fall in love with the Hydrasynth. I found some helpful inspirational ideas from your video, particularly the unison mode SH tricks. Thanks for such a well presented video!
I love how your style and sound are expressed across the variety of equipment you interact with (instruments, modular, synths, etc). Also, I greatly appreciate the relaxed pace of your presentations, as it allows for not only enjoyment, but also an organic pathway to understanding the tools being utilized. All the best to you, Sarah, and thank you for being an encouraging influence in my life, and surely the lives of others. 🖖🏾
Here I am playing around with My Moog Mavis Christmas present and getting ready to dive into my sarah belle reid mavis course. However, I just got my Hydrasynth and while playing with that I came across this video. Sarah Belle Reid, you are a genius who will keep me very busy in the fun and unlimited synth world for a long time to come!
un chemin de création vraiment original ! ciblé sur des modulations bien précise. qui démontre avec brio, les incroyable possibilités de ce fantastique synthé! il est venu rejoindre ma petite famille musicale l'année dernière en version 49 touche, c'est vraiment une fantastique machine ! 😍
Thank you, this was exactly the focus that none of the other many Hydrasynth demos and tutorials were offering. Very good to see/hear. I can get into some of these territories via analogue means at hand, whether it is worth the asking price for recallable patches and ability to create more obviously musical tonalities is another question. Cheers, please continue.
This is a really great video and what tipped me over the edge to buy one. Thanks Sarah! (Just gone through the video step by step with the synth and it took me 2 hours as I kept drifting off in explorative detours)
I just got an Explorer as my first “real” synth and your video is super-duper helpful. I just seem to really understand the way you put things. Thank you! 🙌
My Hydrasynth workflow was getting stagnate, and this video really helped me shift that; thank you! The unison function is one of my favorites, so you really blew my mind with the LFO S&H trick!
Really great work! I have had a Hydrasynth Desktop a little over a year now and I can't believe I never thought of using the sample and hold to control the speed of a stepped sequence with eight voices - that's brilliant. Some of your sequenced work is reminiscent of Laurie Spiegel.
Sold! I knew I had heard someone push the Hydrasynth into more experimental/noisy territory in one of the early reviews but I lost track of it and wondered if I had dreamt it, until I came across your 'hydrasynth explorer in nature' video. I really liked what I heard in that and am happy that you shared a video about some of the techniques you use. I ordered the Desktop version today. And it's given me some thoughts on how to revisit some of my other digital synths. Thanks again - it's really great to see content like this.
Great stuff! You touched on all the aspects of the Hydra I've yet to explore. I probably would never have thought to do that with Unison either. So cool! Thank you!
Came here to watch a review on Hydra , discovered an artist !! Glad to see people having fun like i do on the lowest octave !! Expected to find reveiws on how it can sound analog but what i watched here is even more impacting (choice bewteen the desktop version and other synths , Peak ,blofeld ect ...)
I subscribed because you bring a smile and a beautiful voice to the synth nerd space. My wife needs to see this, so she knows I am not the only weird one around.
Thanks - this is not only instructive and inspiring but also clearly and beautifully presented. Time to return, methinks, to the multifarious delights of the Hydra, after months of randomly indulging in dalliance with other enticing digital or analog hardware or software beasts. For 2022, I wish you health, happiness and success in all your endeavours.
I just bought the module version of the Hydrasynth after doing a ton of research on it and other similar synths. I was still in the, "Oh jeez, was this really the right choice?" mode when YT served up this video. Now I have no doubts. What a lovely and weird set of creations you've come up with. I can't wait to come back to this once the synth arrives and try my hand at delving into the squelchy goodness.
Thanks for these tips! I had missed the step LFO and envelope re-triggers... such powerful features! I can get both polymeter and polyrhythm sequences going now!
Such an amazing synth. I love my new SH-4D, but the Hydra is so incredibly versatile. Hoping to buy an Explorer soon. P.S. Your creative concepts are too cool.
Thank you so much for making this! I am currently awaiting the arrival of my hydrasynth, but I feel like you’ve already expanded my sound design thinking box significantly
Great video, Sarah! I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of my Hydrasynth Desktop, and your background in modular definitely casts its capabilities in a new and inspiring light. The unison trick looks particularly cool!
@36 you got me. I love the sfx craziness but applying that to more ambient melodic atmospheres just blew my mind. I can't wait for my deluxe! Thank you!
A bit late to party; I've only had my Explorer for a week! Excellent video showcasing some features I might have missed by fumbling in the dark on my own. I think the Hydras hold their own as versatile VA/wavetable polys, but the feedback routings and multiple envelope triggers in particular really take it to a next level. Very few fixed architecture software synths are this flexible, let alone anything else in the hardware domain. The Hydras really are something else!
Ive got a Hydrasynth Explorer on the way. I got interested in it first because of the lush sounds, but really love the outer limits kind of stuff we‘re seeing here. Subscribing.
I, too am using that poster as a window blocker. Well, two of those posters for two windows - I had them mounted on foam core so I could have front and back!
Just into the feedback section of your video. Thank you for showing this. I tried and then added a reverb freeze of feedback. Really nice palette. Will be going through your series over next few weeks. A lot to explore. I have the 49key original. The explorer is a nice form factor.
Waycto get modular with this digi-modular, Sarah. Really lined your patching :) It is the most powerful digital synthesizer I have encountered (yet), and that's quite a few. Just add the arp or macros,...there's your millions ;) Keep it rolling 👋🙏
Excellent video. I've been neglecting the mutants, but you've inspired me to experiment. One tip; to edit steps in LFO step mode quickly, press and hold the button for each step whilst playing the keyboard/pads
It’s April 2024 as I comment. 50 years ago, Chicago issued their double-length *Chicago VIO* album. The opening cut on Side 2, an instrumental called “Italian from New York”, features composer/pianist Robert Lamm playing Rhodes piano and ARP synthesizer. I later ascertained it was an ARP 2600 Grey Meanie. What I have long been curious is if any performance synth could duplicate the random noise, ring mod, sample & hold and envelope filter sounds Robert generated on the 2600. I get the impression that Hydrasynth Explorer’s virtual patch matrix and mutant section could likely emulate those tones. Stuff like that is what the earliest synthesizers were intended to do, not only being a tempered pitch machine.
This is my favourite video for Hydrasynth. Mind blowing tricks. I would absolutely love to see more. Let me share a small trick. I use the stepped LFO with the max step amount to draw very complex LFOs that look drawn with a touch screen.
