Hydra synth: first impressions

[Tony Scharf]

I’m not sure how the wave stack works, but the WaveState works like an enhanced version of the Wave Station (which is what it is).  In the case of the WaveState, you have sequence ‘lanes’ that route to Master Functions, Sample selection, Timing, Pitch, Gate and a Step sequencer.  Each can be up to 64 steps long, and they don’t need to be the same length or have the same playback (i.e. you can have some looping forward, some backwards, some doing a pendulum, etc).  I’ve only been using it at a basic level and getting fantastic results. 

if you want to ‘morph’ between waves, you use the vector functions where 4 patches (each with its own complete set of wave sequence data) can be mixed using the vector stick.  

The one big disappointment in the WaveState is the physical: The keyboard is crap and feels like a toy.   It does not at all do justice to the very powerful sound engine it houses.  I’ve been mainly treating mine like module and playing it from my Kronos.  Because of the WaveStation engine built into that one, it also has the vector joystick.   They map perfectly, and I have patches that make use of the switches and ribbon controller on the Kronos.   Honestly….I think Korg should have left the keyboard off the wavestate and just made a desktop module. 

Im very interested in the Hydrasynth…but I’m space limited at the moment.  If that came in, something else would have to go out and I just don’t have anything at the moment I’m willing to let go of (though I could probably put a couple things in cases and store them instead).  My feeling when I played the Hydrasynth at Knobcon was that it was awesome, but I was going to wait till the software got some of the kinks out (at that point, i managed ti crash it twice during a 20 minute demo…it was only just shipping at that point). 

Tony



> On Jun 15, 2020, at 7:46 AM, Jay Vaughan <ibisum at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Well, a few weeks later, and my first impressions have evolved a bit.
> 
> How are you guys getting along with yours?  Mohsen, had a chance to bang at it yet?
> 
> Its a very versatile synth engine.  The Mutators are a great way to describe hard-wired modulation capabilities.  Having them encoded in the oscillator flow like this is clever, and sensible.
> 
> It is *so* nice to not only have a synth with MPE/Polypressure, but also the ribbon strip and mod/pitch wheels are very nice to play with.  I find myself reaching for the ribbon controller when I play other synths now, which is a bit frustrating.  Getting that muscle memory factor, I guess.
> 
> The Wavestack is awesome - I wonder though if it works in a similar fashion to that of the Korg Wavestate, in terms of being able to morph between up to 8 different waveforms per Oscillator?  I’d love to have a comparison session to see how this is implemented by both synths, side by side.  I’m also pretty impressed by the range of the filters - they can be cold and hard and digital, like sometimes is nice, but then easily swing out to the other end of the ‘warmth’ scale, too. 
> 
> There are bugs though - I’ve managed to hang the panel/UI a couple of times with various monkey-tapping operations.  Seems like they’re going to be releasing bug fixes in the near future, though - another digital synth that gets monthly updates, lol.
> 
> Looks like we’ll be getting the desktop version at Sky Studio as well - one thing that is clear after playing the Hydra for a while, is that it sure does lend itself to a synth-expander style composition setup.  Wish they’d do a 19” rack mount version, haha.
> 
> Anyway, working on a tune that will be all-Hydra - will post when its ready.
> 
> 
> j.
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