ASM Hydrasynth Desktop

Its sound generation is designed for maximum flexibility. At the same time, the user interface has been optimized for minimal paging and an intuitive workflow. The exceptionally robust synthesizer has 3 oscillators with the advanced "Wave Morphing Synthesis" engine, which can access a pool of 219 waveforms. As a special feature, oscillator 1 and 2 master wave scanning, in which up to 8 waveforms can be faded or "morphed" together. The oscillator signals can be further deformed via a total of four mutants, including FM, three different types of pulse width modulation (PWM), hard sync, harmonic sweep and wavestack, which generates five mutually detunable copies of the oscillator for ultra-fat and wide sounds - The tonal possibilities are almost unlimited.

If the oscillators are the heart of a synthesizer, the filters are the soul: The eight-part, mono-timbral HYDRASYNTH has two independent filters that can be connected in series or in parallel. Filter 1 has 11 different filter models (12, 24 db, HP, LP, Vocal, etc.). The second multimode filter works at 12 dB per octave including a continuous sweep from low pass to band pass to high pass, comparable to classic SEM filters. Four effects refine the extensive sound generation: Delay and reverb (including cloud) are fixed, with the other pre and post effects, various algorithms such as e.g. Chorus, Flanger, Rotary, Lo-Fi, Tremolo, Compressor, etc. are voiced.

The desktop version of the HYDRASYNTH does not have a keyboard, but has 24 pressure- and impact-sensitive pads which also enable fully polyphonic aftertouch and offer various layouts and scales.

The modulation sources are also not skimpy. No less than 5 loopable DAHDSR envelopes as well as 5 tempo-synchronized LFOs with numerous waveforms and various trigger modes (plus a sixth vibrato LFO via the mod wheel) ensure plenty of movement in the sound. A massive modulation matrix with 32 slots connects internal sources and MIDI CCs to their destinations.

ASM has of course also thought of live use: 8 high-resolution encoders including LED rings can be freely routed to desired parameters and changed live. OLED displays ensure perfect readability. In addition to 2 banks with a total of 256 presets, 3 further banks with 128 patches each are available for storing your own sounds.

On the connection side, there are not only the usual suspects in the form of MIDI and USB, but also analog clock and CV/gate inputs and outputs, via which analog control voltages and clock signals can be integrated into the modulation matrix. The HYDRASYNTH works not only with 1 volt per octave, but also with the Hz/volt standard, which e.g. used early Korg synthesizers. MIDI is available as a classic trio (In / Out / Thru) and via USB.

With the major update in firmware 2.0, the groundbreaking synthesizer from Ashun Sound Machines has been enhanced with many new features such as a new modulation source and expansion to 8 memory banks.