ASM Hydrasynth Explorer

The Hydra hits the road

A highly compact and portable version of the beloved Hydrasynth with battery power that can last up to four hours, that doesn't skimp on any of the features that made the original so great. The eight voices and powerful sound engine of the original Hydrasynth, complete with the same modulators (five LFOs and five envelopes), Mutators, and a slightly scaled-down 37-key version of their PolyTouch keybed. So you can get all of the sound of the Hydrasynth in a smaller, more affordable package.

Expanded memory, parameters and much more - Firmware version 2.0

The latest firmware version for the Hydrasynth includes a whole host of new features, functions and expanded modulation options. The most prominent update is the expanded memory - now providing up to eight banks to worth with. There is also a new modulation source for you to play with in the form of 'Voice Modulator' as well as a range of new functions including OSC bit-reducer, quantiser for the LFO and ENV; increased vibrato resolution and Global FX bypass. For more information and to download the new firmware update - click here.

Staggering sound design

Three morphing wave oscillators per voice means that the Hydrasynth Explorer can still create the rich, layered digital sounds that made the original unit so popular. Five LFOs, five DAHDSR envelopes and 155 modulation destinations means that you can route almost anything you can imagine.

Dual-filter richness

With two filters, one modelling filter based upon sixteen of the most popular filter designs ever made, and a second filter with a fixed 12 dB per octave slope and an SEM-style design with a sweepable mode from low-pass to notch to high-pass. Both filters can be used in parallel or series for versatile tone-sculpting options.

Features

37-key ASM Polytouch keybed – fully polyphonic aftertouch for fluid expressiveness

Battery-operable housing with up to 4 hours life (8 x AA batteries required, not included)

Three oscillators with 219 single cycle waveforms

Mutators – allows you to modulate oscillators 1 and 2, bending them to your will

FM-Linear - An instant classic, allowing you to create those classic FM tones. Choose multiple FM sources, including external inputs

Wavestack™ - Similar to a unison effect, Wavestacking allows you to stack five instances of a wave of your choosing and detune them to create thick, aggressive sounds

Hard Sync - This gives you those classic hard sync sounds. Try hard syncing a morphing wavetable for a very unique sound

Pulse Width - Flexible pulse width modulation that can be applied to any input

PW - Squeeze - This is a different form of pulse width modulation that creates a smoother sound

PW-ASM - Variable pulse width modulation that cuts your sound into eight sections and allows you to customise how much PWM happens in each section for extremely dynamic sounds

Harmonic Sweep - this will sweep the harmonics of the incoming sound

PhazDiff - Takes the input signal, shifts the phase, and joins it with the original signal, vary the phase with a modulation source for some otherworldly noises

Onboard mixer, noise generator and ring modulator

First filter has 11 different filter models

Second filter is 12dB per octave SEM-style filter with state variable

Five low-frequency oscillators for monstrous bass generation

5 DAHDSR envelopes

Flexible and deep modulation matrix with 29 user definable modulators and 155 modulation destinations. Almost anything you can imagine can become a modulation destination

Arpeggiator for generating melodic patterns

Crisp OLED display providing visual feedback

256 custom-made factory presets from the best patch designers in the world

Six delays and four deep reverbs, modelled on some of the most popular sounds of all-time

Pre-effects and post-effects section consisting of chorus, flanger, rotary, phaser, lo-fi, tremolo, EQ, compressor (with sidechain), and distortion

Specifications

Keybed: PolyTouch Keybed with velocity and aftertouch

Patches: 5 banks of 128 patch memories

CV: CV gate input and outputs

MIDI: MIDI In/Out

Other Inputs: Expression pedal input, sustain pedal input

USB: USB Port – supports USB MIDI In/Out

Dimensions: 55.6 x 25.5 x 7.8 cm (21.9 x 10 x 3.1 inches)

Weight: 3.4 kg