#517

Even though the menu system on the Hydra is built in a clever “module” design, it does still feel like a chore to program. Both have their strengths, but if I had to choose one over the other, the Peak stays put.

The Peak interface is immediate, and it sounds much warmer, less “harsh” than the Hydra (to my ears).

#518

I just got an Iridium and it’s also mostly knob-per function; however, I don’t mind using menus on its touchscreen because the ux is well thought out. Also, it’s fun to freehand draw LFOs and step sequencer values!

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#519

Number one on my buy list. Please post demos if you have a chance. Thank you.

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#520

Will do! It’s an absolute beast and unapologetically digital (which is my favorite synth style). I’ll make some demos that showcase the gnarlier side of Iridium; the demos that you’ll find on youtube or elsewhere make it sound like a pleasant ambient machine, but it can do so much more than that! It can get really gritty & nasty, which is exactly what I want from a polysynth.

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#521

That’s great. I have an XT, but Iridium/Quantum sound very different.

The XT sounds more veiled and obviously a lot like The Fragile at times, but can do amazing evolving and noise sounds with all the filter types, and never sounds harsh to the ear, when harsh in character. Even though the filters are early digital in comparison to ZDF tech of today that you hear in u-he or Cytomic for example, they sound really good, and the knobby interface a huge plus.

The resolution and liquidity of the Iridium/Quantum is off the charts, though, as well as all the new synthesis modes. It also sounds to me that they used higher quality line amps than they did in Blofeld.

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#522

It’s on my watchlist as well, I’m very interested in it although I most likely won’t buy it, but I’ve watched a lot of videos of it and I like what it stands for and how it tries to approach it. It feels a bit like Hydrasynth in its sonic philosophy except the layout seems more matured and meaningful to me from a distance.

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#523

Yeah, my main motivation for buying this was that I once had an XT that I foolishly sold (I loved that synth!) so I wanted to get back to the Waldorf wavetable magic. Iridium really delivers on that magic (especially when you put the wavetable into its “retro” modes that emulate the lower-fidelity PPG Wave/XT style)… although there’s no filter FM! I guess I can live without it.

Agreed – both in the wavetable part and also with the kernels (“mutators” in Hydrasynth land). You can go much deeper with both in Iridium, but to be fair to the Hydrasynth it is (a) much cheaper than Iridium and (b) kernel mode in Iridium is so mind-bogglingly powerful that sometimes you might wish for a simpler way to do things, like the mutators in Hydrasynth.

I’m not knocking Iridium at all here – the kernel mode is worth the price alone (6-op audio rate wavetable position modulation[!!!] or if you want, you can mix audio rate wavetable modulation with FM, phase modulation, AM, and ring mod across your 6 operators[!!!]) – but by necessity the kernel mode in Iridium is pretty hardcore and involves oscillator-level programming. I’m a giant nerd and I love that sort of thing, but I also understand why people might not want to spend 30 minutes tweaking operator envelopes, pitches, and levels.

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#524

I don’t think anyone who thinks the Hydra is intuitive or easy to program has much experience with modular. And get that that opinion is maybe unfair to a more traditional style synth, but coming from modular, it’s a real barrier for me.

#525

After many years of eschewing polysynths in general and MIDI control in particular, I have jumped on a strange bandwagon of polysynth exploration.

My favorite polysynth is the eMu Systems Proteus 2000 because it has a “randomize” function which randomizes the patches. Probably one out of every five random patches is usable and one out of every twenty shine. One out of every 1,000 or so is the funniest patch I have ever heard. It is very high fidelity, immediately sounds like cartoons, and has expansion slots in which you can plug in any of those eMu Systems neon faceplate rack unit ROMs. Mine came with ZR, World, and Techno already installed. It sounds like cartoons and that’s all folks. Plus the Proteus 2000 costs like 200 bucks all day. I play mine with a digdugdiy Scales.

My least favorite polysynth is the Korg TR-Rack. You cannot really edit the sounds, the sounds are heinous. They simply haven’t “come back around again” yet from the multicultural 1990s. There’s a whole bank of technically offensive Ethnic samples… you know what I’m talking about; “African Rain,” “Bangkok Nights,” “Arab Scorn,” etc. I have unhooked the TR-Rack from my rig.

My new favorite polysynth is the Kurzweil (Young Chang Industries) K2500RS. You can edit everything into infinity. It reminds me of modular synthesis insofar as, if you feel clever and have the time, almost any parameter can mess with almost any other parameter. As we speak, I have it spitting 10,000 winter goblins scraping ice spears against the Un-holy Obelisk. I control the incredible K2500RS with the Rozeta Suite of sequencers on an iPad. I haven’t even begun to utilize the sampling feature yet!

An honorable mention goes to the Waldorf Blofeld, my first introduction into polysynths. Like the Proteus 2000 it has an incredibly useful randomize function which saves one from having to program all of the 10 billion parameters from the little screen and knob matrix. The randomizer produces less gold than the Proteus 2000’s but it still produces some gold and platinum patches for the open-minded experimentalist. I usually control the Blofeld with an ancient, half-functioning Boss DR-202 Dr. Rhythm. The pads just feel right, and old, and dirty, and dirty…

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#526

Wow, that one is really awful

#527

It’s no “Shanghai Muzak”…

#528

I had dreams of picking up the Iridium many months ago. Ended up with a Peak, Hydrasynth, Argon8 combo instead. Ideally, I’d sell the Hydra and the Argon8, pickup an Argon8M, and save the rest for an eventual Iridium acquisition.

(To be honest, I still have daydreams about the Iridium…)

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#529

It almost felt like the designers decided, “The young folk, they like their modules these days. Lets try that menu approach!” Surely, I am way off base (and a little tongue in cheek), but I suppose for the depth of the device and the given panel interface space; it kinda works.

But intuitive is not a word I’d use to describe it either. One other thought, a polysynth that leans this heavily towards the idea “modules” should maybe have several more CV ins/outs?

For this to be the first product from a new company is still a great accomplishment. Two words sold a heck of a lot of these synths: “Polyphonic Aftertouch” and that helped put ASM on the map for the time being.

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#530

New one on the market from Arturia. 6 voice analog with digital control features. Ribbon controller and touch pad controller simular to the Moog Voyerger.

#531

I have a Prologue (16 voice). Great synth, now that the teething problems have been worked out. It’s a diva; it jumps right to the front of the mix.

I want another microtonal polysynth to complement it, but am having trouble making a decision. I didn’t care for the Peak very much, so the Summit is out of the running. The Prophet Rev2 does great brassy poly sounds and has lots of modulation capability, but sounds a bit harsh to my ears. The Hydrasynth…haven’t played one, and seems very “digital sounding” from what I’ve heard online, but perhaps that’s people not knowing how to use it? The Jexus demo is great, but he makes everything sound great…

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#532

I think its just from people going for a different sound. They see wavetable synth and figure why not make patches with wavetable type sounds?

The most awesome thing about the hydrasynth, imo, is the modulation available.

I share this video often, but I just like it that much. Creator is using only basic waveforms and just a ton of subtle modulation to make the string patch. I think it sounds amazing, like the video description says, kinda like a combination of both real and synth strings:

6 Likes
#533

So I ended up ordering a Peak and the order got cancelled. So due to covid situation I am again thinking about minilogue XD or digitone.

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#534

Iridium has a great interface where you can construct custom scales right in the machine. You can tell it to chop up an arbitrary interval into as many notes as you want (so, equal temperament scales are a breeze); or you can construct a scale out of repeating intervals (ratios or cents) and then manually tune notes as you desire (each individual note can be tuned relative to the previous note, or tuned absolutely based on cents or a ratio from the base note). Once you have a series of notes you like, you can then tell it to automap those intervals up & down to all of the other notes (so, you can construct eg a 5-note microtonal scale and then Iridium will automatically extend it to all notes). And it can also load Scala files if you don’t want to roll your own. It’s the most robust microtonal implementation I’ve ever seen on a polysynth, hardware or software.

3 Likes
#535

I didn’t see it mentioned anywhere in this thread, so I will say that I can wholeheartedly recommend the Roland Jupiter XM to anyone who wants a multi-timbral synth with Jupiter/Juno/JP/SH-101 sounds. I never used a Roland rompler synth back in the day, so having the XV-5080 is a nice bonus as well. It also has some very basic kits with classic Roland drum machine samples, a vocoder and a multi-sampled piano. It’s undoubtedly a weird mishmash of stuff, but I really enjoy it.

My only complaints are the very basic sequencer (not really worth using) and the I-Arp thing is a bit gimmicky.

#536

I’m also considering a Blofeld desktop module. Since I think I might end up using any polysynth as a preset machine, at least Blofeld on paper seems more varied than minilogue, and has interface similar to digitone. Since I have an octatrack I don’t care much for digitone sequencer. How does Blofeld sound in practice?