User Manual

21
If you have the one model and are curious
about the dierences between them, here are
the most obvious:
• The Keyboard model has 49 keys, a ribbon
controller, pitch/mod wheels, Octave
buttons, Chord mode, a Glide button, and
front-panel headphone jacks.
• The Desktop model has 24 RGB pads,
which also oer quick access to secondary
functions (Shift + Pad X). It can also be
mounted in a rack.
Both models have identical voice architec-
ture, OLED displays, parameters, and editing
methods. And if you will forgive the shameless
plug, if you buy one of each you can combine
their polyphony by enabling Overow (p. 94).
Twice the fun for less than twice the price!
Chord mode (keyboard only)
A single key can play up to 8 notes at once by
activating the [CHORD] button. But a chord
must be created before the button can be
used.
To create a chord, hold [CHORD] and it will
ash. Then play the notes you want the chord
to contain. You can press them all at once
or one at a time, which allows you to build
chords that are outside your normal reach. The
lowest note you enter will become the root
note. When you’re done, release the button.
There are a few things to remember about
Chord mode:
• A chord can contain between 2-8 notes; <2
notes are not stored; notes >8 are ignored.
• The chord is not saved with a patch, and
will be erased when the Hydrasynth is
power-cycled.
• Chord mode puts the keyboard into mono
mode (last note priority)
• All notes in the chord will be quantized to
notes within the selected scale. (See Select a
Scale (p. 67) in The Voice Module (p. 64).)
• The chord is not transmitted over USB or
MIDI. A slaved device will only receive the
played note.
Ribbon controller (keyboard only)
The ribbon controller can be used three
ways: to bend the pitch of held notes, as a
solo synthesizer (Theremin mode), or as a
modulation source only. In Theremin mode its
range matches that of the keyboard by default,
but it can be scaled to cover 2 or 6 octaves. Full
operational details are in the chapter, Ribbon
Controller (keyboardonly) (p. 69).
Front Panel (keyboard only)
The Hydrasynth keyboard model has its headphone connectors on the front panel under the
keyboard.
Headphone jacks
The two most common sizes for headphone
connectors are provided. The signal and
level are identical for both. The circuits were
designed for compatibility with a wide range
of headphone impedance ratings.
Phones volume control
Moving the level dial to the right will increase
the volume to the headphones; moving the
dial to the left will decrease the volume.