Superbooth 2021: ASM announces Hydrasynth Explorer and Deluxe models

09 Sep 2021 by Robin Vincent | Approximate reading time: 2 Minutes

Hydrasynth Explorer and Deluxe · Source: ASM

Hydrasynth Explorer · Source: ASM

Hydrasynth Deluxe · Source: ASM

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We saw the leaked Explorer earlier but now it’s official along with a bigger, wider and overflowing with polyphony Deluxe version we didn’t see coming.

Hydrasynth Deluxe

The Deluxe version is a spanking new 73-note, 16-voice version of the Hydrasynth keyboard. It has everything the keyboard version has plus some tasty additions. 8 extra notes of polyphony is certainly worth pointing out again which is actually two 8-voice Hydrasynth engines allowing the synth to be split or layered for bi-timbral control. This also brings in dual stereo outputs for the Main/Upper and Lower split options so you can process them separately.

ASM suggest that you can use the extra room on the right of the front panel to put sound modules and other devices in fact they also supply an accessory shelf that mounts to the back to make that space even larger. I confess that it’s a slightly weird appendage to an otherwise fantastic looking synthesizer.

Hydrasynth Deluxe with shelf

In case you’re new to the Hydrasynth it’s a digital wavetable synthesizer with 3 oscillators per voice, 8 voices with mutant modulators, detunable wave stacking, wave morphing and a surprisingly useful number of knobs and hands-on controls.

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Hydrasynth Explorer

This sits at the other end of the scale offering a slightly reduced and compact Hydrasynth that has all the power, all the sounds, polyphony and polyphonic aftertouch but in a battery-powered and mobile form with 37 less than full-sized keys. The slight inconsistencies in the information we saw in the leak were a red herring as this is a fully-fledged Hydrasynth.

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Here’s a quote from ASM CEO Glen Darcey:

“Our goal at ASM is to create premium, quality, fantastic-sounding, extremely-playable instruments providing musicians with the affordable tools they need to express themselves
musically. Our team has many years of experience with electronic music products, both on a personal and professional level — from playing them to designing them. Our unique partnership with Medeli allows us to realize this goal.

These are looking great and definitely expand the options on offer. I’ve no doubt that both the Explorer and the Deluxe will please two entirely different groups of people. The Explorer will retail for £549 which puts it squarely in Modal territory. The Deluxe will retail for £1,699 which makes it suitably premium. Both should ship in November.

ASM are in booth W295 at Superbooth.