Hydrasynth Keyboard : Quality instrument

This is a high quality machine. Solid construction and well packaged from the factory, It even has a paper manual which is highly unusual these days. Its too early to say how good it is but the early impressions are favourable. It is much easier to construct new sounds on this than on any other machine i have owned. It is like a DSI Prophet 12 on steroids in spite of the fact that it has far fewer physical knobs than that machine - this is because the interface is brilliantly designed. Both are digital, both use wavetables and both sound great but the hydrasynth is much easier to program. It sort of does everything that the prophet 12 does but much better.

The best things about it are the keybed which is probably the best ive ever used on a synth, the modular interface which is brilliant, the arpeggiator which is inspirational and the presets which are better than other people say and encourage experimentation.

Again its too early to say but this seems to excel at evolving soundscape type sounds thanks to the many lfos and envelopes available and the extra expresssivity offered by the poly aftertouch.

If you are hesitating to buy because its made in China then dont - this is way better in terms of quality of construction and design than anything roland or korg have done in recent years. Is getting close to moog quality.

Sure its a digital synth but who cares - its the range of sounds it can make that really counts for me and this makes a wider range of sounds than any analog ive ever owned. it may not be as warm or "sound very analog" but its warm enough and analog sounding enough for me. You could argue that pure analog is too limited.

The only thing it misses for me is a sequencer. Its probably worth every penny.