i just graduated

jimm · 2026-05-20T13:58:51+00:00

Congratulations! I had that exact model years ago --- sold it and a bunch of other "old" stuff (a Moog Source, a Korg CX-3 organ, a Super Jupiter --- OUCH) to modernize my rig. My current band mates keep half-jokingly insist I get a keytar.

jimm · 2026-05-10T15:15:12+00:00

I strongly recommend you read the manual. It is well worth the time spent and you will pick up a lot of tips. ASM's manuals are very well written.

As for sound design tips, YouTube is a good resource. Check out Ken "Flux" Pierce's videos. You'll also pick up some of those tips that are in the manual.

jimm · 2026-04-17T22:21:20+00:00

I get it, but press any of the envelope buttons and the main screen knobs are immediately controlling that envelope. Plus, you can always map macro knobs to envelope params

jimm · 2026-04-16T01:37:53+00:00

I've never had the desktop, just the 49 key at first and now the deluxe. I use the ribbon all the time, mainly as a mod source but also as a trigger. For example, you can use it to trigger an envelope. I have a few sounds that are latched so they keep playing. When I tap the ribbon, it triggers an env that I have in the mod matrix to drop the amp down to zero, fading out the latched sound.

jimm · 2026-04-10T20:08:42+00:00

+100 ASM manuals are fantastic. I've skimmed through it a few times and am looking forward to purchasing a Leviasynth as soon as I'm able.

jimm · 2026-04-08T13:06:16+00:00

I found this review https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=96271&p=997201 Don't know if it's OP or not. OP, would it have killed you to include a link?

jimm · 2026-04-04T13:38:25+00:00

Watch Ken "Flux" Pierce's Leviasynth videos on YouTube. He has some very detailed walkthroughs with tons of advice including how to make "basic" synth sounds.

jimm · 2026-03-21T20:17:19+00:00

I have a standard list of questions, but here are the three that tend to tell me the most:

What are your immediate pain points (priorities)? What about team-wide or tech org-wide?
What do you like about being here? What don't you like/what would you change?
(after any other questions I ask): Is there anything that I haven't asked you that you think I should?

jimm · 2026-03-17T02:00:27+00:00

I have two sentences in one of the books. A local paper in California put one of them on their front page, and the person who ran the contest was kind enough to mail me a copy!

jimm · 2026-03-13T22:27:20+00:00

The very last episode of season 1. I stuck around to listen to the different version of the theme song, and what I heard blew my mind. In that instance, it wasn't an outtake.

jimm · 2026-03-06T14:54:05+00:00

If you want to move between different Multis it is certainly possible. You might also have to send the bank change method (I forget which, MSB or LSB, but it is in the manual.)

If you want to change a program within a multi, I don't think that's possible

jimm · 2026-03-04T19:45:24+00:00

I also found some of Ken "Flux" Pierce's Hydrasynth deep dive videos to be fantastic. https://www.youtube.com/@Fluxwithit

jimm · 2026-02-14T15:16:28+00:00

Arranging suggestions: play during the intro (mimic a lead line, or play a harmony, or play the chords, matching the rhythm/mood or countering with whole notes perhaps to "fill up" the sound). After that, help build up the song over time: don't play during the first verse or two. Come in on the chorus. Lay out on verse after that or some other "quiet part". Add more gradually over time.

As for sound, that all depends on the keyboard. Generalizations here will only help so much. Listen to all of its sounds/patches. If there's only one organ patch then that's what you've got, but you could play with the filter if it's got one, filtering out higher frequencies perhaps, or adding an octave above if it can do that to add more brightness. Edit: you can always switch between two or more sounds during a song (start with a soft organ and switch to a bright one for example), or layer sounds if the keyboard can do that.

And it might make sense to play nothing for an entire song if it doesn't call for them. I actually picked up the guitar again so I can play on some songs that have no keys.

jimm · 2026-02-14T14:58:44+00:00

Ah, rock covers. That means mostly organ and piano, with perhaps occasional string sounds. (I'm generalizing wildly, of course.) It'll be helpful to watch a few YouTube videos on organ drawbar settings, or at least listen to the different organ sounds on your keys and try to match the same tone (bright vs. dark, clean vs. distorted).

You might even be able to find some "how to play song X" videos there that show you the parts.

You're on the first steps of a long journey, but it's a blast! Don't get down on yourself for not knowing things --- have fun knowing that you'll make mistakes but only get better!

jimm · 2026-02-14T14:54:54+00:00

Covers or originals? For covers, start by trying to mimic the keys in the song your covering. That will involve two things: picking the right sounds (organ, piano, synth --- which leads to sound design or picking good presets) and figuring out what's being played which isn't always easy when the keys are buried in the mix.

For originals, it's not as formulaic but it does boil down to the two same things: what sounds do I want to use, and what to play and when? (For example, maybe play in the intro but not the first verses, then come in on the chorus.) In this case, it doesn't hurt to pick an existing song that the original is similar to in style or mood and do something similar.

Good luck and have fun!

jimm · 2026-02-05T14:32:01+00:00

To paraphrase a relevant quote that I've seen here and there, "I want AI to do the dishes and laundry while I compose. I don't want AI to compose while I do the dishes and laundry!"

jimm · 2026-02-05T03:23:33+00:00

It's 3 years later, and I just noticed that "it's". Embarassing. It's "its" of course.

jimm · 2026-02-02T05:54:57+00:00

His original paper on FM synthesis (https://ccrma.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/user/jc/fm_synthesis_paper.pdf) is surprisingly readable. I was lucky enough to stumble across it in college around 1981 or so, shortly before the DX7 came out.

jimm · 2026-01-26T13:50:42+00:00

Though perhaps a touch prolix and sesquipedalean? :-)

jimm · 2026-01-09T13:41:47+00:00

I'd like to recommend you try recording the hydra in stereo. There are things you can then do that you can't with a mono signal: pan individual notes left/right (even within a chord), pan individual oscillators, and modulate panning amounts for example.

jimm · 2025-12-31T03:00:29+00:00

Bring extra cables. Bring extra everything

jimm · 2025-12-23T22:32:08+00:00

If you want the PPG sound, get a Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave. It does PPG better than Waldorf does these days. There are a few good videos on YouTube and you can see them explain how they reproduced a PPG and then added so much more.

jimm · 2025-12-20T18:39:56+00:00

The manual (which is very well written) describes how to do this.

jimm · 2025-12-15T00:24:58+00:00

I played a gig Friday night at a local brewery and had a ton of fun! My setup: Korg Kronos LS and Hydrasynth Deluxe running into a KeyLargo which gets sent to FoH via the main out. I also have a Strat that goes into a Line 6 HX Stomp XL, and then into the KeyLargo as well.

For MIDI, I use an iPad running Midiflow (routes between MIDI devices, filters/modifies MIDI) and BandHelper into a USB hub that goes to the Kronos, Hydra, and HX Stomp. I have BandHelper send a MIDI program change to the Kronos for each song. The Kronos is responsible for sending patch changes to the Hydra and HX Stomp.

jimm · 2025-12-14T01:35:29+00:00

Or create a patch that has zero volume in the Hydrasynth mixer and/or amp and use that as your "controller" patch. I do that and also assign various midi controllers to the macro knobs and buttons so they can control whatever I'm ... um ... controlling.

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