In his latest allmyfriendsaresynths video, synthesist Stephen McLeod shares a hands-on review of the ASM Hydrasynth Explorer, a minikey synth version of ASM’s full-size Hydrasynth keyboard.

The Hydrasynth Explorer is arguably the most powerful minikey synth ever, featuring a very flexible synth architecture, battery-powered operation, a new ASM PolyTouch mid-sized keybed with polyphonic aftertouch, CV/Gate connectivity and more.

“A couple of months ago I got my hands on a Hydrasynth Explorer from ASM, which is a really interesting, deep, and capable synthesizer, with a huge amount of different possibilities for added expression (MPE, poly after touch, etc),” notes McLeod. “The Explorer is an affordable way to get the sound engine and expressive capabilities of the Hydrasynth, which sounds great and isn’t just for those into sound design.”

Topics covered:

0:00 Musical Intro
0:27 Intro
2:37 Hardware
6:29 Connectivity
7:59 Key Features
9:11 Polyphonic Aftertouch + MPE
13:13 Musical Interlude
13:37 Random button
15:32 In Practice
18:42 Musical Outro

Checkout the video and share your thoughts on the Hydrasynth Explorer in the comments!