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This page is read from MIDI Instrument Definitions, a Python library used in the author's other projects, in which every number is traced to a document its maker published. Its source is on GitHub.

ASM Hydrasynth Explorer MIDI implementation

The MIDI implementation of the ASM Hydrasynth Explorer: what it answers to, and the 112 controls it offers, on firmware 2.2.0.

At a glance

Firmware
This page describes firmware 2.2.0.
MIDI channel
1 to 16.
MPE
Sent and received: its voices are spread across its MIDI channels, a note to each.
Voices
8.
Note range
Not recorded.
Velocity
Sent and received.
Aftertouch
Answered, of a kind its documents do not say. It sends aftertouch too.
Pitch bend
Not recorded.
Program change
Received and sent, with 1024 presets.
MIDI clock
Sent and received.
Start and stop
Not recorded.
Control change
112 controls, in the tables below.
NRPN
Supported.
System exclusive
Not recorded.

Controls

In the order the definition gives them, by group. Under each control is the name a program calls it by, once pymidiinstrumentdefs.load("asm/hydrasynth_explorer") has loaded them.

Amp

Control CC Values
Amp LFO2amt
amp_lfo2amt		 62 0-127

ARP

Control CC Values
ARP Division
arp_division		 106 0-127
ARP Gate
arp_gate		 107 0-127
ARP Mode
arp_mode		 108 0-127
ARP Ratchet
arp_ratchet		 109 0-127
ARP Chance
arp_chance		 110 0-127

Delay

Control CC Values
Delay Feedback
delay_feedback		 14 0-127
Delay Time
delay_time		 15 0-127
Delay Wet tone
delay_wet_tone		 63 0-127
Delay Dry/Wet
delay_dry_wet		 92 0-127

ENV 1

Control CC Values
ENV1 Attack
env1_attack		 81 0-127
ENV1 Decay
env1_decay		 82 0-127
ENV1 Sustain
env1_sustain		 83 0-127
ENV1 Release
env1_release		 84 0-127

ENV 2

Control CC Values
ENV2 Attack
env2_attack		 85 0-127
ENV2 Decay
env2_decay		 86 0-127
ENV2 Sustain
env2_sustain		 87 0-127
ENV2 Release
env2_release		 88 0-127

ENV 3

Control CC Values
ENV3 Attack
env3_attack		 89 0-127
ENV3 Decay
env3_decay		 90 0-127
ENV3 Sustain
env3_sustain		 96 0-127
ENV3 Release
env3_release		 97 0-127

ENV 4

Control CC Values
ENV4 Attack
env4_attack		 25 0-127
ENV4 Decay
env4_decay		 27 0-127

ENV 5

Control CC Values
ENV5 Attack
env5_attack		 102 0-127
ENV5 Decay
env5_decay		 103 0-127
ENV5 Sustain
env5_sustain		 104 0-127
ENV5 Release
env5_release		 105 0-127

Filter 1

Control CC Values
Filter 1 Drive
filter_1_drive		 50 0-127
Filter 1 Keytrack
filter_1_keytrack		 51 0-127
Filter 1 LFO1amt
filter_1_lfo1amt		 52 0-127
Filter 1 Vel Env
filter_1_vel_env		 53 0-127
Filter 1 ENV1amt
filter_1_env1amt		 54 0-127
Filter 1 Res
filter_1_res		 71 0-127
Filter 1 Cutoff
filter_1_cutoff		 74 0-127

Filter 2

Control CC Values
Filter 2 Cutoff
filter_2_cutoff		 55 0-127
Filter 2 Res
filter_2_res		 56 0-127
Filter 2 Type
filter_2_type		 57 0-127
Filter 2 Keytrack
filter_2_keytrack		 58 0-127
Filter 2 LFO1amt
filter_2_lfo1amt		 59 0-127
Filter 2 Vel Env
filter_2_vel_env		 60 0-127
Filter 2 ENV1amt
filter_2_env1amt		 61 0-127

LFO 1

Control CC Values
LFO1 Gain
lfo1_gain		 70 0-127
LFO1 Rate
lfo1_rate		 72 0-127

LFO 2

Control CC Values
LFO2 Gain
lfo2_gain		 28 0-127
LFO2 Rate
lfo2_rate		 73 0-127

LFO 3

Control CC Values
LFO3 Gain
lfo3_gain		 75 0-127
LFO3 Rate
lfo3_rate		 76 0-127

LFO 4

Control CC Values
LFO4 Gain
lfo4_gain		 77 0-127
LFO4 Rate
lfo4_rate		 78 0-127

LFO 5

Control CC Values
LFO5 Gain
lfo5_gain		 79 0-127
LFO5 Rate
lfo5_rate		 80 0-127

Macros

Control CC Values
Macro 1
macro_1		 16 0-127
Macro 2
macro_2		 17 0-127
Macro 3
macro_3		 18 0-127
Macro 4
macro_4		 19 0-127
Macro 5
macro_5		 20 0-127
Macro 6
macro_6		 21 0-127
Macro 7
macro_7		 22 0-127
Macro 8
macro_8		 23 0-127

Mixer

Control CC Values
Noise Vol
noise_vol		 3 0-127
Noise Pan
noise_pan		 8 0-127
Ring Mod Vol
ring_mod_vol		 9 0-127
Ring Mod Pan
ring_mod_pan		 10 0-127
RM12 Depth
rm12_depth		 43 0-127
OSC1 Vol
osc1_vol		 44 0-127
OSC1 Pan
osc1_pan		 45 0-127
OSC2 Vol
osc2_vol		 46 0-127
OSC2 Pan
osc2_pan		 47 0-127
OSC3 Vol
osc3_vol		 48 0-127
OSC3 Pan
osc3_pan		 49 0-127
OSC 3 FRate
osc_3_frate		 114 0-127
Noise FRate
noise_frate		 115 0-127
Ring Mod FRate
ring_mod_frate		 116 0-127
OSC1 FRate
osc1_frate		 118 0-127
OSC2 FRate
osc2_frate		 119 0-127

Mutator 1

Control CC Values
Mutator1 Ratio
mutator1_ratio		 29 0-127
Mutator1 Depth
mutator1_depth		 30 0-127
Mutator1 Dry/Wet
mutator1_dry_wet		 31 0-127

Mutator 2

Control CC Values
Mutator2 Ratio
mutator2_ratio		 33 0-127
Mutator2 Depth
mutator2_depth		 34 0-127
Mutator2 Dry/Wet
mutator2_dry_wet		 35 0-127

Mutator 3

Control CC Values
Mutator3 Ratio
mutator3_ratio		 36 0-127
Mutator3 Depth
mutator3_depth		 37 0-127
Mutator3 Dry/Wet
mutator3_dry_wet		 39 0-127

Mutator 4

Control CC Values
Mutator4 Ratio
mutator4_ratio		 40 0-127
Mutator4 Depth
mutator4_depth		 41 0-127
Mutator4 Dry/Wet
mutator4_dry_wet		 42 0-127

OSC 1

Control CC Values
OSC1 wavscan
osc1_wavscan		 24 0-127
OSC 1 Cent
osc_1_cent		 111 0-127

OSC 2

Control CC Values
OSC2 WavScan
osc2_wavscan		 26 0-127
OSC 2 Cent
osc_2_cent		 112 0-127

OSC 3

Control CC Values
OSC 3 Cent
osc_3_cent		 113 0-127

Post-fx

Control CC Values
POST-FX Param1
post_fx_param1		 68 0-127
POST-FX Param2
post_fx_param2		 69 0-127
POST FX Mix
post_fx_mix		 94 0-127

Pre-fx

Control CC Values
PRE-FX Param1
pre_fx_param1		 12 0-127
PRE-FX Param2
pre_fx_param2		 13 0-127
PRE-FX Mix
pre_fx_mix		 93 0-127

Reverb

Control CC Values
Reverb Time
reverb_time		 65 0-127
Reverb Tone
reverb_tone		 67 0-127
Reverb Dry/Wet
reverb_dry_wet		 91 0-127

System

Control CC Values
Bank select MSB
bank_select_msb		 0 0-127
Modulation wheel.
modulation_wheel		 1 0-127
Master Volume
master_volume		 7 0-127
Expression pedal
expression_pedal		 11 0-127
Bank select LSB
bank_select_lsb		 32 0-127
Sustain pedal
sustain_pedal		 64 0-127

Voice

Control CC Values
GlidTime
glidtime		 5 0-127
Glide
glide		 66 0-127
Detune
detune		 95 0-127
StWidth
stwidth		 117 0-127

Where these facts come from

Source documents

How they were read

Owner's Manual (98pp, version 2.2.0): the MIDI settings at pp. 82-83, the keyboard's velocity and aftertouch settings at p. 81, the program change settings at p. 83, the specifications at p. 97, and the MIDI CC Charts at pp. 94-96, which is where every number here comes from. The maker's comparison chart is cited for what separates the four Hydrasynths, and the Keyboard and Desktop's manual for nothing at all - see below.

THE CHART IS PRINTED TWICE AND THAT IS WHAT VERIFIED IT. Pages 94-96 carry the same list under two headings, "Sorted by Module" (p. 94) and "Sorted by CC Number" (p. 95). They are the same facts in two orders, so the reading could be checked against the document before any second reader saw it: both printings hold the same 117 entries with the same module and the same controller number every time. A maker who publishes one list twice has given a reader a free verification, and it is worth looking for.

AND THEY NAME NINETEEN PARAMETERS TWO WAYS. Same module, same number, two spellings: Filter 1 Cutoff against Filter1 Cutoff at 74, Filter 2 Cutoff against Flt2 Cutoff at 55, OSC 1 Cent against OSC1 Cent at 111, and - furthest apart of all - Ring Mod FRate against RM12 FRate at 116. Seven of Filter 1's rows, seven of Filter 2's, three oscillator Cents and two of the Mixer's. The module-sorted printing's names are the ones below, because it is the fuller of the two, and the other name is recorded here so that a reader meeting either can find the control.

THE SECOND READING CONFIRMED ALL 117 ENTRIES AND ALL NINETEEN NAME DIFFERENCES, read by eye off the pages rendered at up to 900 dots to the inch rather than from any text. It also settled which way to read CC 116: the same chart calls CC 43 RM12 Depth in both printings, so RM12 and Ring Mod are this maker's two names for one circuit rather than a slip in one place.

AND IT FOUND THAT THE CHART'S THIRD COLUMN HAS NO VISIBLE HEADING. Module and Parameter are set in white on the black header bar and CC is set in black on it, so the word is in the file and invisible on the page. A reader of the printed manual sees two labelled columns and a third with nothing over it. Nothing rests on it - the numbers are unmistakable - and it is recorded because a document that hides one of its own column headings may hide other things, and because this is the second instrument in two days whose text layer holds something the page does not show.

THE MAKER'S OWN INCONSISTENCIES, REPRODUCED AND NOT TIDIED. The module-sorted printing is not even consistent with itself: OSC 3 FRate at 114 has a space where OSC1 FRate at 118 and OSC2 FRate at 119, three rows below it, do not. OSC1 wavscan at 24 and OSC2 WavScan at 26 differ in a capital, in both printings. POST-FX Param1 and POST-FX Param2 keep their hyphen where POST FX Mix drops it, while all three Pre-FX rows keep theirs.

AND ENV 4 IS NUMBERED UNLIKE EVERY OTHER ENVELOPE, which is worth seeing beside the paragraph above about the reserved block. Envelopes 1, 2, 3 and 5 run Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release in ascending controller order. ENV 4 runs Attack 25, Decay 27, Release 124, Sustain 125 - a skipped 26, and Release numbered below Sustain. So the two parameters this file cannot carry are the two that were already the odd ones out.

ONE MORE THING SUGGESTS THIS MANUAL WAS NOT WRITTEN FROM SCRATCH FOR THIS MODEL. Its page 83 refers the reader to "MIDI page 4" for the transmit and receive channels, which this manual puts on MIDI: Page 7; to "MIDI page 5" for a setting it calls At TX, a name this manual never uses for the one it calls Aftertouch transmit on MIDI: Page 8; and to "MIDI page 6" for Overflow, which is on MIDI: Page 11. Three cross-references, none of them right for this document. Nothing below depends on them, and a reader following one will not find what it promises.

TWO THINGS HAD TO BE RIGHT BEFORE ANY OF IT COULD BE READ. Each page carries two half-width tables side by side, and they are read down, not across: a row of the page holds one entry from the left table and an unrelated one from the right, so page 94's left half runs Amp, ARP, Delay, ENV while its right half picks up at Filter 2. Reading by row interleaves two stretches of an alphabetical list and looks plausible. And pypdf's layout mode cannot see the rows at all on these pages - it returns each column as its own vertical run, every Module then every Parameter then every CC - so the words were taken with their coordinates instead.

BANK SELECT IS CARRIED, AS IT IS WHEREVER A MAKER NUMBERS IT. Bank select MSB (0) and Bank select LSB (32) are in the chart's System module, and what they do is said under program_change too: "To change banks, both types of Bank Select messages and a program change are needed, or else the Hydrasynth will only select patches within the current bank" (p. 84).

FIVE NUMBERS ARE NOT CARRIED, AND FOUR OF THEM ARE THE INTERESTING ONES. All notes off (123) is the specification's own message, correctly named, and this format refuses it as a control because it means the same thing everywhere.

AND FOUR PARAMETERS ARE PUT ON NUMBERS THE SPECIFICATION RESERVES FOR CHANNEL MODE. The chart assigns ARP Octave to 120, ARP Length to 122, ENV4 Release to 124 and ENV4 Sustain to 125 - which the MIDI specification keeps for All Sound Off, Local Control On/Off, Omni Mode Off and Omni Mode On. So a sequencer sending Omni Mode Off to this instrument moves its fourth envelope's release. The maker says nothing about it, and the chart has 123 beside them doing its standard job, so this is not a maker who has mistaken the block for free space.

This format refuses all four, on the rule that a channel mode message means the same on every instrument that has one - which is exactly what this instrument makes untrue. The four are therefore published, named, numbered and absent from the controls below, which is a real loss and the only one here. Recorded rather than worked around, and raised where the format's questions are kept. That leaves 112 of the chart's 117 rows.

THE GAPS ARE MOSTLY THE SPECIFICATION'S OWN. The chart uses 117 of the numbers between 0 and 125 and the nine it does not are 2 and 4 (breath and foot controller), 6 and 38 (data entry), 98 to 101 (the NRPN and RPN selects) and 121 (reset all controllers). The manual accounts for none of them and none is inferred here.

THE MAKER'S OWN SPELLINGS ARE KEPT, INCLUDING ONE THAT LOOKS LIKE A SLIP. Modulation wheel. carries a full stop no other label has, in both printings, so it is the document's and not an extraction's. GlidTime, StWidth, Flt2, LFO2amt and ENV1amt are the maker's abbreviations and are not expanded.

NRPN IS OFFERED AND NOT PUBLISHED. Two settings choose the format a parameter edit travels in - "Knob 1 Param TX Off, NRPN, CC" (manual p. 83) and "Knob 2 Param RX Off, NRPN, CC" (p. 83) - and the manual sends the reader to the CC charts for the one and publishes nothing at all for the other: no NRPN number, no parameter list, no address. So midi.nrpn says supported, which is what the setting establishes, and no NRPN appears on any control below because none is published.

NOT RECORDED: