Sensel shared this in-depth look at using MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE) with the ASM Hydrasynth.

The Hydrasynth keyboard is, notably, one of the few synths or MIDI controllers that supports polyphonic aftertouch. This gives you the ability to expressively control each individual note in a polyphonic performance, beyond the initial note velocity.

While the Hydrasynth keyboard is impressively expressive, MPE gives owners of the Hydrasynth module or people that prefer alternate controllers a new way to expressively control the synth.

In the video, Sensel’s Peter Nyboer takes a look at how to setup MPE on the Hydrasynth, and how to get the most of it, with different sound design ideas for different types of music.

The video explores using the Sensel Morph as an MPE controller, but a similar approach should work with any MPE controller. And, as more synths add MPE support, the possibilities explored in this video should be relevant to more and more synths.

Topics covered:

00:00 – Intro
00:30 – About Mutants
01:14 – System Setup for MPE
01:55 – Applying MPE modulation to your patch
03:10 – MPE Kick!
04:24 – MPE Arpeggiator
05:06 – MPE Dance Music Stab
06:45 – MPE Wavescan on Oscillator

If you’re using and MPE controller to expressively control your synths, let us know how you’ve got it set up in the comments!