Glitchy Music Maker Your in Pocket: Bastl Kastl 2 Wave Bard & FX Wizard

I get that modular isn’t for everyone and there’s so many reasons for people to stay away. Much respect to whatever your musical needs are. We all need to find stuff that resonates with us and that we can afford also. From when I started in on searching for hardware to make music with, I had seen multiple smaller noise makers that Bastl was putting out. Always a bit glitchy and quirky, aimed at a similar audience as pocket operators but with more exploration, less gridded life in mind. Years later, we see this new platform emerge from Bastl HQ and that’s the Kastle 2. This is a slightly bigger, more patchable version of what was before it. It offers a semi-modular take on a tiny pocket synth where having multiple Kastl 2’s functions so much like having multiple semi-modular synths. These small devices offer enough patching to keep you busy for hours making all sorts of sounds and beats and their building into more digital quality of life things means it has more surprises to come. Bastl sent me two of the Kastl 2’s, the only ones that are out right now, the FX Wizard and the newer Wave Bard. These are an FX processor and a sample player respectively and they are super fun. The way I approach any musical thing is trying to figure out what I resonate with in the way it works and what it can create that sounds cool to my ears. I also really enjoy keeping things all to one type vs mixed synth setups. Again, that’s just my brain, and likely just one reason why modular stuck so well. For this video, I made everything you hear with just the 2 Kastles. There are some wild sounds that come from a combination of wonderfully expressive stock samples and flexible effects. The key to these is really the patching, it brings all sorts of things out of these devices that you couldn’t get otherwise and whatever is inside the little boxes is keeping up very well indeed. Wave Bard allows you to load on your own samples too, so that means when you get bored, just feed the Bard something new and your off on some new sonic adventures. Actually, you can also edit the rhythm patterns and scales on the handy web editor as well. Oh yeah, Bard has a quantizer built in. If you need an effect for your pocket operator, have some other Kastles or just like to make all sorts of sound effects or beats, these little battery powered boxes might be a fun way at it. Just don’t expect precise voltage control with your typical full modular patch but there’s plenty here for those new or well versed in modular. Paid Promotion Bastl sent me both Bastl Kastl’s ahead of release to check out and to do a video on. No money changed hands. They get to see this video when you do. Support the Channel https://buymeacoffee.com/turbotambourine   / turbotambourine   Get in Touch and Let’s Chat   / turbotambourine   [email protected] Time Stamps 0:00 Recovering Bastl Kastle 2 from another dimension 1:09 Fun noises from Bastl Kastle 2 2:22 More about Bastl Kastle 2, What are they?, lots of details 3:37 More about Wave Bard and the nifty web editor 4:36 More about FX Wizard 5:15 Demo, Bastl Kastle 2, Panels and patching 9:45 Demo, Let’s start patching with the tiniest patch cables 15:32 Patch 2, What can Wave Bard do all on it’s own? 18:26 Patch 2, Patch notes 21:57 Patch 3, A generative patch with 2 Bastl Kastle 2’s 23:29 Patch 4, Feeding Wave Bard my drum samples 25:50 That’s Bastl Kastle 2, Let’s wrap up