Bastl Instruments announced a new member of their range of compact battery-powered modular synthesizers, the Kastle Arp. This new pocket-size patchable synth is billed as a unique melody generator, one based on a quantized sine wave oscillator with a digital waveshaper.
Via Bastl: “The pitch selection employs straightforward concepts to unleash surprising intricacy. The quantized oscillator ensures it is always in tune, and its pitch can be selected using the NOTE and CHORD inputs. The decay envelope adds variation by occasionally skipping pitches before retriggering. The timbre control allows you to blend between noble sine waves and 8-bit chip-tunes.”
The form factor is identical to the Kastle and Kastle drum, with 7 knobs and 36 patch points. The Kastle ARP inherits the LFO section from the Kastle Drum. Here are the features for this new synth:
- quantized-pitch sine wave oscillator
- NOTE knob to browse thru 8 octaves
- timbre xor waveshaper
- CHORD CV input switches between 3 chords
- CV controllable decay envelope generator
- triggered pitch with “negative” decay to achieve melodic variation
- BASS output with the root of the chord
- boot mode to set a root note and fine-tune
- voltage-controllable clock with square and triangle output
- stepped voltage generator with random, 8-step, and 16-step loop modes
- two I/O CV ports routable to any patch point
- the main OUT capable of driving headphones
- 3x AA battery operation or USB power, selectable by a switch
- open source
- durable black & silver PCB enclosure
The Kastle ARP is available for $118 USD.
It’s available for order through:
- Bastle Instruments (Direct)
- Control Voltage (US)
- Perfect Circuit (US)
To wrap up, here’s a quick video with the Kastle ARP in action.
