Sunday 1 October 2017

Build your own Modular Synthesizer!

In my last post, I’ve talked about the mono sampler I’ve built from a kit. Last week, my friend Gideon and I continued this journey and we’ve built two very tiny modular synths called “Kastle” from Bastl Instruments. This time we even had to solder a lot of parts together, all that time worrying if it would even work!
A little info about modular synths: there are, as the name already says, many different modules of synthesizers. Compared to a casual synth, these modules need to be connected by patch cables to change the way the sound flows. There are many different kinds of models you need to get sounds. First of all, one needs a sound source, which is an oscillator (a wave-form generator), filters, etc..
You can either apply different filters to the sounds, or you could maybe use one module (with a low-frequency oscillator) to change the pitch of an oscillator or any other setting you want.

The one we got, was a very tiny one. It's called the Kastle from Bastl Instruments and the cables are really tiny too! One could somewhat describe it as a modular-pocket-synth! It is quite cool and gives you really weird sounding, funky sounds.