Cats fit into the strangest places. That includes spare HPs in a modular system. In addition to the cat, we see many familiar modules (and a Keystep Pro). Full list of brands in the tags for this post.
From John Rennie via Facebook.
bastl
NAMM Classics: Bastl Instruments and Bitwig Studio
That most wonderful time of year known as NAMM is fast approaching! As we prepare to cover this year’s show, we’re sharing some of our past NAMM videos on CatSynth TV!
This year’s show starts on January 25. Please let us know in these posts about anything specific you would like us to investigate or review while we are there.
NAMM 2017: Bitwig Studio and BASTL Instruments
Music software maker Bitwig teamed up with modular-synthesizer maker BASTL Instruments as booth featuring hardware and software together. Bitwig’s new Studio software was running on a YUGE Microsoft Surface tablet and controlling a special BASTL modular system.
We wrote about BASTL Instruments last year, in particular about their modules that allow external sensors and actuators to be used with modular synthesizers and their unique “wooden” design for the faceplates. Bitwig Studio is a bit of a new discovery for us. It has many of the features and characteristics of Ableton Live!, but with its own more modular architecture for instruments and compatibility with Linux in addition to Windows and macOS. You can see a bit of these systems working together in our video.
So the question is whether Bitwig Studio is a reasonable alternative to Ableton Live! – for us, it would probably occupy the same functions as Live!: a secondary DAW to use with Pro Tools for performance elements, and a software hub for live performance. The demo suggests that it could do those functions, but whether or not it would a better option or not is unclear. In particular, Max/MSP integration would be missed. But it does have a powerful scripting system.
For BASTL Instruments, we are still most intrigued by their rich offering of external I/O beyond traditional musical instruments, along with their percussion synthesizers. The combination of this with a touchscreen DAW like Bitwig Studio opens up some new possibilities…
Booth 5000 (Modular Synths) at NAMM, Part 1
Our friends in the modular-synth world are moving up at NAMM, with a collective booth at the front of the show right near giants like Moog and Dave Smith Instruments. It’s a bit much to take in all at once, as modules and module-makers continue to proliferate. This will be the first of a few articles covering just this booth.
One new set of modules, and perhaps the oddest, comes from BASTL Instruments.
In addition to the wood texture, there are modules that can control motors, solenoids and other outboard electronic elements. It does bring to mind some ideas for sound installations and live performances. You can hear a bit of these modules in this video.
Soulby presented Eurorack modular versions of 8-bit processing modules more messing with voice and other input signals.
Delays and looping seem to be a thing this year. 4ms had a new looper and delay module whose novel feature is audio rate control of the functions for unusual flange delays and other continuous effects.
While the 4ms Spectral Multiband Resonator is not new for this year, it is still one I am excited about.
QuBit Electronix has a new sequencer module with a circular pattern; and a new polyphonic oscillator with individual controls and VCAs. You can see and hear both of them in this short video.
Synthrotek is focusing on full systems, including a MIDI-CV converter that supports bi-directional clocks. One can use heavily modulated CV clocks to control time-based elements on MIDI synthesizers with this feature.
And KOMA Elektronik returned with their massive sequencer, looking more refined. And it has a lot of lights!
More from this both and beyond in coming articles.