The Kastle series of devices from Bastl are small and strangely enticing things. Something about the size and scale of them is alluring; they run on 3xAA batteries (or USB-C), and take up just a slightly larger space in your front shirt pocket than that cherished copy of the Reader's Digest (Simpson's reference). Even though they're digital, they play like old school analog machines, albeit pretty small ones, and you can patch them all up. Speaking of patching, it might be best to lay off that second cup of your chosen caffeinated beverage as the jumper cables that are used for patching are not for the twitchy of hands. I do think they work well, size be damned, and one thing I hadn't thought of until patching them all up is how well they keep cable clutter to a minimum—needed when dealing with small devices, as they are. Still, the patch points are like, barely over 1mm square, so hopefully you like precision movements. Because of the size and placement of the patch field (at the center of each unit—both units are laid out the same) it's easy enough to reach all the controls, even when fully patched, so that's nice.
Starting with Wave Bard, Bastl calls this a "portable sample player," and technically, yes, it is that, but I would find "(portable) crazy mayhem rhythm machine" perhaps even more apt. Like so many good things in life, Wave Bard can indeed be sane, but it wants so so bad to let loose and be crazy, and who's to say no to that? It's akin to drinking way too much caffeine to function, where synapses are pushed or missed altogether, where what would normally resemble a clear, coherent thought process turning into a jumbled mashup of passed down family recipes, house color descriptions, and decades-old to-do lists, rendered nearly incomprehensible. While this type of functioning absolutely does not work well in the medical, automotive, or engineering fields, when it comes to rhythms and synthesis in general…well, it can be exactly what the doctor, mechanic, or engineer ordered.
With controls over (Shift function are in all caps) Pitch mod/INPUT, Sample Mod/FX, LFO Mod/RHTHM, (Sample) Length/ (Sample) MOD, Pitch/VOLUME, Sample/FILTER, LFO/TEMPO, and the first three with CV inputs, there's a lot to tweak by hand or modulation. In terms of that modulation, there's an LFO (triangle or square) that can be synced to the tempo or live in free mode, and there are also Gate, ENV, and a randomized rompler CV outputs to patch around, with many ways to route random voltages throughout; there's no lack of modulation opportunities or sources here. You can also sync Bard with other instruments (Bastl or otherwise) both to and fro, via 3.5mm TRS inputs as well as a pair of jumper ins and outs. If you so desire, with an alligator clip you can also inject external CV into any of the patch points, bridging a 3.5mm cable with Wave Bard's jumper cables for more integration of modulation. In case you're still feeling like you want more, there's a companion web editor that expands on the Wave Bard's features where you can create custom scales and rhythm patterns and load samples, too (there are up to thirty-two banks of eight samples per bank, and the samples can be up to eighty-nine seconds at 44kHz (longer with lower sample rates)).
There are all sorts of advanced type features that deal with the web app—which is easy and efficient—or syncing, etc., but even when you just use what's on the surface, getting a grip on the Shift functions, id'ing the inputs vs. outputs (framed in white), and getting the jumpers in place, it's not hard to get fast and furious with Wave Bard and get jamming. And with the white text on the black faceplate, it makes everything pretty easy to read, even if at times there are so many options that it can seem confusing .
It's all about setting a tempo and then getting your hands and fingers dirty, patching things up with the LFO, Gate, ENV or CV, and modulating/intermingling everything so that the samples, banks, and lengths mutate to form unique and unexpected rhythm tracks, and you can also use the onboard rhythm generator to do that and tweak the patterns via Gate, CV, or Reset. It feels like an endless supply of rhythms and rhythmic ideas, and the size and functionality of it all makes it feel very experimental in the way that testing out circuits on a perf board feels.
In terms of identifying where you're at, when the bank changes, the light up symbols at the top of Wave Bard change, and ditto for the LFO. Also, three little bird images surrounding the Pitch/VOLUME, Length/MOD, and Sample/FILTER controls signify that these are the real time controls for tweaking. If you don't have a pattern/rhythm going already, you can check out each sample by quickly pressing the Shift button, and with the Length control you can play around with the sample length, and even reverse the sample and get all sorts of groovy beats.
I'm sure you can use Wave Bard as a typical-esque drum machine (and you could load melodies in here as well), but in no way did I bother with any of that—it's way too weird for any sort of normalcy; it excels at weird. It's an idea machine. Modulating all the inputs; the LFO mod, Sample, Sample Mod, Bank and Reset, and you never know what you'll get, and add some of the built-in effects (filter, chorus/flanger, and delay—the last two of which are in stereo and sound great in cans), and Wave Bard shows its full colors. The strangest part about the whole deal is that not only did I not feel lost most of the time as I thought I would (such a small package, so much going on…), but I actually felt like I knew what I was doing most of the time. Even with the rompler/randomness/etc. all happening; it wasn't as random and out of my control as I thought it would be. Once a beat was going, Wave Bard was so hands on, there was more than enough to keep things interesting. Auditioning the included banks, and there was plenty to keep me occupied for a good long while. But still…maybe two Kastles for twice the fun?
Exactly. Pairing Wave Bard with FX Wizard is the real deal, and once you know the architecture of one, you can navigate the other pretty easily. Where Wave Bard has white birds encompassing the three main real-time controls (Pitch, Length, and Sample), FX Wizard has a white rabbit, signifying the same immediate control for Time/VOLUME, FX Amount/MOD, and Feedback/FILTER (I looove the filter on this, BTW). FX Wizard has nine different effects with which to obliterate, or—hesitantly—tastefully decorate your sound: Delay, Flanger, Freezer, Panner, Crusher, Slicer, Pitcher, Replayer, and Shifter. Same as Wave Bard, changing the effect changes the LED colors at the top to signify what effect you're in, and also as with Wave Bard, you can modulate most everything here with both negative and positive voltage.
Tormenting the rhythms created in Wave Bard through FX Wizard's magical power was highly entertaining. The Freezer, Slicer, and Replayer were the most interesting to me—especially when in Stereo mode—and on both units I loved messing with the onboard filters. It became second nature pretty quickly using the Shift button to access these (they're in the same place on both devices, which helps), and likewise with the rest of the controls, it was all very quick to dial in everything. Getting deeper with the web app is very intuitive and easy to use—its basic layout is very user friendly—and being able to load your own samples and create your own scales and rhythms only makes this even more fun and versatile. Again, the app is nicely done, and it was fast work to load in some samples, organize them, and download the file and upload it into Wave Bard to hack it with, and it's super easy to alter scales and rhythms. One of the samples I loaded was a stacked vocal harmony of a song I recorded eons ago, about ten seconds long at regular speed. I triggered it with the LFO, and using the CV out to slightly modulate the Pitch, it became really moody, and had a strange melodic beat/groove, something I never would have stumbled across on my own, that was quite great that made me rethink the song in general, and gave me the idea to use it as a foundation for rethinking and reimagining what the song could be. I even harangued some non-musician worker bees sharing the co-working space I was in and convinced them to don headphones for a listen, as I twisted this or that. All gave it a decent listen, and one even bopped their head a bit. Overall, it was a much better response than I'd ever had with my "regular" music. One person, who always brings her very old, yet still friendly beagle into the office, even commented on how "cute" and small the Wave Bard was. Small, yes, but the POWER it wields is mighty (I almost said), mightier than any sword! However mighty they already are, to get the most of the ins and outs of both units you'll need to pick up a TRS splitter cable to interface with your modular and other devices.
This new series of the Kastle devices is a huge jump forward from the initial (and 1.5) devices. More features, larger, more playable surfaces, and with molded plastic enclosures with some cool Bastl-y designs on the side (instead of the FR-4 PCB enclosures of the previous Kastle's), these are no "cute" toys; they have serious musical power. I'm extremely interested to see what else will be conjured up in this format to pair with these fun little boxes. With Bastl, you just never know what you'll get, and that's part of the fun, if not entirely the focus.
Price: $194 each

bastl-instruments.com