Bastl instruments was founded in 2013 by a company of like-minded people whose main goal was the development and production of electronic musical instruments from pocket size sound boxes and auxiliary modules to high-grade modular systems. Several other projects include activities related to such fields as organizing music festivals, coffee roasting equipment, music labels, training videos, seminars and even clothing production. All these aspects branch out in Brno, Czech Republic, and most of the components are made at home, although other local companies and distributors may be sources providing Bastl with some parts. Since 2016, the brand has been cooperating with Peter Edwards of Casper Electronics.
Bastl instruments also collaborate with such synth shops as noise.kitchen and detective squad. The brand has gathered a bright team of professionals who share a deep passion for music.
They own labels such as NONA Records and Bükko Tapes.
Also every month the company arranges 2 events - come and visit Bastl Jam and Rise Above.
Among the instruments of the brand we need to pay attention to Microgranny 2 - a monophonic granular sampler that reads WAV samples from a microSD card and applies a granular algorithm to them. Adjust the start, end, sample rate, crush and envelope (attack/release). 6 fully programmable sounds can be stored in one preset, while the unit offers 10 sound banks (6 presets per bank). The device supports 8-bit 22050Hz WAV recording via a line input or on-board microphone, and also has adjustable granulation settings, including grain size and shift speed parameters.
Trinity is an all-purpose musical instrument as well as an amusing modular groove box. It can operate as a digital synthesizer, sequencer, controller, arpeggiator or any other “entity” that can be programmed within a micro controller. Trinity is designed to work with other Trinity modules chained together. With the help of MIDI Bastl, you can easily integrate the instrument with external sources via MIDI, CV and various synchronization methods. Trinity series includes 4 devices: sequencer, drum synthesizer, polyphonic synthesizer and monophonic FM synthesizer.
Kastle Synth is a mini modular synthesizer with an output for headphones, 2 in/out ports for interaction with other external hardware and 3 AA battery operating. You can easily make a unit yourself, while using a ready-made instrument won’t cause you problems either. The device is characterized by an amusing digital lo-fi sound - it can sound quite melodic or noisy and buzzy enough, soft or brusque. This device is an open source project that operates on two Attiny 85 chips that can be reprogrammed using Arduino. One chip is responsible for sound generating, while the other one takes care of modulation. At the moment, there are several firmwares available for the Arduino chip.
Another interesting project presented by Bastl instruments is OMSynth minilab. It is an interface that helps amateurs who adore building modules to independently design circuitry while having fun experimenting. The project is good for beginners, as well as for experienced module-makers. The product comes with a kit for creating OMSynth oscillator. By purchasing OMSynth you get a potentiometer, audio mixer, headphone output, battery or adapter and much more.