Here are some additional notes Wonkystuff sent me after watching the video: "The horizontal groups of sockets, either inputs or outputs, are basically ‘local mults’, i.e. there is no clever mixing or anything into the inputs. This means that you can basically daisy-chain the LFO signals between inputs (this is a direct carry over from the Bastl version). Another thing is to do with the external clocking of the LFO… the ‘pattern’ output is advanced one step for each external clock pulse, but the square and LFO outputs still have their own tempo (again, this is how the OG works). If I’m using external clocking, I usually set the LFO rate to minimum and then the sync from the pattern output is a bit more obvious…It’s really interesting to see how you’re using it, as you’re doing things that I’d not thought of before!! I tend to use the pattern output for drum-sound selection; ignoring the trigger input, and then (if I’m syncing to an external source) the LFO is a slower modulation source for pitch/decay etc."
I can't thank you enough for this video. The last mode, the one you called "you're favorite", was it the "formant modulation mode"? Have you ever heard Javanese Gamelan music? If yes, did you notice something? I am blown away because I have been searching for a way to make Gamelanish tones for some time now. So I experimented with Ring Modulation and got some meh...wacky metallic sounds, but not the mysterious wacky I need....and then with MUTABLE INSTRUMENTS Rings got some too beautiful metallic bell timbres. So I was thinking that maybe....what I REALLY needed wasn't the metallic timbre per se, but some obscure expensive EURORACK module that allowed overtone fine tuning, to get the specific microtonal wackiness of the Gamelan overtones. Your video proved I was right - minus the "expensive and obscure" part. This "last mode" recreates that magical Gamelan timbre without being overtly metallic...and without me having to fine tune anything. I was considering of inserting an AE MODULAR adapter into my EURORACK, but I wasn't exactly sure. Now it's a no brainer....I am totally obsessed! I want to know everything I can about this mode of synthesis. So please clarify: Which mode of synthesis was it? And can I process my guitar tone through it? I think the standalone Kastle has an In Out jack. Does this AE modular version have a way to process audio signals?
First of all - Thanks for watching! I hadn't heard of that music before, but that's for putting me onto it. It sounds really, really cool. You actually pose a really interesting question. I think Bastl calls that synth mode on the Kastle the Formant Synthesis mode. While the original Kastle has audio ins and outs, it's mainly for sending in modulation, audio, or clock signals into the system, and then using that audio to control various parameters. Technically speaking, you can do this with an AE System too. You can use something like the Master module (which has 3.5mm audio in/out), or the 4I/O module (which has 4 audio in/out), and then feed that audio into the Kaestle. If you wanted to use this with a guitar, you'd probably want to incorporate some other things like envelope followers and a matrix mixer to blend together the sounds that you want. Wonkystuff sells a third party Matrix Mixer module, and i think he may even be working on a bigger one. As you said, incoporating Rings into all of this would really open up the floodgates of sonic posibilities for a setup like this. I know that there's a few people out there who have AE systems on their guitar pedal boards too. So, I think you're definately on the right track to creating a cool, experimental guitar rig, and I'd love to hear how it turns out if you're ever able to share it to me on one of my socials. Really keen to see where you might go with this.
@@RSKT_music Thanks for the response. I'd be happy to share my experiments. I'll try to find you. From what I gather the original kastle passes the audio input to one of the wire sockets that is right beside a socket output that is used in the formant synthesis mode. Do you think I could get results by replacing that oscillator feed with my guitar audio? I do stuff like that with my VOLCA Modular all the time. I don't know if you are familiar with it: its a pretty impressive instrument. I've found several ways to use the VOLCA as a guitar processing effect. The sequencer and function generators modulate and with the S/H I sample the oscillator at audio rate with the guitar signal and get a bitcrushy fuzz + LFOscillation = fuzzolo or a melodic drone using the sequencer... But while those are interesting timbres/effects and probably will be used for a song in the future. The song I am working on now would benefit greatly if I could get my guitar tone processed to sound like the formant mode in Kastle. I am pretty enthused with the prospect. If you could do a small experiment, to check if it works you could save me from the disappointment. Thanks!
You can find me on instagram under the hand rskt_art. I think I see what you're saying now. So there is no specific "audio input" on the AE Modular version, but only because you don't need one. On the original, you take the audio input and plug it into a new source. On the AE version, you can just patch your audio directly into that source, which is OSC Pitch, Tibre, Waveshape, and LFO rate. Putting audio into any of these can yield some pretty interesting, albiet wierd results. I passed a guitar sample into it and tbh it wasn't pretty. When passing audio into the ouput socket next to the formant output, you basically just hear the IN signal alongside the Kaestle signal, almost as if you had them both plugged into a mixer. I think your safest bet would be to run your guitar into something else, use it to trigger an envelope for example, and use that envelope to control the formant. Definitely possible and lots of ways to do it. Hope that helps mate :)
@@RSKT_music Right.... or use a pitch follower ...but that is for later, too expensive for now. SO I am waiting for a BEFACO INTERFACE (DIY: it was cheaper that way) and that has an envelope follower, so I'll be ready to try what you proposed for sure. But its not only a money issue. I gravitate towards synthesis techniques that process the guitar audio itself, instead of using it as a control signal for other processes. SO I got the DREADBOX Antidote for some Karplus-Strong resonating guitar tones: Man! It didn't disappoint. Then I got some S/H modules to replicate the fuzzy bitcrushy tones I got from the VOLCA MODULAR, I wrote you about, but the results were crappy. SO I just got in the mail, I haven't tried it yet, a DREADBOX Hysteria. Why? Because, my working hypothesis is that I didn't have oscillators with the proper waveshape for the sampling to work. And if THAT doesn't work I'll get a WAVEFOLDER to give some UMF to the transient peaks so the audio has more information to sample from. See where I'm going with this? Distorted guitar tones have more harmonic content as well. This in a nutshell, would be my approach to make my guitar tone participate in the Kastle FORMANT SYNTHESIS mode process as well...even though I have no idea what is going on in there: what else can you do anyways? .................................If you don't have a guitar to try this approach, its fine. I'll get the module anyway and if everything fails I can use the guitar as a control signal. And if THAT doesn't work I'll just use the Kastle in the rhythm section. Maybe I should write to BASTL INSTRUMENTS and ask them if they have any ideas.
Fair enough man. Sounds like you have some really good ideas cooking for what you're after. I'm curious, if you prefer effecting your guitar with modular synthesis techniques, have you looked into getting an Empress Zoia? I'm sure you've heard of it, but if you haven't, it's basically a modular synth built into a guitar pedal. I have one and it's absolutely fantastic. You can patch together any effects patch you want and then store it for later. Super easy to get up and running with too. If you haven't got one, I can highly recommend it.
Not sure that this point as I haven't tried it myself, but you could reach out to Wonkystuff on the discord server and he'd probably be able to tell you 😊
Here are some additional notes Wonkystuff sent me after watching the video:
"The horizontal groups of sockets, either inputs or outputs, are basically ‘local mults’, i.e. there is no clever mixing or anything into the inputs. This means that you can basically daisy-chain the LFO signals between inputs (this is a direct carry over from the Bastl version). Another thing is to do with the external clocking of the LFO… the ‘pattern’ output is advanced one step for each external clock pulse, but the square and LFO outputs still have their own tempo (again, this is how the OG works). If I’m using external clocking, I usually set the LFO rate to minimum and then the sync from the pattern output is a bit more obvious…It’s really interesting to see how you’re using it, as you’re doing things that I’d not thought of before!! I tend to use the pattern output for drum-sound selection; ignoring the trigger input, and then (if I’m syncing to an external source) the LFO is a slower modulation source for pitch/decay etc."
So good! Nice final jam
Thanks so much! The Kaestle Art has been cloned now too, but I haven't got my hands on it just yet.
Amazing! Thank you so much for doing this - it’s great to see patches being made that I hadn’t even thought of before ❤
No problem at all! Thankyou for bringing these synths to the AE Modular format! :)
Excellent work, thanks for producing.
Thanks so much! No worries :)
Good video thanks for taking the time !
Thanks for taking the time to watch it :)
I can't thank you enough for this video. The last mode, the one you called "you're favorite", was it the "formant modulation mode"?
Have you ever heard Javanese Gamelan music? If yes, did you notice something? I am blown away because I have been searching for a way to make Gamelanish tones for some time now. So I experimented with Ring Modulation and got some meh...wacky metallic sounds, but not the mysterious wacky I need....and then with MUTABLE INSTRUMENTS Rings got some too beautiful metallic bell timbres. So I was thinking that maybe....what I REALLY needed wasn't the metallic timbre per se, but some obscure expensive EURORACK module that allowed overtone fine tuning, to get the specific microtonal wackiness of the Gamelan overtones. Your video proved I was right - minus the "expensive and obscure" part. This "last mode" recreates that magical Gamelan timbre without being overtly metallic...and without me having to fine tune anything.
I was considering of inserting an AE MODULAR adapter into my EURORACK, but I wasn't exactly sure. Now it's a no brainer....I am totally obsessed! I want to know everything I can about this mode of synthesis. So please clarify: Which mode of synthesis was it? And can I process my guitar tone through it? I think the standalone Kastle has an In Out jack. Does this AE modular version have a way to process audio signals?
First of all - Thanks for watching! I hadn't heard of that music before, but that's for putting me onto it. It sounds really, really cool. You actually pose a really interesting question. I think Bastl calls that synth mode on the Kastle the Formant Synthesis mode. While the original Kastle has audio ins and outs, it's mainly for sending in modulation, audio, or clock signals into the system, and then using that audio to control various parameters.
Technically speaking, you can do this with an AE System too. You can use something like the Master module (which has 3.5mm audio in/out), or the 4I/O module (which has 4 audio in/out), and then feed that audio into the Kaestle. If you wanted to use this with a guitar, you'd probably want to incorporate some other things like envelope followers and a matrix mixer to blend together the sounds that you want. Wonkystuff sells a third party Matrix Mixer module, and i think he may even be working on a bigger one. As you said, incoporating Rings into all of this would really open up the floodgates of sonic posibilities for a setup like this.
I know that there's a few people out there who have AE systems on their guitar pedal boards too. So, I think you're definately on the right track to creating a cool, experimental guitar rig, and I'd love to hear how it turns out if you're ever able to share it to me on one of my socials. Really keen to see where you might go with this.
@@RSKT_music Thanks for the response. I'd be happy to share my experiments. I'll try to find you. From what I gather the original kastle passes the audio input to one of the wire sockets that is right beside a socket output that is used in the formant synthesis mode. Do you think I could get results by replacing that oscillator feed with my guitar audio? I do stuff like that with my VOLCA Modular all the time. I don't know if you are familiar with it: its a pretty impressive instrument. I've found several ways to use the VOLCA as a guitar processing effect. The sequencer and function generators modulate and with the S/H I sample the oscillator at audio rate with the guitar signal and get a bitcrushy fuzz + LFOscillation = fuzzolo or a melodic drone using the sequencer... But while those are interesting timbres/effects and probably will be used for a song in the future. The song I am working on now would benefit greatly if I could get my guitar tone processed to sound like the formant mode in Kastle. I am pretty enthused with the prospect. If you could do a small experiment, to check if it works you could save me from the disappointment. Thanks!
You can find me on instagram under the hand rskt_art. I think I see what you're saying now. So there is no specific "audio input" on the AE Modular version, but only because you don't need one. On the original, you take the audio input and plug it into a new source. On the AE version, you can just patch your audio directly into that source, which is OSC Pitch, Tibre, Waveshape, and LFO rate. Putting audio into any of these can yield some pretty interesting, albiet wierd results. I passed a guitar sample into it and tbh it wasn't pretty. When passing audio into the ouput socket next to the formant output, you basically just hear the IN signal alongside the Kaestle signal, almost as if you had them both plugged into a mixer. I think your safest bet would be to run your guitar into something else, use it to trigger an envelope for example, and use that envelope to control the formant. Definitely possible and lots of ways to do it. Hope that helps mate :)
@@RSKT_music Right.... or use a pitch follower ...but that is for later, too expensive for now. SO I am waiting for a BEFACO INTERFACE (DIY: it was cheaper that way) and that has an envelope follower, so I'll be ready to try what you proposed for sure. But its not only a money issue. I gravitate towards synthesis techniques that process the guitar audio itself, instead of using it as a control signal for other processes. SO I got the DREADBOX Antidote for some Karplus-Strong resonating guitar tones: Man! It didn't disappoint. Then I got some S/H modules to replicate the fuzzy bitcrushy tones I got from the VOLCA MODULAR, I wrote you about, but the results were crappy. SO I just got in the mail, I haven't tried it yet, a DREADBOX Hysteria. Why? Because, my working hypothesis is that I didn't have oscillators with the proper waveshape for the sampling to work. And if THAT doesn't work I'll get a WAVEFOLDER to give some UMF to the transient peaks so the audio has more information to sample from. See where I'm going with this? Distorted guitar tones have more harmonic content as well. This in a nutshell, would be my approach to make my guitar tone participate in the Kastle FORMANT SYNTHESIS mode process as well...even though I have no idea what is going on in there: what else can you do anyways? .................................If you don't have a guitar to try this approach, its fine. I'll get the module anyway and if everything fails I can use the guitar as a control signal. And if THAT doesn't work I'll just use the Kastle in the rhythm section. Maybe I should write to BASTL INSTRUMENTS and ask them if they have any ideas.
Fair enough man. Sounds like you have some really good ideas cooking for what you're after. I'm curious, if you prefer effecting your guitar with modular synthesis techniques, have you looked into getting an Empress Zoia? I'm sure you've heard of it, but if you haven't, it's basically a modular synth built into a guitar pedal. I have one and it's absolutely fantastic. You can patch together any effects patch you want and then store it for later. Super easy to get up and running with too. If you haven't got one, I can highly recommend it.
Another cool Ae vid! I liked the Drum noise into tempo patch. Hadn't tried that one. Cheers
Thanks man! Glad you got something out of it :)
The kastle arpeggios seem pretty accurate when sequenced. Could this be an 1V/Octave improvement over the original that doesn't have it?
Not sure that this point as I haven't tried it myself, but you could reach out to Wonkystuff on the discord server and he'd probably be able to tell you 😊
Patch 3 slaps! Nice.
Side note, wowee - the deluge next to it really puts it in scale, thought it was way bigger hehe
Thanks man! Really wish I mixed that one better. Oh well. Yeah, it is teeny tiny! Absolutely love it!