Bastl Kastles: LFO Sounds (Part 1)

Back with some more experiments with the Kastle 1.5 synth and the Kastle Drum (both made by Bastl Instruments). It probably seems like this is turning into a Kastle-only channel, but I just enjoy the minimalism of these two little synths. There is something kind of fascinating about seeing a wiring pattern and knob settings gradually turn into a specific musical idea. This video mainly focuses on getting audiorate (audio frequency) sounds out of the Kastle 1.5's LFO, also pairing it with the Drum to get a melody/bass. The next video, Part 2, will flip things around (which is really the better way). After that, I'm planning to do a video about EMF coils and then a couple of videos on granular synthesis (one with the Model:Samples, the other with the Volca Sample 2). Thanks for watching!
TIMELINE
00:00 STARTER
It's easy to go from the Kastle 1.5's default sound to something a lot different.
00:45 INTRO
General discussion. The opening shot is silly, but our new place has some sight lines that are MUCH longer than the old place. Now the first 82 Undulations videos take on some new nostalgia.
02:47 KASTLE LFO DETAILS
I know we use the Kastle 1.5 LFO's all the time, but there are a couple of minor points about the LFO Reset and Bit-In features that are easy to overlook. Very relevant to making sounds with the LFO. I also get distracted and set up a pretty catchy tune :)
12:24 AUDIO LFO v1.0
I'm sure somebody will watch this and go "how obvious!" - and it is - but that's the point. I did this for a couple of years without knowing about...
14:33 AUDIO LFO v2.0
This method of driving the LFO frequency with the main oscillator (via LFO RST) has a much bigger frequency range and a lot of interesting consequences. I got the idea to do this from an 0-Coast video about subharmonics (by the ever-amazing Loopop). It's not exactly a subharmonic method but there are some similarities. It's basically a sort of lo-fi digitization of the main oscillator's frequency content, and the sharp edges introduce a ton of sidebands/harmonics, giving a very nice sound.
19:52 ADDING THE KASTLE DRUM
This one never really seemed to land, but that is sort of the point. The first thing in the next video will be to switch things around and use the Drum's Pattern LFO at audiorate, letting the Kastle 1.5 take on the jobs of melody and modulation. Then add in a lot of complexity from the Drum's other LFO's. Then I want to show the Drum doing this stuff on its own, quite interesting alone and with the 1.5, and also what I call "Quark Mode" on the Drum (for lack of a better name). And lastly, something I haven't really tried - both devices doing audio frequency LFO voices at the same time.
26:19 OUTRO
A different look at the new place's kitchen.
30:55 ENDER
Running the 1.5 solo through the Korg NTS-1's reverb. This is the fast LFO on the LEFT channel and the 2nd Oscillator on the RIGHT channel. I do a little bit of the formant synthesis mode at the beginning. To me, this sort of drone work is all about the beat frequencies and trying to create a little tension in between times of stability. Will you hear the beat frequencies in headphones? Probably. Try not to think about it.

[@earache_barker]

Thank you so very much for this video (and your entire channel). We are indebted for the knowledge you pass down. Much respect.

[@undulations]

It means a lot to get a comment like this. Thank you very much🙏!

[@manmaas]

I have both Kastles and think they're great but never have the discipline to focus on settings. I just start wiggling the knobs, punching wires in and out then accomplish pretty much nothing as I haven't a clue what I've done! So I appreciate your detailed explanations and patience. I actually learn a lot from your work. Thanks.

[@undulations]

Thanks for taking a look! It's great to hear that a video is helpful🙏🏼.

[@ZooM18241]

Interesting technique and one more type of sound that my Kastle can generate thanks to you. Well explained.

[@jeffreyanderson1249]

Yes, thank you for taking the time to communicate concisely what you have discovered.

[@undulations]

You're very welcome! Thanks a lot for watching and the kind feedback🙏🏼!

[@CmdrMic]

Awesome, you rule! 😁👍👍👍

[@adamcrafts3645]

Happy for a new video on the Kastle, I'm going to pick one of these beauties next week (likely followed by the Drum too)... Thanks for your great detailed vids mate

[@undulations]

Hey, thanks a lot for checking it out🙏🏼! I'm sure you will enjoy yours😀!

[@PhilanderingBastard]

Really enjoyed the video even though I still haven’t talked myself into buying one of these. Looking forward to the next videos, particularly the EMS coil one.

[@undulations]

Hey, thanks for checking it out! I'm looking forward to doing the EM coil video - so many different sounds😀 ps but still one more of this Bastl LFO topic, which I wasn't really planning on but quite a few additional things to discuss👍🏻

[@PhilanderingBastard]

@@undulations gud. A man with a plan.

[@jaguarvssnake]

Glad to see more Kastle content! I have both of these, love them as you do and really enjoy the style of your videos. Sometimes I wonder what it might be like to use a more “pro” version of these crazy little boxes (maybe the soft pop 2 would be this?), but then I get to thinking that they really are kind of perfect in their own right.

[@jaguarvssnake]

And I like those colored jumper cables, where did you get those?

[@undulations]

Hey, thank you🙏🏼! I agree that they are in some sort of sweet-spot, just complex enough to allow a lot of different things🤔

[@undulations]

@@jaguarvssnake Cables from other gear sort of trickle over into the Kastle box, but I think I also bought some a while back. If you search for Dupont cables you'll see a lot (just make sure to get male and a length you want). They are pretty cheap, and the main issue is that they often come in a pack of like 100😳.

[@eddnix4178]

Great video as expected. I'm trying to work out the mechanism at play here, sync or FM? Whichever, it sounds great and I'd not even considered this approach to sound manipulation with the Kastle - further experimentation required on my part!

[@eddnix4178]

Further thoughts: I'm guessing it must be hard syncing the Lfo as that would explain the results of both the square and triangle outputs. I'm going to have to hook it up to my O-scope when I get home this evening...

[@undulations]

Thanks very much for checking out the video🙏🏼! I haven't looked at any of this on scope but should be able to see more in the wav files in Audacity. My guess is that the LFO waves just get a hard reset, so I believe close to the sync scenario. I also want to try to understand why the plus-mode main oscillator out doesn't seem to reset things🤔. It's a lot of fun stuff, thanks again!

[@jolondixon2311]

what happens if you don’t ground the two kastles together and try to share modulation? Noob question here

[@undulations]

Well, I'm glad you asked. I've seen some things in the process of making Part 2 of this video that are kind of surprising. The shield-to-shield grounding that I showed/recommended in this video actually seems to be different (inferior) to the straightforward deck-to-deck grounding (i.e. patching [-] to [-]) - specifically for this CLOCK IN and LFO RESET stuff. And then I've seen a case of what I call "relative grounding" of 2 audio signals (will cover it in the upcoming video). BUT, to answer your question: generally speaking, a voltage is just a number, but it's always in reference to something (ground). So it's sort of like the synths not speaking the same language without a common ground. You might get something weird or cool, but more likely just nothing. It is easiest to think of batteries: they need current to flow in a closed loop to work. Without a common ground you can end up making a "loop" to the wrong battery, and so it's not really a loop at all. All that said, likely no harm in trying, especially using batteries. You can find that some patches end up closing the loops in an unexpected or unintended way. Also, check out Kastle Drum: Ghost Mode (video from earlier this year) if you haven't - that involves getting cool sounds out of the 1.5 with the Drum turned off. Thanks for watching!

[@Zen_Mox]

I'm definitely going to get both of these, thanks to you. I want to see what can be achieved with the Folktek Mescaline. Now that I understand co-grounding (again, thanks to you).

[@undulations]

Thanks for checking it out! I really need to spend a big chunk of time with the Mescaline at some point. It's such a pretty synth!

[@Zen_Mox]

@@undulations it baffles me, tbh, but I still love it

[@KimiElectronic]

Instructive video, thank you! If anyone is interested, I made a 10 track album with Kastle. 🙏

[@undulations]

That's awesome!!! Thanks for checking out the video!