Bastl Instruments Introduces Pizza and Softpop SP2

video upload by Bastl Instruments

"In the beginning, there was... Pizza. Listen."

Pizza FM & Wave-shaping Oscillator

We are very excited to finally introduce our first dedicated eurorack oscillator module called Pizza!

Pizza is a compact 8HP digital oscillator with powerful wave shaping applied to FM synthesis. Pizza offers a ton of flavor in a compact form, and it grants superb access with the assignable CTRL knob and CV, while its 3 different outputs allow for high patch flexibility. The unique take on FM synthesis combined with waveshaping offers a vast sonic palette while staying intuitive. Pizza is perfect for hybrid synthesis! Waveshaping on MAIN output gives you the world of additive techniques, while the PULSE and OSC OUT speak the subtractive language where mixing the outputs into a filter will sound massive!

Because of its digital nature, Pizza does not have to be tuned, and its approach to tuning is different. You only go to the Tune mode when you actually need to. Otherwise, the PITCH knob serves as either octave transpose or detune. Bastl's own VCO was brainstormed ever since we started producing modules, but Pizza has been in active development for the past 3 and a half years. It was developed by a team centered around our junior developer Martin Klecl, coded by Florian Helling, and supervised by Václav Peloušek, with contributions from Lennart Schierling and the whole Bastl team.

The first batch of Pizza preorders (300 units) starts: Wednesday 11th May 2022 at 20:00 CET Shipping in early June 2022. Price is 297 EUR including tax and 245 EUR excluding tax.

Softpop SP2

At the beginning of 2022, we introduced the desktop modular synthesizer Softpop SP2 – a collaboration between Casper Electronics a.k.a. Peter Edwards and Václav Peloušek of Bastl Instruments. Softpop SP2 is a radical subtractive synth under the influence of unconventional digital control. It’s a rare beast that excels at both melody and noise in equal measure.

There is a free major update coming to all Softpop SP2 users! There is a digital VCO hiding inside the SP2: users can switch a jumper inside the unit and update firmware via an audio file to access it! The digital oscillator has several new waveforms (generated on the original analog Triangle output) and gains the tuning precision and stability of a digital VCO! The firmware update will be available as a free download when the second batch, which is currently produced, will be available in the summer of 2022.