CONTENT
00:00 What is the Wave Bard?
00:50 Overview & sound demos
03:28 Sample specs
03:42 Making some rhythms with Wave Bard
06:20 Can you use it to make actual music?!
09:05 How to load samples
09:38 My thoughts about Wave Bard
Check with dealers on the right for availability. Details and pics follow:
KASTLE 2 WAVE BARD
Experimental, patchable stereo sample player
The Kastle 2 Wave Bard is an experimental, patchable stereo sample player that empowers you to discover new rhythms and riffs through modulation and modularity.
Doepfer will be showcasing the above new modules at SUPERBOOTH25. Details on each follow. Check with dealers on the right for upcoming availability.
Module A-119-2 is kind of a dual version of module A-119 without envelope follower. Instead two amplifiers are available and the module width is 4 HP only.
The module contains two amplifiers with separately adjustable amplification levels. Each channel is equipped with an overload display. The module can be used also for stereo signals, e.g. the stereo output of a smartphone.
Controls and displays:
Level 1/2: manual control of the amplification in the range 0 - about 45.
Overload 1/2: overload LED, begins to light up for output levels beyond about 10Vpp (+/-5V)
In 1: audio input 1 (monophonic or stereophonic, see technical details)
In 2: audio input 2 (monophonic)
Out 1/2: audio output (monophonic)
Technical details:
for higher amplifications the two amplifiers can be daisy-chained
normalling options: the signal applied to socket In 1 can be normalled to socket In 2 in different ways by means of a jumper on the pc board:
socket In 1 is connected via a mono patch cable (standard patch cable) to a monophonic signal and this signal is normalled to socket In 2 (i.e. the same input signal for both sub-units): jumper on pin header JP2 in upper position
socket In 1 is connected via a 3.5 mm stereo TRS cable to a stereophonic signal and the second channel of the stereo signal is normalled to socket In 2: jumper on pin header JP2 in lower position
no normalling: jumper is removed from pin header JP2
all inputs and outputs are DC coupled. Thus the module can be used also for the amplifications of control voltages.
Antonio Blanca, creator of the Reaktor instruments NOD-E and DRON-E, is excited to present his new work, MONTAG-E, for NI Reaktor 6.5. This granular sampler is designed for those interested in microsound exploration and creating complex, unique sonic textures. With its particular approach, MONTAG-E offers a wide range of sonic possibilities for sound designers, experimental musicians, film composers and sound artists.
What is MONTAG-E?
MONTAG-E is a granular sampling tool that allows for detailed manipulation of audio, ideal for creating sounds ranging from microsounds to abstract soundscapes, sound effects, ambiences, glitch, noisy textures and more. With four simultaneous granular playheads, the instrument allows for deep exploration of samples, creating anything from minimalistic to complex grain clouds. Additionally, its individual audio outputs are designed to create quadraphonic material, providing flexibility for multi-channel sound creation.
MONTAG-E is also designed to be fully MIDI-controllable, allowing for real-time interaction. Whether you’re performing live or experimenting in the studio, you can easily control parameters on the fly, enhancing your creative process.
"I've built a few kits from @zeppelindesign in the past and decided to try their latest offering, the Noisette. This particular kit allows you to build a DIY optical theremin. It's a fun little project that sounds amazing with effects.
Intro - 0:00
Build Process - 0:57
Calibrating & Testing - 2:39
Demo with FX - 3:15"
"The Noisette Optical Theremin is really fun to play! The pitch and volume of the audio signal is controlled by 2 light sensors — you can alter the sound by shielding the amount of light that reaches the sensors. We offer the Noisette as a Build-it-yourself kit that’s fun and easy to assemble – soldering is required. For adults of all ages and kids as young as 8 years old, alongside a qualified adult.
Two Optical sensors to control pitch and volume
Two knobs to control master volume and wave shape
On-board speaker
Headphone or Line Out Jack
30 page, assembly manual, with over 100 assembly photographs
Only 18 parts that need to be assembled to the circuit board"
"A piece built from field recordings captured near a forest in Tokyo, combined with piano and a @buchlausa Music Easel. Amid flowing water and rustling trees, electronic tones and piano lines emerge.
Piano (YAMAHA CP‑88): Performed live, then mixed as two layers—the dry signal and a processed version treated with LOSSY and @gfisys SPECULAR TEMPUS.
Music Easel: Routed through @ChaseBlissAudio MOOD for reverb, micro‑looping, and pitch shifting.
Field recordings: Sounds of a small forest and stream in a Tokyo residential area, recorded on an iPhone."
"A piece created with the @NordKeyboards Nord Lead and @teenageengineering OP‑1 field—ambient music where simple drones dissolve into radio noise.
Nord Lead: I play a slow‑attack pad, routing the output through @gfisys SPECULAR TEMPUS for reverb and delay.
OP‑1 field: Connected to @ChaseBlissAudio LOSSY and GENERATION LOSS MK II while performing. Midway, I feed in a radio signal, shaping the noise in LOSSY.
"CyDrums: https://sonicware.jp/pages/cydrums
Buy Now Before 145% Duty Hits! (for USA Customers)
$399 now — next month, over $578 in extra duties. Hurry!
'Phase Index'
The CyDrums was the central instrument — a drum machine — in this performance.
One of its tracks was used not only to trigger internal sounds but also to simultaneously control the modular.
In addition, the audio signal from the modular was routed back into CyDrums and processed through its effects."
"What if your synth reshaped reality?
Alice-9 is the next-generation sample-based synthesizer forged from the chaos of the unknown and built for creators who refuse to follow.
Powered by SCO technology, and infused with analog soul, AL9 isn’t here to emulate.
It’s here to change the rules.
🎛 Real movement, deep stereo placement, aging imperfection, and punchy compression.
🎶 Every preset is a twist. Every sound a move. Every session, your next breakthrough.
This isn’t just another synth.
This is the edge of synthesis.
Choose your sound. Be the one who rewrite the rules.
Alice-9 (AL9) is a next-generation sample-based synthesizer in the digital domain, part of the Marea virtual instrument series, and powered by the innovative MUST (Modular Unified Synthesis Technology). Early testers have described it as an instrument with a deeply organic and varied sound palette — evocative of iconic synthesizers from the 1990s and early 2000s. AL9 redefines what a sample-based synth can be, merging analog realism, playable feel, and modern digital power into a single instrument. Available in VST3, AU, and AAX formats, ensuring integration with all major DAWs. Use code: ALICESPECIAL at checkout for 41% off until August 31, 2025!
The first users compared AL9 to walking into a music store in the 1990s, hearing a synth that delivers something new and inspiring with each preset. That rare sensation of immediacy, depth, and musicality — the feeling of a “real instrument” — is the essence of AL9.
Made to Inspire The architecture of AL9 goes far beyond sample playback or wavetable synthesis. Its sound engine is built around SCO (Sample-Controlled Oscillator), a high-resolution resampling system capable of reproducing natural analog behaviors such as frequency drift and evolving dynamics. Unlike typical static samplers or rigid waveforms, AL9’s oscillators breathe and shift like their analog ancestors.
This realism is further enhanced by the proprietary Superstereo system for natural stereo placement , the Age control that adds subtle imperfections, emulating the warmth of aged hardware and Integrated multiband dynamics processor inspired by the popular OTT compression paradigm, delivering musical glue and energetic punch.
Whether you're chasing nostalgia or forging new paths in sound design, AL9 provides an inspiring playground that rewards musicianship and creativity.
Beyond Emulation The idea for THING originated during the development of Thing (TH8 – TH5) — an emulation of a classic 1980s DCO synth. During that process, a question arose: what if, instead of replicating digital waveforms, we could capture and reproduce the actual behavior of an analog VCO? What if we could push timbral diversity beyond the limitations of traditional synthesis methods?
"Here we have the TREPANATOR from ZLOB, which is an experimental "bent by design" synth voice. It's inspired by Rob Hordijk's Benjolin and ZLOB remaking similar ideas with their own modules and circuits. There's two oscillators, a multimode filter, many feedback points, oscillating 3 band EQ and more in this highly interactive and wide ranging abstract voice and instrument.
Like the Benjolin that inspires it, the Trepanator excels and abstract, organic and interactive self influencing textures, sounds and rhythmic ever evolving loops. In this video there's mud burping, swamps in space caves, aquatic bubbles, harsh noise, unique techno percussion and FX and plenty more.
"The Trepanator is a 14hp analog “Bent by Design” experimental instrument featuring a Dual VCO, Difference Rectifier, 3-band EQ, Sample/Track and Hold, and SVF(state variable filter) all built into one nonlinear module. Its origins trace back to a love for Rob Hordijk’s Benjolin and patching a similar pseudo chaotic feedback-based instrument from scratch using all Zlob modules.
Although not based on Hordijk’s circuit or signal flow, it uses a similar architecture of dual voltage controlled oscillators, an “interference pattern generator,” a state variable filter, and internalized cross-patched feedback. Instead of a Rungler and comparator the Trepanator uses a sample/track and hold with slew, a difference/rectifier circuit(based on NLC), and a self-oscillating 3-band EQ. Utilizing this excessive feedback between the VCO’s, EQ, S/H, and SVF, creates a completely new instrument for discovering abstract electronic sounds. The Trepanator is a highly interactive, unpredictable, and an immediate instrument capable of a huge range of organic and sounds from: snarling, plucking, bubbling, screaming, gurgling, hissing, grunting, pinging, and quacking, to machine like rhythmic loops, circuit bent broken modem sounds, no-input mixer screeching, intermittent short wave radio fizzling, and full on Harsh Noise Wall all within the touch of a fader or a small knob turn without any external audio or any control voltage in."
"Introducing an FM Drum circuit that fuses analog punch with metallic tones of FM synthesis. This DIY kit offers a wide range of sounds for your patches, from kicks to toms, metallic clangs and more – a great addition of versatile, rhythmic elements to your system!
We – Erica Synths and Moritz Klein – have developed a series of educational DIY kits under the brand name mki x es.EDU with one specific goal in mind: to teach people with little-to-no prior experience how to design analog synthesizer circuits from scratch. What you’ll find in the box is not simply meant to be soldered together and then disappear in your rack. Instead, we want to take you through the circuit design process step by step, explaining every choice we’ve made and how it impacts the finished module.
NB! All kits in these series are simple and come with extensive user manuals which can be downloaded separately, therefore we will not provide customer support in case your DIY build fails to function or similar."
Designing an FM Drum circuit from scratch (kick, tom, bell & cymbal)
"While trying to fix a broken TR-909, I came up with a DIY analog FM Drum circuit that combines the punchy character of the 909 with the metallic textures of FM synthesis. It comes with four different modes:
• 909-style kick/tom • Metallic bell/gong • Ring mod cymbal • FM cymbal
The FM Drum is the final drum voice in my DIY drum machine series (for now). If you want to build along, here's the bill of materials:"
In this video we demonstrate Monumatic's capabilities alongside other modules and controllers, these include; Intuitive Instruments Exquis Knobula Chord Pilot Knobula Echo Cinematic Knobula Kickain Endorphins Queen of Pentacles Jasmine and Olives Water Bela Gliss Arturia Keystep"
Knobula Monumatic Synth Demo (no talking): 18 Patches
Monumatic is a fully polyphonic 8-voice synthesizer and a monophonic synthesizer packed into a compact 12HP Eurorack module.
It features16 selectable oscillator modes to provide a diverse range of both classic and futuristic tone generation using exclusively virtual analog algorithms.
"A recording of our in-store event on 26 March 2025 with special guest Joran van Gremberghe of Joranalogue. He gives an in-depth demo of the mighty Collide 4 Eurorack module, which was developed in collaboration with musician and YouTuber Hainbach. Joran explains how it's inspired by vintage lock-in amplifiers but includes a host of new twists that expand its horizons for musical synthesis.
"Don’t have a real Buchla 200 (cloned) and Yamaha DX5 to hand? No worries! Just put this video on in the background (in full-screen mode), and have the next best thing 😁
Here is 10 minutes of self-playing modular synthesiser randomness. Why not put it on loop - then you can have it bubbling away in the background while you do other things
A note on the patch: The DX5 is being triggered and pitched from the Buchla 200 modules (mostly a 280 in cycle mode and 262 Source of Uncertainty, plus some MARF) using a Kenton CV to MIDI Converter. The DX5 is programmed to make a percussive drum-like sound using six operators. The DX5 audio signal then goes back into Buchla modules - mainly the 277 and 288 Delays, which are being fed back on themselves to create the bowed-string-like sounds. The Dodeca module provides mixing, random panning and reverb. The SOU sends random voltages to the 280 so it cycles irregularly. The whole patch has a cybersynthetic nature because it is always on the edge of going chaotic with the feedback to the delays, but it keeps itself under control by injecting new DX5 sounds into the path just in time to settle it back down before it happens again"
"Emute Lab Instruments is a new project, based at the University of Sussex, and coming out of the Experimental Music Technologies Lab research group.
Chris showed Nick their latest creation, Myriad a new multi-oscillator module.
This prototype featured nine oscillators organized into three banks with a hybrid analog-digital synthesis design, aimed at creating dynamic sounds. Chris explained the module's CV-controllable parameters, including pitch, spread, and octave control, designed for rich tonal diversity. An integrated wave-shaping and overdrive circuit added depth and distortion, with LEDs indicating the overdrive status.
It should be available soon through Signal Sounds and Thonk.
Note the listing has ended. Saving the pics and details for posterity.
"This is an ARP Avatar that has been modified. The plaque mounted on the console says 'Alvin the Unique, Custom Built for George Choksy by Jim Chandler of Chattanooga--1982'. The estate we purchased it from was the Choksy estate.
We have ran signal through the synth and were able to get various sounds from it. It does need some cleaning and some care. We weren't able to fully test all functions, due to us simply not knowing exactly what to test for. But it does produce signal and the guitar did trigger various effects.
The modules that are outlined in blue are the modifications. I've included pictures of the inside of the console to show the quality of the modifications. We did not pass signal through any of these modules, as they appear to need to be patched together like a traditional synth.
This item includes the original owner's manual, five(5) ARP foot pedals, an AC cable, and the flight case. The hex pickup is not included.
The flight case does have a smoky odor to it. The sliders on the synth are all functional, but most are missing the grip. One of the sliders, the HPF Cutoff Frequency, is broken off flush to the top of the console. It does, however, still slide and function."
"The Unperson puts the Maneco Labs Grone Eurorack drone voice through its paces. This Eurorack module combines a digital VCO, an MS20-style filter and a clone of Mutable Instruments Clouds into one powerful machine for all your granular droning needs!
Click the auction link on top when you get there for additional listings.
VEMIA is Peter Forrest's auction house. He is the author of The A-Z of Analogue Synthesizer Books.
Yamaha TX-816 FM Rack Synthesizer (8 DX-7s in a rack) with Beetle PR-7 Programmer The Yamaha TX816 is a monster of DX and FM digital synthesis. It is a unique system in that it is a rack unit that could take up to eight TF1 modules. A TF1 module is basically a DX7 condensed down to a single circuit board with almost no front panel controls. Definitely designed for use with external hardware and software controllers, the TX816 allows you to easily carry around up to eight DX7s! Software such as MOTU Unisyn, Emagic SounDiver, or even another DX7 can be used to program the sounds in each module via MIDI. This unit contains eight TF1 modules. A TF1 module is basically a DX7 condensed down to a single circuit board. Each TF1 module consists of a 16-voice, 6-operator digital FM synth engine. So this complete TX816 with all eight TF1 modules offers up to 128 voices and 48 operators! Each TF1 also features an independent audio out (XLR) and MIDI I/O for a total of eight audio outputs and MIDI I/O's. It also has one global MIDI in/out port with 8-part multitimbrality, but no common stereo or mix output. The TX816 is fully compatible with all other DX synthesizers including Native Instruments FM7 software-based plug-in. You can use the TX816 like it's eight seperate DX7s or mix and pan each module together to layer your sounds into one monstrous DX powerhouse!
Evoke a bewildering variety of polyphonic organ sounds directly from your guitar! Valkurë (pronounced VAL-KUR-EE) transforms your raw strings into a big, multi-timbral instrument in realtime, and without resorting to guitar-to-MIDI trickery. Preserve the crucial dynamics of your playing -such as vibrato, bends, and slides- while maintaining thorough control over the final sound. Complete with a full range of organ parameters, extensive options, built-in rotary speaker emulation, virtual tube amplifier, and analog inspired effects, Valkurë is a powerful addition to your guitar arsenal.
The unique organ module achieves guitar-to-organ transformation via proprietary signal processing algorithms, thereby retaining full polyphony. Valkurë offers three different organ models that vary from mellow to aggressive. The main tone generator features nine registers (drawbars) that allow you to dial in overtones in a five octave range — much like a tonewheel organ. In addition, two special “pedal” registers provide harmonically rich bass and sub bass tones that can work alone or in combination with the principal organ tones.
A built-in percussion generator inspired by “B” and “C” series organs is triggered by pick attack, and features switches for percussion length, level, as well as harmonic. Additional preferences allow you to modify these, as well as specify the sensitivity of the trigger detector. The Chorus/Vibrato unit is modeled after the famed scanner circuit, and features six modes.
The rotary speaker module offers three unique cabinets to choose from. Each cabinet features individually configurable virtual horn and drum drivers. The rotary unit provides many options, including micing angle, inertia, slow/fast speeds, additional room microphone, and more. The built-in amplifier is designed to complement the rotary speaker, and offers three different amp models that feature our newest tube emulation technology, as well as a full range of tonal controls.
The settings panel contains a wide variety of parameters for fine tuning the organ. These include variable attack to obtain an auto-generated volume “swell” effect, as well as thorough control over the organ’s timbre and dynamics via Taper, Resonance, Body, Air, and Leakage parameters. Dedicated variable Boost controls for organ and pedal modules help add fullness and sizzle to the basic tones. Valkurë is rounded out by the addition of analog-modeling effects, including tape delay, 3-band Baxandall style EQ, as well as built in compressor.
Besides working as both a standalone app and an AUv3 plugin, Valkurë is also compatible with Apple Silicon Macs. It comes packaged with many professional features, including convenient MIDI learn for over 75 parameters, a powerful preset management system, 128 factory presets, and more.
