Bastl Instruments Interview

We chat to Patrik from Bastl Instruments about the Softpop sp2 and their other projects… For more on the Softpop sp2, their instruments and eurorack modules see bastl-instruments.com

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Interview With Patrik from Bastl…

Thanks a lot for answering our questions…

Can you tell us about Bastl and how the company got started and how long you have been making instruments?

Bastl started as an art project 😀 Haha, yes, it’s true. Vaclav, our CTO, made a noise synth based on Arduino, and he was teaching people how to make sounds this way. People liked it, and they even wanted to order it online as they were from different states. But suddenly, PayPal sent Vaclav an email: “You have to send us a biz certificate; otherwise, your account will be suspended.”

Vaclav’s answer was: “I’m not a business, I’m an art student!”

And that’s how it all started. Thank you, PayPal 😀

What made you want to make instruments like the Softpop sp2? It’s so different from the normal subtractive synths on sale, I love the routing, sequencing and distortions.

We are in constant pursuit of the next big, interesting, and challenging thing. We can easily make another subtractive synth with 3 oscillators and a filter, but where is the fun in that? So we have made a synth for songwriters, with Patchy for hardcore synth fans.

Will you be making more smaller instruments, like the Kastle Drum? I think they’re great.

I think you will see something very, very soon. Wink, wink.

What’s a good way for beginners to get into your DIY products? Where should they dive in?

Good question. I highly recommend YouTube! I think it is a great resource for knowledge on soldering, which DIY kits are easy to build or not, and after that, you can get into more hardcore communities like Pusherman.

What music do you listen to (or make) yourself? What inspires you?

I always have periods of different genres 😀 I have 7 records out of ambient and lo-fi. Right now, I’m working on breakbeat-inspired kind of pop songs with metal influences. One of those songs will be on the BASTL ANNIVERSARY album, which we will release soon.

Otherwise, I get inspiration from all over the place. Old rock like YES, Tangerine Dream, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, to new metal like Enter Shikari and Architects. And, of course, I’m watching the Czech scene, which is starting to be really interesting. Check out Never Sol and Oblaka!

You can hear or buy Patrik’s the albums on bandamp here.

What have you got planned / coming up in the future?

We are working on some new cool stuff that I cannot talk about right now, but you will get a glimpse of that at our anniversary livestream show. There will be an online tombola! Do you guys want to win a complete Rumburak system?

Anything else you’d like to say?

Thank you for the questions! I really enjoyed the piece about 2020! I love this thing!

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More Info

You can find more about Bastl here, and Patrik’s music here.

You can find all our other interviews here.