Bastl Instruments discontinues its Microgranny granular sampler and the Kastle generation 1 synthesizers (1.5, drum, and ARP).
Everything has a beginning and an end. This also applies to the synthesizer world. Bastl Instruments has now announced that it is discontinuing a whole series of its portable synthesizers.
Specifically, the Bastl Instruments Microgranny granular sampler and the entire Kastle Generation 1 synthesizer series are now out of production. If you want to have one of these synths, you shouldn’t wait too long.
Bastl Instruments Microgranny and Kastle
It was expected that both synthesizers would be discontinued in the near future, and it is no surprise. The Bastl Instruments Microgranny, the Lo-Fi granular sampler/Synthesizer, was already available in various versions, and the Monolith from 2022 was its final facelift.
Even if the operation is not the best, the Microgranny is a funny granular synth with which you can make nice Lo-Fi, dirty noisescapes.
The end of the Kastle Generation 1 synthesizers was already foreseeable, especially when Bastl Instruments introduced the Kastle 2 with the FX Wizard in November 2024, featuring a new, more powerful DSP platform with USB-C.
Kastle Generation 1 includes the Kastle 1.5, the Kastle B Drum, and the recently released Kastle Arp.
All three are lovely, fun, semi-modular synthesizers you can take anywhere. They’re not the most comprehensive synthesis, but they inspire you to jam on the go.
The last units of the Bastl Instruments Microgranny and Kastle synths are available now at their webshop and retailers worldwide.
More information here: Bastl Instruments
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the microgranny was very esoteric and tedious in use. you could pluck some decent noise out of them but it was more of a novelty item. it sat next to my monotrons for years only touched when I needed something to fidget with.