Make no mistake, the Bastl Kalimba is a synthesizer, you simply play it like a kalimba. Its tines don’t actually make a lot sound. There’s an inner mic you could mix in for a little bit acoustic spice, but it surely’s largely pushed by the synth engine that mixes bodily modeling and FM. The tines are literally contact and velocity-sensitive triggers. And, whereas it could sound considerably like an actual kalimba, it’s much more sonically versatile and presents options you possibly can solely discover on a synth.
Past the synth sounds that vary from pluck to pads, there are additionally built-in results protecting primary spatial results like delay and reverb, in addition to distortion, bit crushing, and even tape emulation. There’s additionally a multi-mode high- and low-pass filter, a easy arpeggiator.
Extra attention-grabbing, although, are the looper and contact factors that add distinctive results. The looper has time-stretching options, will be reversed, and rerecorded by way of the consequences for damaging processing. A sequence of touchpads on the entrance allow observe glides and alter the timbre utilizing results that Bastl calls Soil and Wind. These results unlock the Kalimba’s accelerometer for additional timbral manipulation. There are additionally two programmable contact factors on the highest that may be assigned to virtually any parameter, from easy pitch bends to the scale of the reverb.
Bastl is presently operating a Kickstarter campaign for the primary batch of Kalimbas. Usually, that is the place you get the caveats about crowdfunded merchandise. However Bastl Devices is a well-established firm with an extended observe file of delivering oddball music gear at scale. The corporate known as it “one of the crucial difficult” merchandise it has ever created, and it spent greater than three years in improvement, so it’s potential that Bastl is gauging curiosity earlier than committing to mass manufacturing. We’ve reached out to Bastl for remark and can replace if we hear again.