Tindie

Great module, and a good buying experience, would buy from them again! You should buy one! Blah blah blah filler to hit the 100 character requirement

Michael | Oct. 10, 2023

Incredible!

For Euro Kastle / B Drum Kastle (Full Kit)

A mindboggling bytebeat adventure. Fantastic! This is a great and unbelievable little product. I got it preassembled with the two firmwares, wonderful.

Frank | June 6, 2023

Fun little kit

I had a great time building this kit and enjoyed experimenting with different patching options once it was completed. The kit was solidly constructed, and the shipping process was smooth. While the documentation initially seemed sparse, it became clearer where each component should go after unpacking and referring to the links in the description. Soldering everything together took me around half an hour or less.

It's worth noting that the kit does not include plastic knobs for the pots (as shown in the pictures) or a 10-pin eurorack power cable, which needs to be obtained separately. I overlooked this when placing my order, but it can be deduced from the BOM.

I wholeheartedly recommend this kit. It offers a satisfying building experience and the opportunity to explore various patching possibilities to get unique sounds.

Filip | April 7, 2023

Tons of fun and inspiration!

It's an absolute blast with some effects, adds some wonderful glitchy sounds to any setup. Goes even deeper and crazier with Angry Robot!
The usability of this little tool is insane, from adding textures to finding rhythms.

Angry Robot is absolutely insane! Connecting its clock out to some other gear while experimenting on it provides a crazy range of rhythm triggers which can generate some patterns I haven't created before.

Filip | March 28, 2023

Great tool for both inspiration and perhaps even performance

For Euro Kastle Synth Module v1.5 (Eurorack version)

I am building a compact battery powered techno setup with very affordable gear.
I hesitated for a while to get anything from SSS because I wasn't certain about the lo-fi applicability to my setup.
Well, I gave in and got the Arcane (with an incoming Glitch Storm MK 2), pre-assembled piece.
It is an incredible amount of fun on its own! Highly playable rhythms and sounds, especially with effect pedals. Will definitely keep either this one, the Glitch Storm MK2, or both in my bag.

As a note, I managed to make the hiss go away by connecting something else to the same power bank as arcane. Will try with other incoming power banks and test it more.

Edit some weeks later: I have been using Arcane as a source of background music for all my study sessions, it's surprisingly effective at keeping me focused!
Here is a demo with a bunch of fx: https://www.bandlab.com/post/d5750627-d2db-ed11-9f73-6045bd31b578

Petter | March 19, 2022

Well built, very fun. Minimal documentation.

I purchased both the drum module and the regular kastle module. Even though they take up some space in my modular rack it is much more nice and a lot less fiddly to use them with other modules compared to the original synths from Bastl (which I have also owned). The modules are well built and everything works good. The documentation leaves a bit to be desired, basically there is none and the names of controls and I/O are changed compared to the original. Of course there are design documents on github that you can correlate against the ones from Bastl. Communication and shipping worked well. In summary, well built and very fun modules but be prepared for some experimentation, because that's the idea with the synths but also because of the basic (non-existing) documentation. Recommended!

Arman | Jan. 21, 2022

Amazing

So much depth. So much fun. Not much documentation. Turn the knobs. Press the buttons.

As far as I can tell, hold the left button in and turn the far left encoder to adjust forward and reverse scanning through the 't' index.

Daniel | Jan. 17, 2022

Low cost/High reward DIY project

This is by far the most rewarding DIY eurorack module I’ve laid my hands on so far - the envelopes are digital, that’s true, but they sound fine and are fantastic options for modulating LFOs, self-patching craziness, or even just simple a/r envelopes. Buy if in stock! I’ve got four :)

Marius | Nov. 23, 2021

Most fun module in rack.

The go to module for creative beats and cv manipulation. Recommended! Easy build, but may be lacking short summary of posdibillities.

Sascha | Sept. 23, 2021

Really great product!

For KIT OPERA ROTAS//GENERATIVE FM DRUM MACHINE

This little gadget is so much fun. My mind is still blown by what an arduino nano can do soundwise. If you like to tinker with sound and are into low fi and 8 bit sounds or just pure chaos (i didn't know, i was until recently), this is the gadget you have been waiting for. Documentation is really the only thing that needs a little improvement, but if you have trouble, the creator of this gem is of great help! I ordered the MKII full-diy-kit and you only need basic soldering skill. All the smd-parts where in place. I think that is a great improvement to the previous revision where LEDs were of the non-SMD kind, if i am not mistaken.

Justin | Aug. 31, 2021

Great device; better documentation

Absolutely love the device. FM percussion isn’t something you see or hear a lot about, and that’s too bad, especially when amazing devices like this exist. I’d like to see better documentation as what is available is unclear and seems incomplete. Perhaps a few video tutorials even? It feels like I’m guessing my way around the interface. That’s not altogether bad, you find great sounds that way… I just wish I knew how to reproduce those cool sounds. At least to some degree.

Mike | May 1, 2021

easy assembly and fun operation

Ordered the 'full kit'. well shipped w/ tracking. no docs included but i found the schematic pretty easily from searching (https://github.com/spherical-sound-society/ARCANE/blob/main/ibom0.8.html). easy easy soldering, all through hole and simple. once its working the arcane will surprise you with its large generative output space. this is a fun, well-made product!

Daniel | March 16, 2021

Neat little inspiration machine

This thing is really wonderful and weird. I purchased a fully assembled unit and the build quality and packaging were both excellent. It's very portable and you could probably make a little enclosure with minimal effort for pocket cafe jamming.

I had the most fun with it when I wasn't going into it expecting a certain sound, but rather just letting it create unusual randomness and letting it spark some inspiration. Within about 5 minutes of turning it on, I was hearing some neat noises that were interesting and musical and started recording. Most of the kind of tones it generates are a mix of squelchy frequencies and chiptuney game sounds. It sounds particularly good when you run it through some delay and overdrive/distortion. You could use it in a live jam setting and it will always produce something interesting, although so far I've usually recorded snippets and chopped them into loops for later use in a DAW. The knobs let you dial in various frequencies - although they're less flexible for "shaping" your sound and more for reigning in the chaos. I haven't fully explored all the modes, but let's be real, all you really have to do is press a random button and something cool will happen.

Daniel | Feb. 25, 2021

Awesome little gadget

This thing makes dope sounds from the first moment I plugged it in. Tapping random really unlocks some creative options. Tons of customizability and flexibility - it sounds different every time which is pretty neat. The manual is fairly bare-bones but just feeling your way around, you kinda get the hang of it. I have a feeling there's a lot of sonic power with this thing I haven't even unlocked yet.

Philip | Feb. 15, 2021

Yes, Si, Mas!

I have a hard time believing that there are better ways have fun during lockdown than with the bonkers stuff that SOS makes. This is a very interesting little synth, that I assembled in 30 minutes. Now I'm communicating with an alien species, trying to learn its language.

A tip - if you're making this from a kit, don't seat the output jack flush against the PCB, put a patchcord or audio cable in it, then solder it; if the jack is flush it may be difficult to insert a cord.

Misha | Feb. 11, 2021

A fascinating and fun, quirky little synth

If you'd rather see it in action, check out a little jam I recorded with the ARCANE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVEhU6wtYME

But here's tl;dr: Order and shipping went well, despite COVID and no tracking it arrived in a totally ok timeframe. Communication with JC is great and he quickly answers any question you may have. The product itself is a lot of fun and is exactly as described. I enjoy it very much. My only gripe is that sometimes the noise / static is very loud. But that is not always the case, so I'm happy to give 4 out of 5 stars for the product.

Oliver | Oct. 16, 2020

I hope for future updates

Nice niche product :)
I enjoy the different approach to using it.
I do hope for a midi implementation. That would be great.

Tobin | Oct. 7, 2020

Opera Rotas is the shiznit

Loving the Opera Rotas. Super crunchy fresh FM sounds, very usable. Really looking forward to having clock in capability.

Tom | Sept. 26, 2020

Extremely useful

For KIT OPERA ROTAS//GENERATIVE FM DRUM MACHINE

This module is extremely useful, especially on this small footprint with all the cv possibilities.
the build was good fun, with the advantage of the pre-soldered SMD things.
#mustbuy

could use a little more documentation about all the functions.. but the YouTube video btw Friendly Noise does the trick too

Mark | Sept. 21, 2020

Brilliant synth/drum machine

Opera Rotas sounds great. A generative pseudo random synth/drum with TONS of character. If you have reasonable soldering skill it's completely doable to build it yourself. If you just want to buy it or would rather avoid soldering the two SMT components when building there are options for that too.

Spherical Sound Society created a very unique instrument with this project. The firmware is still in development and the MIDI side is not yet implemented.
That said, he has never failed to deliver firmware update's, advice and good support for his other products such as Vortex Generator and Glitch Storm. So it is only a matter of time before he releases the next firmware update for Opera Rotas through his own commitment to support the Synth diy community.
Outstanding creator! Thank you.

Antonio | Sept. 15, 2020

Lovely drum machine and top support

For KIT OPERA ROTAS//GENERATIVE FM DRUM MACHINE

The drum machine sounds excellent, FM sounds, generative and random patterns/soundsets, lots of features for the money.
The seller is very supportive and helped me in solving some issues I had with my build!
Absolutely recommended, also check out his "Storm Glitch" for another devilish sound machine ;-)

Ben | Aug. 27, 2020

I love this drum machine

Completely mad and unexpected sounds come out of this thing. I love it. Already one of my favourite bits of gear ever.

Duane | July 26, 2020

Great little Synth

Due to my lack of Arduino knowledge I could not get it too work, I contacted the seller and he kindly explained what I was to do. He was very helpful. Now I get to play this amazing little synth. I think I may in time incorporate this into a toddler friendly toy for my kids. Great fun, with +1000s of sounds.

Valeriy | July 17, 2020

Great kit, easy to assemble and fun to play