The original magical beast is discontinued – please see Softpop SP2 for the current magic.

Greetings, Earthlings! The softPop, a mysterious little device, has arrived to captivate your mind and abduct your heart. As a playfully organic, semi-modular light and sound synthesizer, it provides a wide variety of expression, from chaotic dripping water pops, through alien droning, all the way to heavy subtractive basslines.

Its fully analog core consists of a strongly feedbacked system of dual triangle-core oscillators, a state-variable filter, and sample and hold, and it can be played through an intuitive, ergonomic interface of 6 faders that provide countless combinations for anyone to explore.

The softPop is first and foremost a wild beast. “If you want a synth that would just behave itself, this isn’t for you. [... if] I look at its purpose, which is portable madness in a box, SoftPop is a very interesting portable music companion that will keep a curious mind busy,” concurs Ask.Audio’s reviewer Hollin Jones.

Explore extensive organic reconfigurability

The softPop can be played on its own, or it can process an external audio source through the filter, intuitively synchronizing to the incoming signal using the envelope follower.

An extensive mini patch bay offers many possibilities for reconfiguration, and the 3 jacks A, B & C can be used to send signals in or out of the patch bay. Battery operation, a built-in speaker, and a carrying handle make it the ultimate picnic boombox!

“The combination of its small size and battery/USB power options make it perhaps the most portable synth outside of Teenage Engineering’s Pocket Operator line, and the built-in speaker and reactive, multicolor LED orb only add to the fun. This tiny box sounds amazing, and brings with it a peculiar, wet gurgling sound that’s full of activity and texture,” says softPop’s Orb Mag review.

The softPop's analog soul is enhanced by a quantize feature (auto-tune) and a pattern generator with two memories P1 and P2. For the courageous space adventurers, there's a secret chamber in the back for hacking & modding. An additional wooden handle backplate is available as a separate accessory.

Since the first public preview at the Superbooth, Bastl & Casper Electronics have pushed the softPop's design even further, fine-tuning its inner workings. Most importantly, we have developed an anodized aluminum enclosure with laser engraving that gives the machine a durability boost while improving its portability.

Features

• fully analog core and signal path
• 6 faders for controlling two VCOs and VCF and their cross modulations
• two wide range triangle-core VCOs 0 & 1
• quantizer for VCO 0 (auto-tuner)
• VCO 1 has variable waveshape via the modulation setting
• ∞ resonant state-variable VCF (bandpass, lowpass, highpass)
• external input with gain and envelope follower for intuitive sync of VCO 1
• track & hold circuit for stepped modulations
• looping pattern generator with two patterns P1 and P2
• RGB led for a psychedelic experience
• 25-point patchbay
• secret hack chamber at the back for adventurers
• aluminum body enclosure
• built-in speaker
• additional wooden handle backplate

Technical details

• dimensions: 150 x 110 x 50 mm
• powered by 4x AA battery, Micro USB or external adaptor 7-9VDC
• user manual pdf
• press release pdf

Audio

Video