Joining the ever-growing list of new synths releasing in 2022 is the SoftPop SP2 by Bastl Instruments. According to Casper Electronics and Bastl Instruments, the SoftPop SP2 is a unique instrument that has been in development for the past three years. It is a complete rework of the original 2017 CAPERxBASTL Softpop. They described the instrument as a radical subtractive synth under the influence of unconventional digital control. Apparently, it excels at both melody as well as noise in equal measures.

Users should be able to coax bassline bangers, angelic chord progressions, and distorted beats out of the SP2. At the same time, its external input has enough gain and saturation to process any sound through the filter and VCA. Check out the list of features below and head to the official website for more information about this synth. Pre-orders are listed at €480, with shipping estimated to begin in mid-February.

Features

• Fully analog signal path with integrated digital control
• Patchbay with 37 eurorack compatible patch-points for ultra-flexibility
• Light orb for psychedelic inspiration
• Triangle core oscillator with PWM input and pulse and triangle outputs
• Automatic oscillator tuning and octave-wide fine-tune control
• Quantized V/OCT semitone transpose
• State variable resonant filter with lowpass, bandpass, and highpass modes
• POP control for unique subtle and distorted timbres
• Flexible attack-decay cycling Envelope with a ton of control inputs
• Drone or envelope mode switch for the VCA
• Musical sequencer with a lot of tricks
• 8 step sequencer with pattern chaining to extend the length
• Sequenceable scale quantizer with eight user-editable scales
• Eight patterns per bank, eight banks (saved on demand)
• Envelope gates per step
• Slide option per step for that acid feel
• Playback modes will turn your simple patterns on their head
• Temporary FX section (ratchets, arps, noise, and more)
• CV, gate, and clock outputs from the sequencer