Kassutronics 2-channel bracelet Quantizer for Eurorack

16 Oct 2019 by Robin Vincent | Approximate reading time: 2 Minutes

Kassutronics Quantizer · Source: Kassutronics

Previous Next

A new addition to the growing range of modules from Caspar Ockeloen-Korppi of Finland’s Kassutronics is a usually designed circular Quantizer.

Quantizer

The immediate stand-out feature is the circle of 12 button/LEDs that represent the 12 notes of the scale. These are usually found on quantizers arranged as little piano keyboards and so this is very refreshing. The idea comes from the concept of representing a scale as a “bracelet” which intuitively shows the rotation and cyclic nature of scales and octaves. To select your scale simply punch the buttons you want to restrict the incoming voltage to. The black shading indicates where the black notes would be on a regular piano-based scale. Two buttons beneath the bracelet can shift the scale clockwise and anti-clockwise and there are a lot more functions hidden behind the Shift button.

Press Shift+6 to access a keyboard mode where you can use the buttons to play notes. Pressing Shift+1 gives you instant access to rotating scales to any chosen root note. You can edit gate length, enable a legato mode and get stuck into transposition and offsets. The Quantizer has two CV inputs and you can assign these all sorts of parameters such as gate length, scale, transpose, offset and scale loading. And as for saving, the scales are automatically saved and recalled at power up but there are also 12 slots available for storing scales which can then be recalled by button presses or CV.

And the best thing of all is that there are two channels, with independent scales and triggering.

The software for the Quantizer is written in Arduino IDE and is available open-source along with the build documentation.

I really like the design. I like the way it flows and how the rotation visually represents the way the music is going. The wooden front panel is not to everyone’s taste but as an owner of one of their oscillators I can say that it does the job.

Kassutronics does offer PCBs and front panels for sale for €16 and €10 respectively and €7 for a pre-programmed microcontroller.