Bastl Microgranny Monolith review: Vintage sampling grain in a portable package

The only thing that hasn’t changed, that I really wish had, is how you put the batteries in the Microgranny. Bastl is a small company that makes instruments for weirdos, so I try to be more flexible. But replacing the batteries in this thing is aggravating.. The bottom plate has to be unscrewed and removed, which inevitably causes the sides of the instrument to come off as well. Then when you’re done shoving a 9v battery in there you have to carefully realign all the pieces and hope everything stays in place while you screw it back on.

Fighting with the battery is really only a problem if you want to get the Microgranny out of the house with you. Otherwise, you can use a standard 9V AC adapter, like the one used by most guitar pedals. Fortunately, I have plenty of those lying around. This obviously negates the portability factor a bit, but as I’ll explain in a moment, it turned out to be less appealing to me than I expected. It’s also worth noting that the output is a bit loud when cranked all the way up, so definitely stop at about 75 percent if you don’t like constant low whine.

Granular

What sets the Microgranny apart in a sea of ​​affordable, portable stereos is that it’s a granular sampler. Now, Bastl is careful not to use the words “granular synth” in most of his marketing materials. And that’s smart. Because if you come here expecting the lush, weird, and often ambient soundscapes usually associated with granular synthesis, you’re going to be sorely disappointed.

For one, as mentioned above, the Microgranny is monophonic. That means you can’t play chords on it unless you’re sampling one. And two, the sound engine can only play a single “grain” at a time. On something like 1010music Lemondrop, for example, you can get up to 16 bits of an audio file running simultaneously, creating complex and often unpredictable textures from the source material. The Microgranny, well, it’s more like a playable CD skip. But once you embrace that cheeky lofi nature, that’s when you can really connect with it.

Using the controls on the front, you can change the size of the grains, but you’ll never get smooth single-cycle waveforms, even at the smallest end. Instead, the sound is broken and glitchy, like a corrupted MP3 you downloaded from Kazaa in 2002. You can control the speed and direction the playhead travels through your sampler using the speed of change knob. It’s almost like a very rudimentary time stretch. It doesn’t change the pitch of the sample you’re playing, but it can drag it in an unnatural and artifact-ridden way.

Then there’s the sample rate, which changes both the pitch and speed of a sound, similar to an old-school sampler. And smash, an absolutely relentless bit-crusher, bringing Microgranny’s already crunchy character to complete collapse even on lower settings. When launched, Crush turns any sample into what can only be described as an Atari 2600 trying to approximate the thunderous approach of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

There are also knobs to control the start and end points of a sample, as well as the attack and release. They’re basic things you’ll need, but they don’t impart much character. The other important controls are all the shift functions that sit below the big buttons. Hold FN and press them to engage legato, set a sampler to repeat, sync grain playback to a MIDI clock signal, and shuffle the playhead.

Then there are two other options, RNDMZR, which does what you’d expect: randomize all parameters for the last played sample. This is the fastest way to complete aural chaos. And “tuned”, which has two different effects. For one, it locks the sample rate options in semitones, rather than a smooth pitch shift. And two, when you connect a MIDI keyboard, it will transpose the sample for melodic playback. When idle, a keyboard will play individual grains instead. The latter sounds great in theory, but honestly I’ve had a hard time finding a practical use for it.

In use

Initially, I was excited about the idea of ​​Microgranny as a go-anywhere granular noise generator. Obviously everyone’s tastes and use cases are different, but I’ve found that it’s just not ideal for me in that role. For one thing, the limitations of the monophonic granular engine mean it’s a bit difficult to create something full and musical just by sampling around me.

There’s no sequencer, so I can’t save a fun found-sounding drum pattern for later use in my home studio. I have to remember what I played and trust my sense of rhythm, which I admit is mediocre. And the microphone just isn’t particularly sensitive. Even with the input on, the source must be very loud. I turned the volume on my phone all the way up, placed the speaker less than half an inch from the microphone, and it was still pretty quiet. Your best bet is to use the input jack connected directly to another audio source, such as a synthesizer or external microphone.

While the granular engine is definitely fun for glitchy stutter sounds, I think it’s best implemented sparingly. However, treating the Microgranny as a more traditional (albeit exceptionally lofi) specimen yields extremely satisfying results. Since there’s no way to play a sample chromatically in real time on the device itself, that means you’ll need to sample individual notes or chords to create something melodic without the aid of a MIDI keyboard. Or, you can take a sample, copy and paste it onto the six large knobs, and adjust the sample rate of each to create a scale.

This is not to say that the Microgranny isn’t a fun or melodic instrument. It’s just that he feels more useful in the studio than outside. I love it for creating rhythmic loops that I can import into my DAW or process samples to get a nice digital patina to them. And with a connected MIDI keyboard, you can get that crisp pitched sound that makes the Casio SK keyboard series so sought after (and incredibly expensive) even 28 years later.

It’s not the easiest thing to do, but you can even cut samples in Microgranny by copying and pasting the same sound onto multiple buttons and changing the starting point. It can be a bit tricky as this is a really basic seven segment LED display. But it can be done. Honestly, this was some of the most fun I’ve had playing with Microgranny on its own. Load up some disco or house music tracks and you can easily turn them into some lofi Daft Punk type beats. Max out that smashing knob and well, you’ve just created the ideal soundtrack for a rave at the end of the world.

Wrap

I think I probably gave up on Microgranny too quickly the first time around as I was too focused on the mobile and granular aspects. When I couldn’t create otherworldly atmospheric clouds or sketch out a multi-tracked song, I went straight back to my PO-33 without delving any further. I was not able to truly explore its potential as a more studio instrument.

At $246 it’s not expensive, but it’s expensive and quirky enough that it only appeals to a particular niche that wants the most authentic taste of lofi they can get. Obviously, you can change the sample and bitrate of a file on your computer. But, and this is my opinion, the Microgranny just imparts more character. And he’s the kind of character that’s hard to come by without hunting down an old sampler that might not be in perfect working order. So if your preferred flavor of lofi grit is more cheap ’80s digital than an aged tape deck, Bastl Instruments’ Microgranny Monolith is definitely worth a look.