Synthesist Tim Exile shared this preview of Karst – a digital modular for composing with systems.
What’s In Karst:
- A growing suite of built-in instruments & FX — new instruments added every week
- A node editor for conjuring your own instruments from scratch
- An Event Core in every instrument — hand-roll generative algorithms without wrestling event scheduling or polyphony
- Dice everywhere: small or large variations depending on how hard you roll
- Locks & scoping: protect dialled-in instruments while you wreak havoc on the rest
- Cableless patching that autoconnects — and link wires when you want elaborate cross-modulation
- Glitch-free audio engine: build live without interrupting audio or clock
- Cloud-synced, with system history for composition or archaeology
Pricing and Availability:
Karst is available now as a private beta for £69 (normally £99). Beta users get full access to the desktop browser version today and the standalone app and plugin when it launches in Q4 2026.
It seems like there’s been a proliferation of software modulars in the last couple of years.
If Exile wants people to look at this, he needs to make really clear why this is different.
Also – is this based on Reaktor? I thought he was originally talking about doing this based on Reaktor.
Tell me you didn’t watch the video without telling me you didn’t watch the video. He explains his design philosophy and how it’s not based on Reaktor. I can see where he pulls his influence from and I can see where it’s quite different than other packages. It’s modular, but it isn’t a software emulation of a modular synth.
I watched the video. Exile is a poor, unstructured communicator with a rep for coming up with half baked ideas that are not finished on release and are not updated or maintained. He needs to do one thing well and not continuously crank out underdeveloped product. If one sentence in the video sums up his approach it is: “it’s got dice everywhere”. It is symptomatic of his sophomoric output.
The price of innovation is disappointing people without vision. If and when they come around Tim Exile will be on to things you aren’t ready for. Letting the market respond to an Idea while it’s being developed is a fine Idea considering that you don’t have to buy or support if you don’t value it. I like fresh perspectives, experimental tools, big ideas, strange ideas and all that jazz