The latest Axis of Wold offers a review of the Cre8audio West Pest synthesizer.
Created in partnership with Pittsburgh Modular Synthesizers, West Pest is a semi-modular monophonic desktop synthesizer, integrating imaginative sound-shaping tools with traditionally “west coast” concepts.
West Pest has at its core 8 patchable modules (Oscillator, wave contour, dynamics controller, LFO, multi-mod tool, MIDI to CV converter, step sequencer, and button keyboard), with 18 Eurorack compatible patch points. West Pest is patched internally to create a flexible full synth voice. Using the patch points, though, lets you reroute internal signal flow, as well as use with external Eurorack format modules and synthesizers.
Video Summary:
“This video is a rather personal review of West Pest by @Cre8audio. A synthesizer in the west coast style for a surprisingly low price, just $249. What does it has to offer? And how true is it to the west coast synthesis pioneered by Don Buchla?”
Topics covered:
Intro 0:00
Overview 3:22
Making a Track 8:43
Arpeggiator 20:56
Together with Eurorack 24:58
Multifunction Capability 30:09
Final Words 35:00
Share your thoughts on the West Pest in the comments!
Love the synth, but this guy’s voice putting me to sleep.
That being said, I’ve never used Buchlas and seeing their prices, I probably never would have. Thanks to Crea8audio & the Moog Mavis, we all can experience west coast synthesis.
and volca modular. And vcv.
it would look wicked in a rhomboid or parallelepiped enclosure.
Nothing I hate more than snarky people leaving negative reviews of budget-priced instruments.
Complaining about a $250 semi modular because it’s not as creamy as your Buchla Music Easel.
I fully support affordable synths, and I appreciate Cre8audio for doing what they do for us poor folks (Niftycase etc) The Beast/Pest are their first standalone offering so they may have some production kinks to work out.
I bought the West Pest on Saturday. I loved the sound of it, and I expected a learning curve because I am inexperienced with the West Coast aesthetic. By Sunday I was putting down some sequences but having some issues with the sync, both midi & cv not quite working for me. Half of the patch points are sync related, there’s no I/o on the back, even audio out comes from patch panel. Ok fine. Still cool. RTFM. Give it some time. Now i can play it with the seq/arp disabled, but could not input any steps with seq enabled, couldn’t make a sound with seq enabled. I wanted to like this little guy so I tried every knob, every secondary function, 4 bit display mode, RTFM again, turned it off/on, no cables patched other than audio out, no active LFO….did I mention I was playing patterns back yesterday, first day having it? Now sequencer flat out doesn’t work. Like I said I hate bad reviews based on taste or lack of features but after buying it Saturday, playing it Sunday, troubleshooting it Monday I will be returning it Tuesday & getting a Moog Mavis. Good concept, fun synth, needs work on the making.