Wirehead Instruments Basilisk - Analog-Hybrid Generative Bassline Synthesizer

The Lounge Other Gear
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Basilisk is a bass-line exploration synthesizer, with dual digital oscillators driving into an aggressive MS20-style analog filter all powered by a built-in generative sequencer.

Whether you need thumping bass-lines, melodic leads, or percussive tribal beats, the Basilisk is ready to lead you down the rabbit hole from the moment you power it on.

The dual oscillators include saw and square/pulse, with manual & LFO control over PWM, detune, pitch envelope & glide.

The analog filter has a fat saturated drive stage with resonance that can go from subtle to squelching & screaming, and includes an external audio input to process instruments from your desktop or Eurorack modular through the filter.

All of this can be modulated by the attack/decay exponential envelope, multi-waveform multi-destination LFO and Elektron-style parameter-locks.

The Basiliskā€™s brain is a 1-16-step generative sequencer borrowed from the Freaq FM, with multiple algorithms. Explore deep space, underground caverns and deep jungle or 1980s suburbia!

Oscillators

  • 2 digital oscillators - saw, square & pulse

  • De-tune control that always stays musical, from light flanger to rich chorus, dial it up for fat fifths and octaves

Modulation

  • Attack/Decay envelope with shape control, routable to filter cutoff and/or pitch

  • LFO with multiple waveforms and configurable destination: cutoff, envelope (attack, decay or depth), note length, PWM, detune, octave or sequence length

Filter

  • MS20-style 12dB resonant multi-mode filter

  • Analog filter drive from -20dB to +20dB saturated overdrive

  • Low-pass and non-resonant high-pass mode

  • Digitally-controlled cuttoff modulation

  • External audio input accepting wide range of signals from 1v p-p to 10vp-p

Sequencer

  • Generative sequencer with 1-16 steps

  • Multiple generative algorithms includign scale-notes, runs, scale-arpeggio, call/response

  • Sequence mutates/evolves at user-defined rate & note-density

  • Selectable tonic, octave & scale

  • Tap-tempo control

  • Sync input & output (Korg Volca or Eurorack compatible) with internal clock

  • 16-step parameter-lock recording of synth parameters

Hardware

  • Mono audio output (32KHz 14-bit DAC, 4v p-p)

  • Sync input / output (0-5V rising-edge)

  • Audio Input (1v p-p to 10vp-p)

  • Powered by an Arduino Nano V3!

  • 142m (w) x 100mm (d) x 40mm (h)

  • 9-12V DC or micro USB powered (70mA @ 12VDC)

Product page:
https://wireheadinstruments.com/basilisk

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This actually looks really cool. I think the price is pretty good too!

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Looks neat slash weird. Sounds pretty good to me, but Iā€™ll be the first person to cry boo-hoo no midi :cry:

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Sounds pretty good. Looks to be a fun little musical note pad. Looks like they have an FM synth in the same form factor. I didnā€™t see any links to US stores on their homepage though.
Wonder if the DIY kits require any SMB work?

Update- DIY is all through hole. No smd work to be done.
This little machine also has plocks! Cool.

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I found this company on Tindie, looks like they ship to West Coast USA for $15 (from Australia)

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Nice one. Thanks for the low down.

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Yeah pretty cool. I like these Tindie/Etsy synths. I canā€™t afford to buy many but there are some cool ones like the Drumkid, Prismatic Spray, and Twin Tropiques

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Hi everyone. Andrew from Wirehead here. Thanks for checking out the Basilisk. Feel free to @ me and ask any questions!

In response to some of the comments above:

  • Yes we ship to US and globally from Australia from our Tindie store. Working with a US distributor and hoping to have stock on shelves in November.
  • Long time Digitakt lover here so yes plocks :slight_smile: and yes happy accidents
  • yes boo hoo no midi sorry :frowning:
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@wireheadinstruments when will Basilisk DIY kits be available on tindie for Australia?
Documentation says can be powered off eurorack via modification, any further details on that.
Is it eurorack mountable?

Im in Australia, I like and am interested in picking up a couple of kits.

Cheers.

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Is this it?

https://www.thonk.co.uk/shop/wirehead-basilisk-kit/

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Yep. However Wirehead is an Aussie brand, and I live in Australia. So would prefer to buy from Australia and not ship from UK.

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Oh I see. Sorry! This was in my ā€œshoppingā€ list for some time. Until I decided to go big instead of buying a few small gearā€¦

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Hi @Microtribe!

Re kits, new batch will be available soon, just waiting on a new batch of PCBs which are almost ready and should be here next week!

Re eurorack, the main PCB has provision for a 10pin power header (draws ~70mA from +12v rail), so ā€œmodificationā€ just means soldering a header and adding a panel. I have a few prototype panels in stock that are serviceable (but not very pretty). if you are interested I can sort you out. Drop me a line from the website support page and we can chat.

Also, whilst the sync and audio in are designed to handle eurorack signals: +5v trigger on sync, audio input is designed to have just enough headroom for 10v p-p at minimum filter drive gain, and gets super nice/nasty at full gain!) The caveat is audio output is not eurorack levels - itā€™s about 4v p-p.

Cheers,
Andrew

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also check out my other synth the Freaq FM - dual voice FM generative synth. it can punch out deep FM basslines, dirty dub chords, evil drones and can get really weird really quick :slight_smile:

https://wireheadinstruments.com/freaq-fm

also available at Thonk, Exploding Shed, Tindie (& still almost in the US!)

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Very excited to announce that Wirehead Instruments are now available in the US at Detroit Modular!

DIY kits and factory built, Basilisk and Freaq FM.

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Basilisk DIY build finished yesterday evening :slight_smile:

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So, as mentioned in the ā€œnew gearā€ thread, picked up one of these for a sort of decent price on Ebay.

Immediate reaction, its a decent bit of kit, well put together in the style of those DIY/short run synth box things you see new/small builders produce. Solid top plate with plenty of flashing lights and smartly designed gold paint everywhere. Sides open, but I guess this is a box for desktop noodling, not taking out on the road.

It kind of does what it does. It generates bass lines of 1-16 notes quickly and easily, using five not particularly complex algorithms - spanning scales, arpeggios and slightly greater randomness. You can set the scale type, which covers the usual bases. You can set the octave. You set it going, and the ā€œmutationā€ control affects the speed with which it switches notes. You can point an LFO at various stuff, modulate accordingly, and, mainly, mess around with the cut-off, drive and resonance of a fairly gnarly low pass filter.

Is it any good and is it any use? Well kind of. Itā€™s pretty simple, pretty fun and slightly hypnotically compelling. With the slight caveat that what it spits out can vary from amazing and inspiring to fairly drab and tedious. And you donā€™t really know in advance what you are going to get. Such is the way with generative synths, I guess.

Iā€™ve found myself setting mutation on high to speed run through variations until something sounds decent (not always fast) then quickly turning mutation to zero to freeze it whilst I mess around with filters, sample or generally enjoy it as is. When a while later I find myself bored again, I whack the mutation rate up again in search of something else. Iā€™m sure there are more sophisticated ways of approaching things. Then back down again. I havenā€™t quite got into just setting things somewhere in the middle and enjoying it taking me on a slow generative journey somewhere. But maybe thatā€™s just me. Perhaps I should just record everything and then clip bits that work. Or just set it going and enjoy whatever it does. Who knows? Actually at times, it is fun just to let it go, mess around with the gate length to get some nice plucky percussive sounds, go wild with the filter and enjoy the ride.

Focusing on the filter (which the instructions rightly point to as the main star of the show) - it is definitely decent enough. Supposedly based on the MS-20, but who knows really. The non-resonant HP doesnt really offer much. But the LP filter is fun, if (maybe) slightly granular/lo-res in its movement between steps. Maybe its just an artefact of the choppiness of what this box turns out and just my ears or something to do with the low res visualisations confusing my brain, but the cut-off doesnā€™t seem to sweep 100% smoothly unless you turn it quickly so as not to notice the joins, you sort of seem to be able to hear the steps as you go. And at times (it is all a bit interactive) the space between not clipping and clipping very much on the filter drive can very small indeed, farting bass is only ever a tweak away. But it is all fun, and not of this should be taken as suggesting it is in any way terrible for what it is, which is basically a marvellously engineered tiny Arduino Nano thingy.

So, is it worth it? Yes if you like little self contained boxes of tricks, that do something quite interesting for not much cash, and that you can drag out to allow friends to mess around for bassline lols (hey donā€™t judge my social lifeā€¦). I have a stack of such amusements, and find it hard to not keep on adding to them from time to time.

At roughly the same price as the Stylophone CPM DS-2, it feels somewhat better built, but maybe also slightly less capable and fun (judging them both as cheapish musical toys designed primarily for diversion and amusement, I recognise they are very different categories of thing). But it does what it says on the tin, sounds decent doing it, doesnā€™t take up much space and looks nice, and thats a pretty decent set of wins. Compared to other small fun short-run boxes such as the wide variety of noisemakers from RC Circuits or JMT, or the Gecko Loopsynth itā€™s actually pretty well priced for what it is. Does it compare to something like the much cheaper Behringer Grind for bang for cheap bucks? Not really. But there are loads of them around, they arenā€™t inherently interesting as objects, and this sort of is.

Likely fate over the course of the year? I suspect Iā€™ll spend a few weeks messing round manically with it, stick it on a shelf, remember it a few months later, and then sell it on to someone else to rinse and repeat. But that is as much due to my ADHD as its inherent qualities, which are definitely worthwhile.

Anyhow, enough rambling. Back to twiddling the ā€œmutationā€ knob. As you do.

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Excellent write-up, spot-on!

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Thanks for the great and balanced write-up!! :slight_smile:

My go-to way to use the sequencer for generative rambling is set mutation to 1% and and then concentrate on sound design, while the sequence slowly changes from time-to-time.

Another method I use is to set a few parameter locks to accent a few steps, so the locked steps will remain accented even when the melody & rhythm might change under them. this can give a framework of rhythmic modulation to add stability to a constantly evolving pattern.

Also, Algorithm 5 works like the Moog Labyrinth - at mutation settings up to 50%, the rhythm is locked in and only the notes change. over 50% both will change.

Lastly, the mutation % is calculated per step, so at 1% each 16 step loop gives a 16% chance of changing, maybe a bit high?

Cheers,
Andrew

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Hi Andrew / @wireheadinstruments! Thank you for engaging here! I really like my Basilisk DIY build, great kit, very good building instructionsā€¦

Some useability and ā€˜nice to haveā€™ features I have come across:

(1) Octave change: octaves jump immediately when func + octave knob is used => would it be possible to only change when func is released (as for some other parameters)?

(2) Root notes: would it be possible to implement semitones and maybe also tuning?

(3) Scales: would it be possible to implement a custom scale?

Thank you! Clemens

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