Berlin studio Issue.design has previewed Bass Frog, a hardware instrument built around an eight-band filter bank with its own oscillator and per-band sequencing. There is no price or ship date yet, and the studio is taking mailing list signups.

Filter bank and sequencing

Rather than the usual oscillator, filter and envelope layout, Bass Frog passes a single signal through eight bands at fixed frequencies from 110 Hz to 1800 Hz, each with its own level slider. The source is either the internal oscillator or an external input, and Issue.design says the unit detects incoming audio automatically.

Each band has its own AD envelope and its own euclidean rhythm pattern, set from a sequencer section with populate and move controls. Separate filter and resonance controls morph the filter character, which the studio describes as running from smooth ladder filtering to resonant twin peak filtering. There is an animated LED display above each band and a fader strike performance mode.

Connectivity

• Audio input and output
• MIDI in and out on TRS mini jacks, carrying notes, control change, clock and transport
• USB-C power
• Automatic local takeover when hardware controls are moved

Price and availability

Issue.design has not given a price or a ship date. The product page is marked coming soon and offers early bird pricing to people who join the mailing list. The studio, which writes that Bass Frog is an invitation to "take the leap into evolving basslines, playful rhythms, and sonic discoveries", has previously developed hardware for clients including the Nonlinear Labs C25. Bass Frog is the first instrument it has put out under its own name.

Via Synth Anatomy. More detail on the Issue.design product page.