BASTIL Instruments Thyme Getting Started

GETTING STARTED THYME’S JUST AN ILLUSION

FOR FULL MANUAL AND MIDI IMPLEMENTATION GO TO BASTL-INSTRUMENTS.GITHUB.IO/THYME/

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PERFECT

THYM

ING

1 INPUT GAIN

Set the input level using the input gain
knob. The input signal then gets written to
the tape by the write head. If the signal is
too loud the red light (next to the knob) will
light up indicating that the signal is being
clipped (distorted).

2 DELAY COARSE

Positions the main read head on the tape
to pick up the sound some time after it got
written. Use this to set the delay time. You
can also SYNC the delay time to the TEMPO.

3 DELAY FINE

Fine adjustment of the delay time (adds
up to the DELAY COARSE) is especially
handy when COARSE is at the lowest
setting. Then you can adjust tiny tonal
phase shifts to achieve flanging / chorus
/ phasing effects or to carve some Karplus
Strong tones.

4 TAPE SPEED

Sets the speed of the digital tape and
therefore audio sample rate. When
combined with delays moving this knob
results in pitch shifting effects.

Tip: hold the FN button and tweak the TAPE
SPEED knob to select whether the tape is
more “analog” (light on) or “digital” (light off).

5 FEEDBACK

Takes some of the delayed signal and feeds
it back into the write head. This results in
decaying echoes or dense drones.

Tip: hold the FN button and tweak the FEED­BACK knob to select polarity of the feedback
(light on = positive, light off = negative).

6 FILTER

Shapes the sound in the feedback loop
and on the output. In the middle position
it is deactivated, when turned to the left it
cuts high frequencies (LP=lowpass), when
turned to the right it cuts low frequencies
(HP=highpass).

7 SPACING

Positions 3 more read heads on the tape to
morph through interesting configurations:
from tonal to dense (early reflections) to
rhythmical. Can also be SYNCed.

8 LEVELS

Macro control of the volumes of the 3 extra
heads and how much they mix into the
feedback path.

9 DRY/WET MIX

Mix between the original input and the
processed signal.

10 VOLUME

Simply adjusts the output volume. But do
not forget to modulate it with the ROBOT!

A ROBOTS = modulation

Each knob except INPUT GAIN has an
independent modulation source called the
ROBOT.

1. ROBOT SELECT
To edit a robot, hold the ROBOT SELECT button
and slightly move the knob of the parame­ter to modulate and make its light turn on.

2. Now you can adjust the RATE (speed)
and AMOUNT (depth) of the modulation.

3. To change the modulation type use:
ROBOT SELECT + 1–8 BUTTONS to get diffe­rent waveforms or select ENV (envelope
follower = responds to the dynamics of an
input signal) or EXT for the external CV jack.

4. Activate SYNC if you want to lock to the
current tempo source. To change polarity
of the modulation use: ROBOT SELECT +
FREEZE / LINK / SYNC negative / bi-polar/
positive). Use: ROBOT SELECT + SYNC
to activate STEREO feature to modulate
in opposite phase for the left and right
channel.

B SELECT SOUND

by1-8 buttons

All the settings of the 9 parameters and the
9 robots are stored as one sound. There
are 8 sounds to choose from by pressing
1–8 BUTTONS and 8 banks, each holding 8
sounds: hold FN and press one of the 1–8
BUTTONS to load a bank. FN + SOUND =
save bank.

C BYPASS SOUND

The BYPASS button is an alternative for the
sound which just sends the input signal
to the output. Tweaking knobs in BYPASS
mode does not do much so you first need
to select a sound by pressing one of the 1–8
BUTTONS to be able to tweak it.

HOW TO SYNC

1. Select TEMPO Source by holding FN and
pressing TAP to cycle through Tap Tempo,
Analog Clock and MIDI Clock.

2. Then activate Sync for the Delay or the
Robot.

KNOB FREEZING
As soon as you change to a different sound,
the lights at each knob will indicate the
value for each parameter. To start tweaking
the parameter, either move it quickly, or
move it to the set value - which is indicated
by the light - to pick up the value and
change it further.

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GETTING STARTED

THYME FOR TIME TAKE YOUR THYME 

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

 ENTE R SPICE TIME

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A PATTERN

Use the 4 PATTERN buttons to change
between different patterns.

B FREEZE

= sample a short loop with length defined
by the delay time

C LINK

= changing the Tape Speed will not affect

delay time (because delay time is automat­ically adjusted)

D TEMPO

Tempo is the rhythmical basis that you
can SYNC things to. It can have 3 different
sources: either TAP Tempo - which is deter­mined by tapping the TAP button - or Analog
Clock or MIDI Clock. To select the source
hold FN and press TAP to cycle through Tap
Tempo, Analog Clock and MIDI Clock.

E SEQUENCER

Use the sequencer to change the sounds
in a stepped sequence. It has 2 modes:
WRITE and LIVE.

LIVE (WRITE light OFF):
To record a sequence hit the PLAY button
(make sure WRITE mode is off - WRITE light
off - by hitting the WRITE button).
Hold down the WRITE button and press

the 1–8 BUTTONS or BYPASS to record the
PATTERN. It’s possible to partly overwrite
a pattern.

WRITE (WRITE light ON):
If in the WRITE mode, use the SOUND
button in combination with 1–8 BUTTONS
to select which sound you want to place
in the sequence, release the buttons and
then use the 1–8 BUTTONS to say which
steps are active for this sound.

1 MIDI

All parameters and all Robots of the
THYME can be controlled by MIDI CC
messages. The sequencer, Delay Coarse
or Robots can by synced to the MIDI
Clock. MIDI notes on selected MIDI
channel set the Delay Fine to pitched
value corresponding to the pitch of the
MIDI note. MIDI input can also be used for
firmware updates.

To set the MIDI input channel, hold one
of the 1-8 BUTTONS while turning on the
device to set channels to 1-8, or hold FN +
1-8 BUTTONS while startup to set the input
channel to 9-16.

MIDI OUT acts mostly as a MIDI THRU, but
it can also send MIDI Clock, Start and Stop
if used in the TAP TEMPO mode. See the
manual for full MIDI implementation table.

2 FOOT SWITCH

Use the footswitch jack to emulate the
behaviour of the BYPASS button with apedal.

3 POWER

Plug in the power adaptor (provided)
to turn the THYME on. You can also use
other power adaptors if they comply to the
indicated polarity and voltage. 9 Volts DC,
Center positive, 2.1mm barrel.

4 HEADPHONE

Headphone output can drive any
headphones and has adjustable level
control knob next to it. It can be also used
as alternative stereo line output.

5 CV

Control Voltage input can read voltages
from 0 to 5V. Use it to control any of the
parameters with various amounts via the

EXT Robot on that parameter. For Tape
Speed and Delay Fine the CV is scaled
1 volt per octave on full amount which
means you can tune these parameters
musically.

6 CLOCK

Use an Analog clock to clock the sequencer
or synchronise the Delay Coarse time or
any of the Robots. Use FN+TAP to select
analog clock as tempo source (2nd option).

7 STEREO

Thyme has stereo input (stereo jack) and
stereo output (separate Left and Right).
To use a mono input signal for stereo
processing activate the MONO INPUT mode:
FN + BYPASS.

Stereo features are accessed by activating
the STEREO mode (ROBOT SELECT+SYNC)
of the Robot which will modulate the

parameter in opposite phase for LEFT and
RIGHT channel.

IT’S A SYNTH TOO !

You can use MIDI Notes to change pitch
of the FINE DELAY time or control voltage
together with the EXT CV ROBOT on that
parameter (V/Oct mapping), so you can
easily tune it with anything. This allows
easy use as Karplus Strong or NO INPUT
processor. Turn up the FEEDBACK and
tweak the FILTER - yeah!

Y

X

space delay

3rd level
radiation

white holes

tones

m

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p

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...AND BEYOND SPICE TIME WITH SPACE THYME

FOR FULL MANUAL AND MIDI IMPLEMENTATION GO TO BASTL-INSTRUMENTS.GITHUB.IO/THYME/

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FOR FULL MANUAL AND MIDI IMPLEMENTATION GO TO BASTL-INSTRUMENTS.GITHUB.IO/THYME/

AUDIO OUTPUTAUDIO INPUT

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