I must confess that when the Neo Trinity arrived, I was so inspired by its looks that I put it back in the box and left it on a shelf. Little did I know that behind the squashed text and multi‑level shift‑button action lies a throbbing agent of change. It’s a patch catalyst, a virus‑like modulation engine that can infect your rack with movement, rhythm and automation. It’s ace!
The Neo Trinity has evolved from Bastl Instruments’ CV Trinity, an unappreciated six‑channel modulation generator that has much of the functionality but none of the style of this new version. Like many recent modules, such as the Pizza, Basil and Ikarie, the Neo Trinity is dark, brooding and overflowing with possibility. It brings the talents of the CV Trinity to a smartly ordered and complex form. Complexity will be a nagging feature.
Put simply, each of the six channels can be an LFO, an envelope or a loop of recorded CV. With some minor shenanigans, these three basic modes can turn the Neo Trinity into a funky little groovebox. Six LFOs could prove very useful, but alternatively, you could quantise movement into notes, tap envelopes into your filter or VCA, and pull up trigger patterns to run your drums. The versatility here is brilliant, and everything has recordable/automatable elements that turn it into quite a party.
It’s a patch catalyst, a virus‑like modulation engine that can infect your rack with movement, rhythm and automation. It’s ace!
There are lots of green LEDs. Some give you shapes, others give you pulses and triggers, while more show you what combination of things is active for the given combination of button pushes. There’s lots to touch, lots to fiddle with and lots of indications to show you when you have done so. When patched up, it looks busy, tight and uncomfortable, like wearing a suit that’s two sizes too small, but somehow, the Neo Trinity has enough elastic in its waistband to keep it all from spilling over.
All the action revolves around the two big buttons right at the bottom and the very fingerable knob. You hold down the Rec button and either move the knob or hit the Shift/Trig button to record movement or triggers into that channel. In LFO mode, you can record rate changes on the knob and reset the waveform on the trigger. In Envelope mode, you can tap in a series of triggers, and then the knob controls the decay. In CV mode, the knob creates your modulation pathway. All of this can be generated on the fly, cycling around your clock, building up channel after channel of looping modular manipulations.
With a few other button holds and selections you’ll find that the CV recording can be quantised to notes for writing quick, knob‑turned bass lines and melodies. Holding some other buttons in envelope mode puts in preset patterns for instant percussive tracks. And then there’s a mute button for dropping channels in and out. A double‑tap erases the triggers or CV in an instant, ready to try it all again. Channels E and F have CV inputs that can scale and affect the outcomes, and a Meta CV input can do the same to any selected channels.
Just the act of being able to tap in a rhythm for some envelopes with my filter brought a massive smile to my face.
Verdict
Although the Neo Trinity feels overstuffed, once I got through the blindness of interacting with black buttons on a black background and acquired some muscle memory on the combos, it was tremendous fun to use. Just the act of being able to tap in a rhythm for some envelopes with my filter brought a massive smile to my face. Once patched in, I would play and play, sometimes getting lost in the wrong shortcuts, but more often than not, I was lost having a thoroughly good time.
£314
$320