West Coast Synthesis at an Unbeatable Value 

I predict that Jorb will take over the synfluencer sphere in the coming years, here's why: he's the only RU-vidr in this category who treats the space like a proper journalist. He's far from jaded and his enthusiasm and light-heartedness are literally palpable. Every time he expresses his gripes about a piece of gear he does so in the least dogmatic way possible and at the end of the con segment he has a good laugh about it. He's the only one as far as I can tell who thoroughly examines the landscape of documentation that currently exists about the products on the market and goes way out of his way to bring new information to light for the common good of the average viewer in this space. The guy is seriously a hero amongst us for this reason and a treasure trove of unique information and perspective, which he gives away freely with very minimal bias.

BEWARE! It's a trick! It's really simple, just an oscillator and a Sustain/Decay envelope, but it still sounds awesome with so little. So after just two hours of playing with it you start thinking "Hmmm, a more advanced envelope and a good filter would be cool... it is eurorack compatible... more oscillators would be cool...maybe I should buy some more modules.... and start a rack" So WATCH OUT! The West Pest is a gateway drug! You'll start buying other Cre8audio gear and will soon be stuck in the Eurorack drug!

Love the random wave function! Great tour of this synth. You nailed the essentials, and it really is compelling from a value perspective.

$250 is crazy cheap for sounds like this. Very cool synth. AND it has MIDI. I need to go rewatch the east beast video.

Great review, great sounds and you barely scratched the surface of all the things you can do with the patch bay. I'm a big fan of all the clock divide and multily options in the sync'd LFO and random...

Just got this little bea...I mean Pest last Saturday and already been having oodles of fun, more importantly great sounds! Your video has been great to understand it even better and get more out of it! Thanks!

The value of your peculiarity has never been more evident to me than in this gem of a video. Obscure gear demos alone are worth a watch. But I also learned a few new things without any lulls or confusion. Good job engaging my curiosity.

Love your reviews and hope you will do more of them. You've carved out your own space that's different yet complementary to our much-loved synth dads like Nick Batt as well as to the younger guys like AudioPilz. Please keep making them, and also consider giving Jorb spins on older but not necessarily vintage stuff that's been out for a minutee.

I found another of your videos! Nice one! I enjoy your channel Jorb, just not seen enough yet!

It would be nice if they made special edition with a citrus theme and call it the west zest.

Its a jorb kind of day.

Pittsburgh knocked it out of the park. I do hope the wavefolder makes it into a safari Eurorack module.

I love both the west pest and east beast. The sound is amazing and the value is good for the price (assuming it's not more where you are). I got to try them both out for a few weeks and I was very impressed. That said, my own mono-synth needs creatively ATM are fulfilled by my Typhon. If (1) I wasn't trying for a smaller footprint, or (2) if I was just starting a collection, or (3) I had eurorack gear to integrate and extend them, these would be big hits for me.

Wow, I love the sound and the price is just right.

getting to opt in to randomness in these different ways…yes! great vid, was already ‘in’, learning about these features here make that even stronger

Great to see your review and hear your thoughts. I almost got one but I decided to wait. I was excited to see that Digitech delay pedal! My first delay pedal that iv had for 14 years.

Nicely done demo, good explanation of what's going on. I like the clever bit with the mirror reflecting the scope screen, showing the waveforms. I have a Tek 2213A plugged into my synth engines, love that bright green phosphor display (better than the usual scope display on the computer screen). Have been considering either the West Pet or East Beast . . .

Great video Jorb! Straightforward and informative. 👍

Oh my lord. What a great piece of gear!!!

That thing has a specific house bass stab sound that I love. Sounds like it can do some Syncussion sounds.

Totally agree with the cost effectiveness and mixing with other gear. I think am going to get one to pair with my Grandmother. Another LFO, wave folder, the multi and another oscillator will add so much more functionality to the GM. And it sounds lovely on its own too!

Great to see a company beat out behringer in price + utility without having to resort to stealing circuit designs. I have a neutron and it's great for what it is, but if this was out when i got the neutron, I probably would have went for this

Damn. This just might be my starter synth. Thank you.

Oh no the dead pixel in your camera sensor during the intro 😭 It's on the F sharp of the synth on your shelves behind you and towards the right of screen Lovely video as every Jorb 🙂

Wanted it before I heard it, and now drooling over it, fantastic bit of kit. Need to check out Madronalabs Aalto again

Pittsburgh offering up some of their prowess for another to come in and hit the lower end of budgets. Lovely. I understand the cost of developing and producing products, but sometimes it really can be done well, and affordably. We are in a wonderful time for synths.

80hp both coast synth makes a nice pair. Thanks for the video!

You had me at West...buying one because of this video

I have the East Beast, it’s terrific for lots of different styles of tracks. Great paired with a Keystep because it lacks USB midi, other than that it’s a home run from Pittsburgh.

Being honest, I have no interest in the West Pest but I watched the whole video just to get my Jorb fix. Thank you for your intelligent, calming, and thoughtful content!!!!!

so thrilled to see you do a review of this! Thank you! In a sentence, can you say how it compares to a Make Noise 0-Coast if you've had a chance to check those out?

Thank you very much for the work you have put into this very informative video!! As a guy mentioned already I do agree that it is very nice to have an not paid opinion. Hope that you can keep this up. Thanks a lot!

I'm somewhat surprised the Make Noise 0-Coast wasn't mentioned here as a lot of the features are fairly inspired by it (fast envelope, dynamics section). This synth carves off a lot of the 0-Coast's features (extra slope gen, multiple types of harmonics circuits, waveform blending, etc), but also adds an on-board keyboard and comes in just north of half the price. I feel like all that needs to be said online about the 0-Coast has already been said, but I'd highly recommend checking it out, and I'd be personally curious to see how you interface with it if you ever made a video.

I really like your oscilloscope!

I love that you used the font from Atari cartridges in your video.

True the dynamics controller could use attack, but either way it sounds shockingly good, and very much like an LPG with vactrol

I think I'm going to get one and pair it with a QARV. You can throw a QARV in a little powered pod case for $340 total, and it provides almost everything you would want for the West Pest: looping slew limiter/function generators that can go to audio rates, VCAs, and attenuators. So for $600, you're getting every single component that would be in a West Coast synthesizer. The only thing missing from having a complex oscillator is that at audio rates QARV isn't 1V/octave, but honestly, I don't think that's a huge deal. Throw in a a $150 MS-70CDR for complex effect chains, and you have an epic sound design system for an incredible price.

So I went into soft soft and tried to intuitively grasp the basic fundantals. And now listening back I feel like I'm one step ahead of Nice tutorialm.

I picked up the East Beast and I definitely want to add the West Pest...

THANK YOU

Very good intro to the subject. Thanks. BTW, what is the oscilloscope you're using?

Great vid, I'm trying to figure out mine, but I can't find ANYWHERE , including the manual, how to set up and coming midi.

Try Koma Electronik's attenuator cables for patching your audiorate lfo or function generator into that Pitch input.

The cheapest actual west coast synth is the Buchla Easel. That 2-3k wallet drop. Make Noise O-Coast is a western synth with a little east thrown in, but it’s west coast at heart. This thing is an attempt to make east sound west, I’m not so sure it nailed the west sound.

I had to tell myself so hard "you don't need another mono synth, you don't need another mono synth" but I know I'm gonna probably end up getting both lol

Nice tutorial, I have a problem wNice tutorialle using soft soft .

I bought one.... but for the life of me I can't figure out how to change the midi chanel ? on that West Pest

Can you control the note attack on the West Pest?

Best of the best

Update here, all good things comes to people who are willing to wait. I am able to get each for $188 USD, don't ask me how, just that, that is the $. So am getting both, Score, WIN!!!

The West best could be clocked from external trigger 1 PPS to move 1 step of the seq for each pulse riceived in clock in?

I'm not saying that beacause I'm a puriste, if you like the synth go for it but complex osccillotar is one of the key of west coast synths. The probleme is that complex oscillator are very expensive, I dream of a DPO but the pirce is...

Does anyone know why on mine, when I modulate the wavefolder with the Internal LFO (normaled) or an external one, it’s like the lowest values make become silent , and you only hear the top of the LFO. Unless you have the wavefolder knob all the way up? But then the range seems audible. I can never get it to sound like the full range knob sweep sound. Does it need an attenuater of some kind ?

Do u need to have any tutorial plugged in or is all the softs on soft

Thanks - great video. Did you notice any bleed from the oscillator when idle? I've had to return two of these unfortunately as they were basically unusable without a noise gate - had a constant sound (about 10% of the total volume) when not triggering the envelopes. Does sound good though.

Anyone using the West Pest with the Deluge Synthstrom?

Hi I like all your videos you are very pricise, can you please tell me I want to to get some thing like this, what do you think this or a moog minitaur thanks

Nice vid! Is the output mono of stereo?

If I jump into Semi modular east beast and West pest would be under consideration, with maybe Moog Mavis only have the typhon right now .

many thanks! I am in trouble now, I try to NOT buy that thing too! (the only thing is the sound of your voice is quite lower than the synth sounds and it's a PIA) I go check the East Beast now... Ouf...

Holy molar I haven’t seen a digitech pedal in forever

theres a whole east coast west coast synth thing??????? hoooo leee shit im a paid up hip hop historian but i did not know that.. very cool ! jorb is on point yet again!

I would also add Aalto by Madronna Labs to the list of west coast type synths, though in software of course.

Have you connected a controller? Just wondering if/how you liked that.

Cool little synth. Though I find it a tad limited for my taste. And I don't mean limited in the sense that it can do a small number of sounds, it can do a lot, but I don't think it would do much that I could or would actually USE.

Mine has never worked and the supplier shows no interest in replacing or fixing.

Could you demo the tiptop buchla oscilator into the rest if the west pest?

12:43 yeah... no attack control... 😢

Please help! A month ago I bought a Cre8Audio West Pest but had to return it because it did not work with any of my MIDI controllers (chronic note/pitch hanging). Last week I bought a second WP from a completely different retailer and....this one is also unusable with any MIDI controller. Have I been extraordinarily unlucky to have bought two faulty models in a row? Or, in fact, is the West Pest MIDI interface broken? I suspect the latter - and that's a shame because it sounds unique and the built-in sequencer/arpeggiater is a lot of fun. Does the WP require any further patching beyond connecting a controller via the MIDI-in jack/adapter? Is there some configuration I may have overlooked? I've tried various controllers, cables and even MIDI adapters but it is still impossible to play any sort of melody in real time.

It's expensive here, almost the $ of a Typhon which I would prefer (already have one). Still a great sounding synth.

I have one of these! It is one of the most wonderful of things. I now have two semi-modular synths, which means worlds of sonic delight open up to me...

Would this be a good unit for a beginner🤔 I want a synth but don't want to start with a cheap toy🤑💯P.S. if not what would you recommend for someone starting from scratch 😁🙋‍♂️

After a total turn off to music via the daw world, I am so eager to get back to hardware synth! This round, the more knobs and sliders the better! This will be in the aronsal for sure! One osc stinks, but for 250.00, who cares. It's unique!

Once I Get In The Top Ten s Your My Credit ;)

what oscilloscope do you use?

Does anyone has a clue why this one sounds a bazillion times better than the Volca Modular?

If that is the case I will buy a Moog Mavis.

Is that oscilloscope an app or is it an actual peice of tech ??

This device is good to create Dub Techno sounds?

can u stick in cv from keystep

Ha, it’s already out of stock. Good presentation Jorb.

Well, it sounds a bit like FM but way harsher/colder...

West Coast synthesis is the opposite of LA sysnthesis, right ?

Most of he sounds that you produce here, I get those same sounds with my PSS synthesizer of Yamaha, FM SYNTHESIS. Other owners of PSS-480 and higher PSS synths will agree with me. Nevertheless I think you can get surprising sounds out of it if you experiment with it long enough.

I thought it was a hoax, but everything works!

i may live in the bay area but i will always be midwest synthesis.

59.. and now after trying it out and watcNice tutorialng tNice tutorials series of tutorials .. now a soft soft Convert!!!!!! Man tNice tutorials software is stable on a

$250? My barely employed self could almost afford that!

I relate hahah

Nope , if I can't even visit a website without subscribing to it. I don't care how good the product is.

2022?? Future Rapper??

make sure you are accommodating youtube LUFS to -14 otherwise youtube might be turning you down!

these look like toys

i feel like all your videos are quieter than anything else on youtube, give us some compression!

Can anyone give me a link to someone whom actually knows how to play an instrument that makes use of this wonderful device?

- Ok

Focus for the love of god focus

Problem is… it doesn’t sound very nice does it? Lol

wtf is west coast synthesis

and sa tNice tutorialng other way around