Tim Exile's Karst Environment Is Now In Beta

Tim Exile has opened the private beta of Karst, initially a desktop browser-based digital audio modular environment that treats system-building as composition and performance. It runs today in the desktop browser, with Mac and Windows standalone plus VST3/AU plugins planned for Q4 2026. Exile has nearly three decades of Reaktor building unique and performative devices behind him (NI Flesh, The Mouth, The Finger) and founded Endlesss, so this is a natural evolution and builds on the prototype he showed us around 3 months ago. Karst now has a name and looks like a more polished product.

Karst lets you drop instruments and FX into interactive chains that auto-connect clocks, triggers and audio downstream, with optional link wires for cross-modulation. Everything plays from a single performance surface, and you can build live without breaking clock. As he puts it: "Instrument-building became my craft, my art."

• Workflow: Autoconnected instruments and FX, optional link wires for triggers, clocks and audio, single performance surface.
• Macros: Up to 24 global macro controls address all instruments and FX; per-instrument lockouts when needed.
• Randomisation: Dice generate small-to-large variations based on musical data; lock dialled-in instruments to protect them.
• History: Save scenes as a system evolves, then browse and recall for composition or versioning.
• Generative: Event Core in each instrument for hand-rolled algorithms without dealing with event scheduling or polyphony.
• Editor: Node editor for building new instruments and FX; save to your library and drop into systems.
• Live building: Make changes without interrupting audio or clock on a glitch-free engine.
• Library: Cloud-synced systems with login from any machine; offline mode planned for the standalone and plugin.
• Content: Ships with built-in instruments and FX; new instruments added weekly.
• Roadmap (Q4 2026): Mac/Windows standalones; VST3/AU plugins (CLAP/AAX as stretch goals); plugin hosting; sample loading; share-by-link playable on mobile/desktop web; community platform.

Systems can be shared or used in recordings, and plugin hosting on the roadmap suggests using Karst's generative/modulation tools with your existing plugin collection when the desktop apps and plugins land.

Price: £69 beta support (30% off the £99 launch price).

More Info: https://www.karst.systems/

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