Synthux Community Highlights #01: Kickstarting a Regular Digest
Hi fellow players, makers, and builders,
I’m starting a new, regular series to highlight some of the incredible things happening in our community. You'll be seeing these roundups as blog posts here on the Synthux website and over on our Discord. But before we kick off the highlights, I want to take a moment to share what this community means to me, and how I ended up becoming a part of it.
A community update by Jon Waterschoot, aka jonwtr, community mod on Discord
👉🏼 TL;DR - At a Glance
Hi again, I’m jon, you might know me from the Discord server as the always online dude or maybe you saw my tree knobs 🧠🌲 at Superbooth where my custom Audrey II was on display. I wrote a rather long opening article to open this series as I wanted to proper introduce both myself as the Synthux Community as a whole. Here’s what to expect:
- What is the Synthux Community? — who's here, what the vibe is, and how it all started
- A Collaborative Path: The Spotykach Milestone — how open, community-driven development shaped a product from day one
- Where Most of Us Start: Simple Touch & Simple Fix — the kits that keep on giving, and the creative paths they unlock
- My Journey: Finding Purpose and Hope — a personal note from me on OI, chronic pain, and why this community matters
- Featured: awesome-synthux // Our Collective Brain — a new GitHub index of community-made patches, firmwares, tools, and tutorials
The full read takes about 5–7 minutes. Grab a coffee. ☕
What is the Synthux Community?
I joined the Synthux Discord a few years ago, right after the launch of the original Simple Touch. It wasn't my first time holding a soldering iron, but it was my very first time building anything audio-related.
As soon as I joined, I noticed a unique energy. People from completely different backgrounds, with totally different skill sets, were chatting, sharing tips, and helping each other out. I fell in love with the DIY kits, and after asking a few questions and gathering some intel, I ordered my own. They became my gateway drug into both the maker world and the Synthux universe.
In the beginning, I had a lot of questions. But as I went along and learned, I started documenting my findings. Writing things down helped me build a solid foundation, which in turn allowed me to start helping other beginners. I felt completely at home in this community of curious people. Seeing the visual and audio worlds converge—especially with Roey also coming from a visual design background—was incredibly inspiring and kept me experimenting.
Over time, as more people joined and requested specific information, Roey asked me to step in as a moderator to help manage the channels I started by adding sections for the specific instruments like the Simple Touch and Audrey.
We are looking at updating the structure, if that’s something you’d like to see happening, reach out.
The community lives primarily on Discord, with hundreds of active members ranging from complete beginners to experienced hardware designers and sound artists. You don’t need Synthux gear to join, some join because they want to build an Audrey with components of their own, while others are artists making installations and looking for the knowledge to realize their dreams. This mix of angles is super interesting: people who've never soldered before sit in the same channels as engineers who've been building synths for decades. The learning and feedback go in all directions.
A Collaborative Path: The Spotykach Milestone
Spotykach is worth noting here as a special milestone. It's Synthux's first standalone, non-DIY instrument—not a kit, but a finished product developed in close collaboration with pre-release community members. That's a completely different kind of project than the previous ones aimed at learning hardware or programming. Spotykach grew out of a concept built on top of a Simple Designer kit, but as it became more complex, Roey and Vlad chose to take the community on another sort of ride.
Involving community feedback started early. As Roey and Vlad designed the concepts and the hardware look, they asked the community for feedback and input. Most synth developers gather a closed group of beta testers who work in secret until the device is ready. There are multiple valid reasons to do so, e.g. allowing freedom of design, not setting expectations, planning a precisely planned marketing rollout, etc. There is no right way. Roey and Vlad took a different approach: they released the device before the firmware was ready. There was a basic version for most things on their wishlist, but it was far from finished. The people who bought the pre-release knew they were buying into an idea and were willing to contribute time and energy to see this come to fruition.
"Never buy a synth for what features it might one day get; buy it for what it can do today.
(Unless it's a pre release Spotykach and you like the idea of contributing to the development 😉)"While I stand by that "do not buy a synth for features that it might one day get"-addagio, I'm always baffled by people complaining about updates for a synth, and why feature x or y is not there yet. I enjoyed to be part of the group of people who pre-ordered and tested the Spotykach and see that there's an alternative open and integer way to develop a product. For Spotykach, this open, collaborative approach meant that the community had a role in making it happen, in steering the development in a certain direction. Vlad would release new firmware builds, and pre-release testers would try them, report bugs, suggest features, and discuss alternative approaches. This active collaboration happened both on Discord and in a shared Notion document.
And so, while Spotykach has now left the beta stage, and I would heartily recommend it, for the features it currently has, Vlad and Roey are still pushing forward, with more features on the horizon. And what's more, we're already seeing the first fruits of people forking the firmware and building their own variations! It's a testament to the power of open development and community collaboration.
Read more about how Spotykach came to life here.
Where Most of Us Start: Simple Touch & Simple Fix
Meanwhile, the Simple Touch and Simple Fix are still where most people start. For many members, it's their first soldering project, their first contact with code. Some build it, play it, and have no further ambitions but to experience that pure joy of making and playing—and that's completely valid. Others get bitten by something in the process and want to go further: understand the circuit, modify it, write their own firmware, build something new entirely, share mods or nifty hacks, etc.
The firmwares that members have shared over the years, like the newly released custom creations by StubeMusic, OceanTouch and ZenTouch (more about them in a next issue), are a direct expression of that path.
This 3D printed case by user Marko Tardito was based on a design for Plinky, I took it further tweaked a few milimeters, and added a few holes for extra CV (clock) jacks. (link to files)
The Challenge of Growth
Some members come to get answers to questions about their soldering, some give their own tips and tricks, others help write manuals—so many things happen that the sheer volume has its downsides, like not knowing where to start or how to get help. I'm actively thinking about how to solve this (and ideas are always welcome). But when people do reach out, you’re bound to get answers and feedback.
My Journey: Finding Purpose and Hope
If you spend time on our Discord, you’ve probably seen me around, or you might know me from my "trees and brains" (🌲🧠) universe. These days, I help keep the channels running, useful, and welcoming. But my path here wasn't straightforward.
I originally ended up in the synthesizer world after struggling to find my place as a former teacher and visual artist. I live with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (a genetic disorder that causes extremely fragile bones, think Mr. Glass in Unbreakable). In 2016, the condition caught up with me. I fractured several vertebrae, and since then, I’ve had to live with severe chronic pain, managed by high amounts of painkillers.
Because of this, I spend a lot of my time awake and on the couch, which is why I often appear to be online constantly. It’s easy to feel isolated in this position, but being active in this community has given me a deep sense of purpose and hope. It’s a reminder that there are still beautiful, creative spaces in this strange reality.
Lately, I've noticed a shift. The community is becoming more than just a place to troubleshoot broken solder joints. People are building tools, firmware, helping to write manuals, cheatsheets, and resources specifically for other community members.
We have some massive projects to share. For instance, community member StubeMusic has been cooking up custom firmwares for the Simple Touch (like OceanTouch and ZenTouch) and has even built an in-browser node-based editor called OndaKit. These projects are so detailed that they deserve their own spotlight, so we will be dedicating separate posts to them in the near future.
But to kick off this series, I want to highlight a project that represents our collective knowledge.
Featured: awesome-synthux // Our Collective Brain
If you’ve spent time on GitHub, you’ve probably run into the "awesome-list" format: a curated, community-built index of resources for a specific topic. We decided we needed one for our ecosystem.
awesome-synthux is a GitHub repository that collects community-made patches, alternative firmwares, custom tools, tutorials, and projects that extend Synthux instruments.
It is meant to be a living document that grows alongside our community, but it only works if we build it together. If you’ve made a cool patch, found a helpful tutorial, came across a broken link, or created something that belongs on the list, please open a PR or drop a link in the Discord.
A Huge Thank You
I would like to close off this first issue with a huge thanks to Roey for creating this space, and to Vlad for persevering through the years in sharing his work as open source. And to other people in Rotterdam that we never see, like Vic helping out behind the scenes, and I'm also grateful to see Fabio, a brilliant Designer and musician, who recently joined the team in Rotterdam.
Never apologize for being curious; if you’re here to learn, no question is wrong.
I want to thank everyone who’s joined the community—especially those who’ve asked questions even when it felt scary. And to the silent observers, the lurkers waiting for the right moment: you’re part of this place too. New people join every day—some introduce themselves, some just skim. I hope I can encourage more of you to jump into the conversations. If the channels feel overwhelming or you’re unsure where to start, send me a PM on Discord—I’ll gladly guide you.
(Speaking of channels: I know there are too many. If you have ideas on how we can reorganize and simplify them, please tell me—pleeease do!)
Come Say Hi
If you aren't on the Discord yet, you can join us at synthux.academy/community. Whether you're here to ask your very first soldering question, share a finished build, or just hang out, you are welcome.
See you in the channels, and stay tuned for the next digest!
Jon 🧠🌲
