A crash course on synth design and development using the Simple Synth DIY kit. Learn how to synthesize, design and program your first synthesizer and continue developing your instrument long after the workshop with video courses and community support!
The Simple kit has 80 footprints for knobs, switches and sockets. You can design and build your own unique layout within a couple of hours. And, we're using the Daisy Seed microcontroller, which allows lots of sound design flexibility. It's so immediate, you'll have a sounding instrument in the first workshop day!
This is not just a soldering workshop. Yes, you will do some soldering, but you'll quickly learn that the fun and creative possibilities lay in the design process. We'll take you through the process based on your individual skill level. Have a look at the detailed program below to learn more.
We will start off with designing the synthesizer and its functionality. Bouncing between the physical interface and the computer. Drawing diagrams and laying the controls out to find a good balance between functionality, playability and performance. We'll also work with VCVRack (free) to emulate the synth sound and evaluate the controls.
Learning goals
Activities
Time
12:00 - 13:00
Now that we have the interface figured out we can start programming it. We will go through the code (provided) to understand what each line is doing. We'll experiment with mapping parameters, changing knob ranges and modifying our instrument functionality.
Learning goals
Activities
Time
13:00 - 15:00
This workshop is just the beginning! Now that you know the basics , and you can actually program your own controls, there's a whole world that's open for you to explore. We'll continue the learning on our Discord server. Meet other synth makers, share your work, ask for feedback and find solutions to technical issues.
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