I built a portable MPE Synth to play LinnStrument on the go

[OliverLSanz]

Hi everyone! First post here.

I would like to share a small open source project I've been developing in my spare hours. It's a small headless synth that can be powered with any power bank and also powers the LinnStrument. It allows me to practice anywhere without turning on my laptop! It has the simplest of sounds, but it's enough for me.

It's really easy to build your own if you have ever tinkered with Arduino. This has been one of my priorities and one of the reasons I'm powering it with a power bank instead of using an integrated battery.

Below is a small demo video and some images of the first prototype. The components can fit in a smaller box for maximum portability, maybe 1/3 the volume, would fit in any pocket!






I had plans to build more features and a better sound, but this already fulfils my needs so probably I wont be dedicating more time to this (I'm working on another LinnStrument related project that feels WAAAAAY more interesting, hope to share it soon).

I hope you find it interesting! Have a nice day

(You can find all details about the project reading this page where the project is hosted: https://github.com/OliverLSanz/teensy-h ... -mpe-synth I've written an extensive readme so you can get informed!)

[Roger_Linn]

Nice project, Oliver, and thanks for posting about it.

I see that SimpleSynth is based on the Teensy Audio Library, a great tool for building synths and audio effects because of its graphical Max-like UI and lots of pre-made objects.

If you’re not aware of Daisy Seed, it’s a alternative to Teensy that has 24-bit stereo audio I/O, a 480 MHz ARM7 chip, and USB/MIDI built into the $30 board, plus Arduino compatibility and interfaces to create audio synths/effects from Max/gen~ or PD. I just bought one and will be trying it out in the coming month.

[BobDog]

And the daisy has jtag.

Also nice job Oliver, love the box.

[TigerBalm]

Nice work! I think micros these days are so powerful that they can provide a lot of synthesis options in a small package

[2opal]

Hey any updates about Daisy Seed ?
Id love to make a low latency mpe synth with basic effects (filter, reverb, delay, chorus, phaser, amp modeling, bit reduction, ...), can it be acheived with both Teensy & Daisy ? What are the main advantages of both ?
Thank you !

Nice project, Oliver, and thanks for posting about it.

I see that SimpleSynth is based on the Teensy Audio Library, a great tool for building synths and audio effects because of its graphical Max-like UI and lots of pre-made objects.

If you’re not aware of Daisy Seed, it’s a alternative to Teensy that has 24-bit stereo audio I/O, a 480 MHz ARM7 chip, and USB/MIDI built into the $30 board, plus Arduino compatibility and interfaces to create audio synths/effects from Max/gen~ or PD. I just bought one and will be trying it out in the coming month.

[Roger_Linn]

I only dug into it at a basic level, but there's plenty of info about it at electro-smith.com. I found it a little more difficult for the less technical user than Teensy, but that's not bad if you're willing to take the time to work out some of the issues.

For your stated need, they claim the ability to convert Max and PD patches to run on a Seed.