Well done. This is really inspiring.
Show HN: I built a synth for my daughter
181–190 of 216 posts
Re: Show HN: I built a synth for my daughter
#182Thanks for all the kind words and feedback. There are some comments expressing interest in supporting a Kickstarter etc. If you're interested in receiving updates you can leave your email here: https://tally.so/r/Y55dXv Thanks again - this was a bit of a surprise!
This is an absolutely fantastic piece of work! You deserve a round of kudos and kind words.
Re: Show HN: I built a synth for my daughter
#183I've been learning CAD, 3d printing, PCB design and brushing up on my embedded programming... all with the goal of being able to build toys for/with my son. It's incredible how accessible it is in todays world, made possible by these advancements: - incredibly powerful and cheap microprocessors (esp-32) - Fast, high precision desktop 3d printers - Affordable small batch PCB manufacturing - LLM's to advise on circuit…
Same, I recently got into Arduino so i could build a toy idea I had for my kid (a sort of "keepy-uppy" paddle game). I've always avoided Arduino projects because I don't like to code in my spare time (its my day job) and also learning how to wire things seemed daunting -- LLMs solved both of those problems for me (Claude's wiring tutorials are awesome and the code is simple enough that it can one-shot it). I also bou…
I highly recommend the "learn fusion 360 in 20 days" series on YouTube. I think I did it pretty causally in half that time. Then just find excuses to design stuff. After about a year of random projects, I can pretty proficiency draw most simple assemblies. This morning my son broke the battery hatch on his favorite toy and within an hour I had a replacement printed. (ducktape would have certainly been faster but where's the fun in that ;)
One thing I would point out is if your interested in organic shapes that blender is the better tool to learn/use. Fusions surface modeling is pretty hard to work with.
Re: Show HN: I built a synth for my daughter
#184As a EE nerd, I love this project.
As a parent, it's the sort of toy I want to smash as the repetition drives me insane.
What should I make that captures the awesomeness of this project without the insanity? Hmm...
Re: Show HN: I built a synth for my daughter
#185Thanks for all the kind words and feedback. There are some comments expressing interest in supporting a Kickstarter etc. If you're interested in receiving updates you can leave your email here: https://tally.so/r/Y55dXv Thanks again - this was a bit of a surprise!
Great work on this.
One thing I haven't seen in the comments so far is any comment about the knobs and sliders. The young kids I know take perverse delight in pulling off knobs and throwing them. Make sure that they are glued down!
Re: Show HN: I built a synth for my daughter
#186[dead]
Re: Show HN: I built a synth for my daughter
#187love this!
Re: Show HN: I built a synth for my daughter
#188Amazing the things we do for our little ones. I built a toddler-friendly keyboard for my son. He's still playing some form of piano 6 years later, no longer with his fists or feet. https://blog.afandian.com/2019/09/ux-for-toddlers/
Thank you for that closing paragraph in your article. Every time I read something online that tries to bend it into some "profound" lesson, or integrate it into the writer's personal brand, I throw up a little. This is most egregious on LinkedIn, and why I avoid that place unless I have to find a new job or something.
Re: Show HN: I built a synth for my daughter
#189The traditional approach is you give noisemaking toys to your niblings, not your own children.
We've been following this. Every nibling or even the offspring of friends received xylophones, tin whistles, hand drums etc.
As long as it's not battery powered, it was on our "approved" list.
They love us (the kids. The parents... not so much I guess).
We have our first one due in a couple of weeks, and I guess we'll prepare ourselves for retribution!
Re: Show HN: I built a synth for my daughter
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wood is also pretty child friendly. But neither injection molding nor carpentry will protect a synth from a child dunking it in a puddle of water.
Isn't there some kind of water proofing spray you can put on the circuits? I guess you'd still need some way to protect the batteries, but I think it is doable.
"conformal coating" is the thing to google, though that only protects the PCB and not the tricky bits. You'd still need to figure out a way to waterproof connectors and buttons and moving bits like that.