Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: I built a synth for my daughter

bitsnpieces.dev

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 216 posts

Re: Show HN: I built a synth for my daughter

#201

Post by bigiain »

yumraj wrote: post #191
bigiain wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminded me of Teenage Engineering's Pocket Operators: https://teenage.engineering/store/pocket-operators I have a few of those, and heaps of my friends gat sucked deeply into playing with them at the expense of whatever they actually came over for. "Nah, I'm not hungry. You should all eat without me, I'll just finish tweaking this groove." They're aimed (as the company name hints) as a little older than 3 year olds.…

What would you say is the best one to start with, say for a young middle schooler? Maybe best 3, in order?

I don't think it matters all that much. Any specific opinions are going to be more a natter of personal taste.

Get one aimed at rhythm/percussion, one that has some bass/lowend sounds, and something to make melodies.

I have a PO12, PO14, and PO16. If I was going to buy another one it'd be a toss up between the PO33 and the PO35. If I were starting from scratch I think I'd still get the PO14, I might get a PO24 or PO32 instead of the PO12, and I might get a PO28 instead of the 16. Or if said young middle schooler has access to sounds they can sample easily enough (like, say, Garageband on an iPad_ maybe jump straight to one of the sampling ones (PO33 or 35) for the lead/melody sounds.

Re: Show HN: I built a synth for my daughter

#202

Post by Dowwie »

We have similar interests! I've been working on a DIY animatronic project that is mostly vibe-coded using Sonnet 4.5. It's my first electronics project. So far, I got the Ultrasonic Sensor to trigger led when object is less than 2 feet away. I set up a sound player and the components fried when I started the device. I have to redo all of the wiring for the sound setup again. I only have one of three sound modules that isn't bricked.

The comments in this thread reveal a community of parents who are aspiring builders of high tech devices for their children. I think this community need a discord.

Re: Show HN: I built a synth for my daughter

#203

Post by Dowwie »

random_moonwalk wrote: post #116

Thanks 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!

I don't want to buy one-- I want to build one! I already have a 3d printer and the electronic components.

Re: Show HN: I built a synth for my daughter

#204

Post by markatkinson »

random_moonwalk wrote: post #116

Thanks 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!

Boet you broke the internet! I can't subscribe to updates :(

Re: Show HN: I built a synth for my daughter

#206

Post by jacquesm »

jbl0ndie wrote: post #125
random_moonwalk wrote: post #116

Thanks 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!

Lovely project and a really great idea. Have you come across soft tooling for injection moulding? It's a lower cost, short run approach using much less durable moulds from various materials.

Before you have that working you'll have 3D printed a containerload of these ;)

Besides the lack of flexibility if you want to make changes. I've used soft tooling for some projects but I was (1) never really happy with the results and (2) ended up breaking the molds quite often resulting in a lot of wasted material and expense. 3D printing is the way to go for projects such as these.

Re: Show HN: I built a synth for my daughter

#207

Post by random_moonwalk »

markatkinson wrote: post #204
random_moonwalk wrote: post #116

Thanks 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!

Boet you broke the internet! I can't subscribe to updates :(

Ah the Cloudflare outage has hit my form!

Re: Show HN: I built a synth for my daughter

#208

Post by nixass »

random_moonwalk wrote: post #116

Thanks 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!

Seems like interest for your synth brought down Cloudflare!

/s

Re: Show HN: I built a synth for my daughter

#209

Post by moron4hire »

NoSalt wrote: post #69
fainpul wrote: post #32

> A 3D-printed enclosure is fine for a prototype, but a real product likely needs injection-molded parts, which require expensive tooling. For kid-friendly toys, yes. But for older users not necessarily: https://teenage.engineering/products/po

How are these, are they worth the money? I have seen these before, but thought they might be crappy "jokes". However, if they are decent, I would love to play around with them.

They make cool sounds but their interfaces are so wonky I find them nearly impossible to do anything coherent, or even be confident I've fully explored the features. Imagine trying to program a VCR to make music. For as much as Teenage Engineering's visual designs are amazing, their functional interface designs are crap.

Re: Show HN: I built a synth for my daughter

#210

Post by [deleted] »

markatkinson wrote: post #204
random_moonwalk wrote: post #116

Thanks 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!

Boet you broke the internet! I can't subscribe to updates :(

[deleted]
Post reply on HN