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Raspberry Pi Synthesizers – How the Pi is transforming synths

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Re: Raspberry Pi Synthesizers – How the Pi is transforming synths

#11

Post by m_kos »

4k93n2 wrote: post #8

theres also things like the M8 tracker from Dirtywave which uses a teensy board and sounds really good for a chip of that size

The m8 and the recently, heavily promoted Woovebox 2 are the Emacs/Vim of grooveboxes. They hide a vast amount of functionality behind what initially seems like an impenetrable jungle of button presses and shortcuts; a system that ultimately proves* to be highly ergonomic.

*Based on what I read. Sadly, I don't own these devices.

Re: Raspberry Pi Synthesizers – How the Pi is transforming synths

#12

Post by m_kos »

snom380 wrote: post #5
charcircuit wrote: post #2

What if instead it ran on a macbook which you plugged the keyboard into. You could still make the software open source if you want.

Arturia does that, and Korg did as well (making controller keyboards specific for emulating a synth, with the software running on a Mac or PC. Downsides: - if the software doesn’t get updated, you’re stuck running an old OS an old Mac that supports it. - you can’t just turn on the synth and use it, you need to find a cable, connect it to the Mac, launch the software, etc

What I don't quite get is why manufacturers of midi controllers (Arturia, Novation, NI, etc.), with the exception of, possibly only Korg, don't release any of their digital instruments as mobile apps. After sitting the whole day in front of my computer, the last thing I want to do is to swap VS Code for Ableton or Kontakt and spend a few more hours in the glow of my monitors.

(I do get that if you are very serious about making music you need a proper computer set up. I am just a mere amateur hobbyist.)

Re: Raspberry Pi Synthesizers – How the Pi is transforming synths

#13

Post by Juliate »

lolive wrote: post #3

I discovered by pure chance the vast ecosystem of iOS synths apps. And I was absolutely blown away. 90+% of the synths of the past century are available for ~5-20€ each. Connect that to a basic KORG MicroKeys Air [extra cheap, but includes Bluetooth]. And you are the next Jean-Michel Jarre. [Note: and the amount of tutorial videos on YouTube is huge.]

Yes! But, huge but, very huge but, you lose the affordance of the switches and the buttons and the knobs and the patch cables. And that is a terrible loss for fiddling and discovery.

Re: Raspberry Pi Synthesizers – How the Pi is transforming synths

#14

Post by m_kos »

lolive wrote: post #3

I discovered by pure chance the vast ecosystem of iOS synths apps. And I was absolutely blown away. 90+% of the synths of the past century are available for ~5-20€ each. Connect that to a basic KORG MicroKeys Air [extra cheap, but includes Bluetooth]. And you are the next Jean-Michel Jarre. [Note: and the amount of tutorial videos on YouTube is huge.]

For synth heads, there is also a well-regarded Syntorial app/course. (BTW, has anyone tried their Building Blocks? There are very few online reviews.)

Re: Raspberry Pi Synthesizers – How the Pi is transforming synths

#15

Post by gsliepen »

I wrote a software synth myself with the intention of running it on Raspbery Pi 3 / Zero 2. Those are actually quite capable processers; sound synthesis requires very little RAM, both code and for maintaining state, so everything fits in the rather tiny cache. But at the same time, while these Pis use "little" cores, the maximum throughput of NEON instructions is actually the same as for the corresponding "big" cores like the Cortex-A72. With four cores, you can do in the order of ~10 GFLOPS 32-bit FMA instructions. With a sample rate of 96 kHz and 32-note polyphony, you theoretically have a few thousand FMA instructions per note to spend.

Re: Raspberry Pi Synthesizers – How the Pi is transforming synths

#17

Post by lolive »

Juliate wrote: post #13
lolive wrote: post #3

I discovered by pure chance the vast ecosystem of iOS synths apps. And I was absolutely blown away. 90+% of the synths of the past century are available for ~5-20€ each. Connect that to a basic KORG MicroKeys Air [extra cheap, but includes Bluetooth]. And you are the next Jean-Michel Jarre. [Note: and the amount of tutorial videos on YouTube is huge.]

Yes! But, huge but, very huge but, you lose the affordance of the switches and the buttons and the knobs and the patch cables. And that is a terrible loss for fiddling and discovery.

True. But for going from zero to semi-hero, that’s definitely an option. [the huge amount of presets in software synths is really an BIG added value, so you can learn how each given sound is built]

Re: Raspberry Pi Synthesizers – How the Pi is transforming synths

#18

Post by kstrauser »

Juliate wrote: post #13
lolive wrote: post #3

I discovered by pure chance the vast ecosystem of iOS synths apps. And I was absolutely blown away. 90+% of the synths of the past century are available for ~5-20€ each. Connect that to a basic KORG MicroKeys Air [extra cheap, but includes Bluetooth]. And you are the next Jean-Michel Jarre. [Note: and the amount of tutorial videos on YouTube is huge.]

Yes! But, huge but, very huge but, you lose the affordance of the switches and the buttons and the knobs and the patch cables. And that is a terrible loss for fiddling and discovery.

My first synth was a TX81Z. That one set of buttons I’ll never miss.

Re: Raspberry Pi Synthesizers – How the Pi is transforming synths

#19

Post by boriskourt »

Max MSP has RNBO [0] which provides a Pi image, and a quick deploy path for patches. I've used it for a few art installations, and the versions from this year have been super nice. Basically, you can design and test audio on your regular dev machine and quickly deploy to the PI. You don't need to mess with any Linux audio nonsense.

People also use this to make unique pedals.

[0]: https://rnbo.cycling74.com/

Re: Raspberry Pi Synthesizers – How the Pi is transforming synths

#20

Post by kstrauser »

barrenko wrote: post #16

When the word synthesizer is used, it's not meant to be a piano like thing or? For me the word is analogous to "piano keyboard" but it seems to not be so...

A synth is a device that generates sounds. They’re often (but not always!) controlled by piano-style keyboards, but so are lots of non-synth things. For example, although a piano emulator could be a synth, they’re generally not thought of that way. A sampling keyboard is not a synth: it’s playing back recorded sounds.

Lots of synths spent their whole lives never connected to a keyboard, but might live in rack mounts and be driven by sequencers or DAWs.

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