Arduino Synth Page
This page is a meeting place for people making synthesizers and music generators with Freeduinos and Arduinos .
Code Resources for making synths and implementing analog output
- uchobby articles lots of good discussion on D/A etc.
- AVR - DAC & timer tutorial
- Atmel PWM app note
- GinSing - a software library that interfaces to the Babblebot chip for polyphony, voice synthesis, and waveform synthesis
- Mozzi sound synthesis library for Arduino, with familiar audio and control rate synthesis units like oscillators, delays, filters and envelopes. Includes documentation and easily modifiable example sketches. Open source and extendable.
- single chip synths
From a post over on the monome forums, some single chip / open source synth projects:
AVR chip based designs:
- avrSynth - Dual oscilator, DCF, DCA, plus some LFOs. Has pins for all kinds of front panel controls, plus midi in.
- 1bit groovebox - full on crazy ass chip instrument, interface, sound output, the whole 9, also quite reductive in terms of sound pallette and control logic.
- Shruti-1 - Dual oscillator with various algorithms, lots of modulation options ; but external (analog) VCF and VCA. Uses assembly for waveform interpolation.
- MeeBlip open source hardware synthesizer - 2 oscillators, VCF, VCA, midi in. All done in software, on an AVR chip. Sold as a kit with a nice box, knobs etc.
Other chips
- Atmel's ATSAM2195
- saratronics
- Babblebot - synthesized speech, music, waveform synthesis
- critter board
- OPL3 midibox
Really simple project picaxe beatbox
Also interesting are these PARASITE modules, small audio modules intended to be added into circuit bent hardware. Of particular interest to me is the filter module, which is sadly sold out right now.
ok, that is it for now, just wanted to get this all in my database in case the monome forum goes down.
Synths made with Arduino
Here's a blurry picture of the synth
The covers are 1/4" lexan - sanded matt finish, held together with some 6/32 machine screws and spacers. Screws are just tapped into the front panel. The board is an Bare Bones Board
There's a four bit R2R ladder. I consider this an early prototype and much development is in order. The code doesn't address the R2R ladder yet.
Polyphony with the Arduino
I have developed a way of using the AD5206 digital potentiometer to control a number of oscillators (resistor-capacitor circuits), which makes it possible to easily have 6 voices (or more), with notes modified by ADSR envelopes.
Read about the project here Arduino polyphony
Polyphonic audio purely in software
The OctoSynth is an 8 independent oscillator synthesizer running entirely in the Arduino, with no external components. The oscillator interrupt loop is a highly optimised wavetable sound generator, mostly written in inline assembler (it can run up to 16 oscillators if nothing else is being done). As well as the oscillators, there is also a software based resonant low pass filter, which is nice. Sound is output using 8 bit pulse-width-modulation on Pin 11.
Currently it is designed to be controlled in realtime using a bank of capacitive touch buttons connected to various input pins (I use carriage bolts as these buttons - any metal object would be fine) for 8 note keys, plus two more buttons for pitch bend and filter sweep.
Full source code available on the project page .
arduino punk console : aka programmable 8 step tone sequencer
SID-emulator 8-bit sounds using arduino
see the SID-emulator page for more infos
FatDuino = Arduino + Paia Fatman
The Paia Fatman is a quite capable 2-osc analog monosynth with good modding potential, available as a kit. I replaced its obsolete 8031 (with assembler) controller with an Arduino. This gives a powerful analog sound similar to a Novation Basstation, but with easily-edited Midi control code, allowing sequencers, arpegiators etc. to be easily realised.
More info at http://sites.google.com/site/nibblernibbles/
Fluxamasynth programmable synth
A robust synthesizer from Modern Device that can be completely controlled by the on-board Arduino-compatible microcontroller. The Fluxamasynth is based on Atmel's ATSAM2195 single-chip MIDI sound system, which is part of their Dream Sound Synthesis line of programmable ICs. The Fluxamasynth has a built-in wavetable with 128 general MIDI sounds and an additional set of 128 variations and dozens of percussion sounds. It can play music in 64-voice polyphony without effects or 38 voices with effects.
More info at http://www.moderndevice.com/products/fluxamasynth-rev-1/
FlexamySynth Library for Fluxamasynth
FlexamySynth is an Arduino library for the Fluxamasynth, that
supports all the features of the versatile SAM2195. The whole 9 yards. It has a nice programming guide too (chm).
play-v6: real music from Arduino Uno
play-v6 is a software synth-player featuring:
- Six independent 8-bit synthesized voices.
- 31.25 kHz PWM, oversampled at 62.5 kHz.
- Selectable instruments with independent timbre and full ADSR.
- Uses only a few resistors and capacitors.
- Works both stand-alone and PC-controlled.
- No assembly code!
- PC-side tools: music compiler, instrument generator.
- Open source (CC BY-SA).
Get play-v6 from the project page: http://www.erix.it/play-v6/
MintySynth, a multi-purpose portable synth kit
http://mintysynth.com
http://www.adafruit.com/product/2648
Based on the Atmega 328 and fits in a mint tin. Includes a full-featured sequencer sketch based on the Illutron Synth library, but is designed to be a platform for experimenting with a variety of audio sketches using Mozzi, Auduino, and more.
