IT is entirely possible to build a synth out of a Raspberry Pi, the main hurdles are the limits of your imagination and your ability to tinker. For some, that will put them off and for others, it is a challenge. Whatever group you fall into, you’ll feel inspired by these amazingly geeky projects!

Using a Raspberry Pi as a synthesiser comes with some challenges – for starters, you need the code to generate the audio, secondly, you need to build a cool enclosure with lots of controls.

This list looks at projects of all levels. Some are DIY Raspberry Pi synths which you can build yourself, others are more of a one-off project without open source documentation.

READ MORE: Can You Produce Music on a Raspberry Pi?

The most recent Raspberry Pi (at time of writing) is the Raspberry Pi 4 which comes with significant performance boosts. I recommend you grab one of these as audio processing can be intense for such a small computer.

Alternatively, you could grab a Raspberry Pi Zero and go for an ultra-compact device at the cost of performance.

READ MORE: Can You DJ with a Raspberry Pi?

If you want to get more CPU headroom out of your Raspberry Pi to handle more powerful synth sounds, I recommend getting a cooling solution such as a fan and heatsink (the market is also kind enough to offer one with RGB). With additional cooling, you can overclock your Raspberry Pi and get a little bit more processing power out of it.

Toby Hendricks’s Raspberry Pi synth/looper

This is one of the coolest looking instruments I have ever seen, and it is all the more impressive that it is a DIY project.

In vibrant orange with an assortment of controls, YouTuber otemrellik AKA Toby Hendricks has made this awesome device.

This is one instrument I’d want on stage with me simply for the coolness factor, and that’s before the wide range of sounds are even created.

This is the kind of Raspberry Pi synth project most hobbyists dream of making. Also, otemrellik makes a lot of these videos of his various projects so definitely check them all out!

Build your own with a Zynthian kit

If you want the street cred of building your own Raspberry Pi synth, but the design prospects are daunting, you could do a lot worse than grabbing a Zynthian kit.

An Open Platform for Sound Synthesis, Zynthian is based on Raspberry Pi and Linux. What’s so great about it is that its hardware specification is public and software is open source. It is fully hackable!

UPDATE: some people report the Raspberry Pi cannot handle certain sounds in this kit. Will update more if more details arise.

If you get the bundle kit, all the parts are pre-soldered and you only need to plug the wires and screw the bolts. You don’t even need to solder anything!

A gorgeous FM touch synth

Unless you have goldfish memory, you’ll recognise this guy. Otemrellik returns to the list for another awesome project idea. In this one, he’s made a stunning touch FM (frequency modulation) synth with XY controls.

This synth offers a lot of expressive modulation control over the Y-axis and shows the sonic versatility available once you get tinkering.

NSuperSynth

This one’s a bit weird to describe. Made by Google, they say it is “an experimental physical interface for the NSynth algorithm”. It uses Magenta’s NSynth, Google’s neural network that generates sounds.

NSynth Super is part of an ongoing experiment by Magenta: a research project within Google that explores how machine learning tools can help artists create art and music in new ways.

All of the technology and design used to create NSynth Super is available as an open-source project.

The open-source version of the NSynth Super prototype including all of the source code, schematics, and design templates are available for download on GitHub.

Raspberry Pi guitar pedal

I know, it’s not technically a synth, or even an instrument, but having a Raspberry Pi as a guitar effects pedal would be a great partner for your Raspberry Pi Synth. You could plug them in together or kit out your whole band with at least one Raspberry Pi each for extra geek kudos.

What did I miss? Got a project you want added? Add your suggestions in the comments!

Disclaimer: this article contains external links to Seeed Studio

About Seeed Studio

Seeed is the IoT hardware enabler providing services over 10 years that empower makers to realize their projects and products. Seeed offers a wide array of hardware platforms and sensor modules ready to be integrated with existing IoT platforms and one-stop PCB fabrication and PCB assembly service. Seeed Studio provides a wide selection of electronic parts including Arduino  Raspberry Pi and many different development board platforms  Especially the Grove System help engineers and makers to avoid jumper wires problems. Seeed Studio has developed more than 280 Grove modules covering a wide range of applications that can fulfil a variety of needs. 

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Frank Hund, serial entrepreneur and Founder/CEO of MakeProAudio, said: “We want to provide Makers with a huge new playground and enable them to build pro audio solutions that are a real alternative to off-the-shelf product.”

“Think of the MPA Platform as the LEGO® system for building pro audio gear, where anybody with the interest is empowered to build gear that’s unique to them and only limited by their imagination. Makers have so much talent and many have an avid interest in audio applications.”

How does it work?

MPA products are made on several levels. At the lowest level, you have your Tiles. These are easy to assemble components which you can put together in a housing to make a Block. 

There are a number of Tile types:

• Control Tiles (faders, encoders, pads or anything your Arduino can do)
• Audio Tiles for audio processing and converters (DSP, AD/DA, AoIP) and USB audio and network audio interfaces
• Connect Tiles where you make common audio connections (XLR,TRS, MIDI, Headphone)
• Compute Tiles for network connection (Raspberry Pi, Intel NUC, Latte Panda)

These then can connect in many different ways into many variations of :

 

• Control Blocks – featuring Control Tiles like motorized faders, encoder and LED buttons plus anything your Arduino can do!
• Mixer Blocks – featuring Audio Tiles like latest generation multi-core DSPs, analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion Tiles;  audio interfaces including USB and Audio over IP
• Synth Blocks – featuring specialized sound synthesizers like Dino Park the World’s best sounding maker board or other embeddable synthesis engines, commercial or community.

The first individual Maker boards and MakeKits are to ship June 2019.  Exact pricing to be announced soon although, “all-in box-MakeKits” will be available for less than 200 EUR. Additional Audio, Control and Connect tile modules for use in building larger scale projects and other audio solutions, will be available later this year. 

For more cool projects with a Raspberry Pi, check out our guide to the top Pi projects over at Tech Ordeal.

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