All I want is a Synth in a box. Transfer some presets as files, connect an existing USB midi Keyboard/Controller to perform/change presets and some usable audio outputs to play live. I don't want to carry a laptop which is more powerful and versatile but is more expensive/heavy/bigger.
For oast 10 years I have been looking for an embedded solution to bury in back of CME80 controller keyboard. I had a P4 2GHz with 1.5GB RAM and an AC97 - Dell - that could cope with ZynAddSubFX. Too large. But amazing sound from low tech. I had hoped Android would work - too much latency. I ported Zyn to a Pi2 ... couldn't quite handle it. Then Pi3. Better. PI4 overclocked - close. Meanwhile I ported Dexed and put that on my channel a while back. What I was doing with Arduino Mega was making full midi merger, keyboard Zoner, Arpegiator unit and basic sequencer (to add many Emulator 2 features to an ESi). What I observe - this tech is it accessible to the average musician. Glad to see you are helping to bridge the gap.
Me too. I love small 1010 nanoxes, which are super tiny and do really well what they are supposed to do. But they are limited (by design) and not exactly cheap. The Micromonsta (which started it life as an open source project I think). Volcas are an option too... But hell yeah, a DIY Raspberry Pi solution would be pretty awesome indeed.
@@stephenhookings1985I’ve been thinking about tearing down and gutting a valve steam deck. It should have the power to run anything I hope. Maybe put it into the shell of an mpc or something
Hey Floyd, I just wanted to say thanks for bringing me my favorite project of the spring this year. I loved your original MiniDexed video, so much so that I integrated it into a box that will hopefully serve for more “professional” uses. I put my Pi setup inside a box, gave it a dedicated headphone output, split the main output so that it’s on 3.5mm stereo, and on balanced 1/4” TRS L & R via an internal passive DI box, and added a USB-MIDI interface, so it has actual in, out, and thru DIN-5 ports. obviously there’s no midi output that I’m aware of in MiniDexed, but I have both USB and DIN-MIDI inputs that I can use from my controller keyboard. So far it’s been a blast, and I’m just getting started with sound design on it, but as a “preset player” it seems to work great, now I just have to get my head ‘round FM to understand how the operators interact properly, and then I can start designing my own voice sounds.
@@mr_floydst speaking of sequencers, have you ever considered doing a raspberry pi tutorial for old Atari or Dos sequencers?? :) I think that would be really cool.
Since your Mini Dexed video, I have ordered the remaining parts to build one. I cant wait. I think once Pis become available again this sort of thing will definitely catch on. As a 3d printer hobbyist, I think these kinds of projects will also catch on with specially designed cases for each project. Sort of a complete and self contained project. No definately NOT a raving old fool, we love these pi videos. I'm interested in a pi sequencer too. If you stop posting these videos, Im going to come over and put you in the head lock ;)
Floyd, I really admire your work. In fact, that inspired me to take a training with Arduino synths, in order to get near to a MIDI interface for Raspberry ecosystem. My goal is to integrate MIDI-Mackie and DMX on my work as theater technician using Raspberry Pies as logistic engine.
Congrats on 10k! While I was always kinda interested in working with a RasPi and would have ideas what to do with it I hardly know anything about programing software and thus would have no idea where to start. I prefer taking what's already there and re-using or miss-using it. ;)
physical modellng synthesizers could do well in an integrated SOC of some kind, if it's got one job it can do it perfectly, and I'd love to see pianteq dedicated Pi devices, there is no reason that a physical modeling synthesizer that sounds like a real piano and harp and violin isn't available as a eurorack or even a toy volca. 2030 is too long to wait.
Hi, thanks for watching! This year, the "Aodyo Anyma Omega" has been announced - and it looks and sounds promising. Plus the "expressive e osmose" will _finally_ be shipped - and as I backed the Kickstarter campaign, I will show that one on my channel. Suffice to say I'm a bit hyped after that 3 year wait. ;-)
Oh Floyd. Despite the challenges, I was really committed to making a compact rig with reaper and raspberry pi. The limited virtual instruments and complicated set up are workable problems but I just figured out that there is no live looping or session mode for live performance. That's really the nail in the coffin for me. I do know there are some ways available to get a similar result in reaper but I just need things to be easy for a while. I'm going to go back to Ableton with much more appreciation for what is a fairly pleasant user experience. I am however looking forward to creating a dedicated zynthian unit for my keyboard described in your other video. Thanks for these videos.
Hi, thanks for watching! As I said in other responses, it's indeed easier to use existing solutions. RasPi is a platform for people who really, really enjoy tinkering and problem solving ;-) There are a few "works out of the box" solutions, but in reality those only work out of the box if you buy them as products (Organelle, MOD DUO, Zynthian, to name some). I never tried to create loops in Reaper, but in my mind, all you need to do is to mark the start of the loop and it's end in the timeline, then press the loop button and then start recording.
@@mr_floydst I was able to create a simple loop as you described but the goal is to start and stop multiple loops on demand, but have them start on each bar or half bar so they sync to the beat properly. Basically Ableton session mode is what I'm looking for. I'll keep reaper in my back pocket in case I want to focus more on traditional composition as opposed to live performance. Keep up the good work Floyd!
Ironically (actually not, just a coincidence with regard to the timeliness of you putting together this video), I purchased you Raspberry Pi EP last Friday, and it's coming up on the rotation now (within an hour of me watching the video)! I reall ylike your music & videos - Things You Shouldn't Do On A Spaceship is EXCELLENT!
I really enjoy the Pi based videos mostly because they give me idea of stuff I can crib from for my own stuff as I'm running Linux as my OS on my computer (Actually have been for a lot of years at this point) case and point I had totally forgot about Synth1 even though I had used it years ago. Which is a shame as IMO it gives a fair few commercial VA options out there run for their money sound wise. On another note Korg isn't the only one using Linux to power professional standalone products, Mod Devices and Poly Effects and the Empress Euroburo/Zoia are all built around Linux and the LV2 ecosystem at their core with an easier to use UI acting as an abstraction layer to make the end user experience more gentle for your average musician. There have also been several high end digital mixing desks built around Linux. Linux has been quietly in a lot of places in the music world in some pretty damn high end kit like some Harrison units. EDIT: Bonus round of some more brands/ devices using Linux for hardware units. Critter and Guitari, Roland (it's used as the host on some of their workstation class keyboards), Bose. These are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head and as a side note the Wavestate and Opsix isn't the first Korg hardware to have Linux as the underpinning OS playing DSP host as the OSAYS keyboard was built around Linux. I'm of the opinion the main thing holding Linux back in the world of ITB stuff is a mix of the technical side (Linux pro audio while awesome does have a higher technical knowledge barrier to entry) and a severe lack of support from plugin vendors and DAWs, as it is my out of the box basic config on my PC is so low latency even when running Pipewire that I've had some plugins freak out as they can't properly deal with the audio buffer being so small and low latency correctly causing them to have issues. I'm only running at about 64 samples of buffer most the time and some plugins just don't seem to deal well with it that low.
The list goes on and on: MPC is linux, as are several high end synth workstations, and (as you mentioned) a lot of automated mixing desks. Generally, embedded Linux is everywhere. Which underlines the point of this video - getting into this tech has a really low barrier and could prove valuable in the future.
I agree with this video whole heartedly, this platform has such untapped potential. I hope we get more developers interested in it, I would love an amazing ecosystem around making music with the pi.
Thanks for watching! The number of commercial projects based on RasPi is growing steadily - sometimes it's hardware that doesn't get the spotlight on UA-cam (for example, mixing desks).
I'm still blown by the minidexed video. There is a similar diy synth project based on ESP32 microcomputer, took a look of it a couple of days ago and it sounds pretty cool. Considering ESP32 boards are super cheap, maybe they deserve a look :) cheers
Got a Pi plugged into the TV, but couldn't get any of the synths I tried to output audio. Tried Jack and Pulse, got nothing. I really wanted Bristol to work.
Thanks for watching! Bristol is nice, but also quite old and propably not that accurate. There may be better things around now, dexed and Tal Uno come to mind
@@mr_floydst dexed looks cool, though I'm thinking about getting the new FM volca when it becomes available. Want to move away from software a bit, been building some DIY eurorack, but that project is taking forever.
I’ve just setup a Minidexed using a Pi2 and it works like a charm, playing 8 DX7s without a hiccup. Thanks for opening our eyes and ears to this marvel.
I have been using an RPI Zero W with a usb hub to connect all my gear over usb midi. When it starts up it runs a script that finds and automatically connects all midi devices I have plugged in. No more daisychaining over old midi cables. Perfect for a dawless setup.
Hi Floyd, i'm at the moment building a sort of groove box mpc live with the 8gb pi, a 7 inch screen soundcard, some scripts in reaper and a home made controller. I use a lot of your pioneering work to keep inspired . Just want to let you know that reaper Aarch64 version runs smooth on the new released 64 bits Raspberry Pi OS. Then just add the KXStudio Repositories and you have lot of working stuff without having the compile and build yourself. Add sws extensions and reapack for great JS plugins and nice scripts. (Tukan, Joep van Lier, Geraint Luffand js plugins are nice). Check the performance meter of reaper to get the most out of the pi. ;-)
I agree that there is potential there; I mean, it's a 'computerable' computer with GPIO; it was basically designed for applications like this from the start. The problem is the intersect between music-makers (artists) and technologists. That's a wide gap that not many traverse and not many are interested in. I think most people watching this would be, but, I've noticed that most artists aren't too interested in technology. They just want it to not get in the way. Which is really sad, considering that the computer is as much an instrument as a clarinet or hardware synth at this point, perhaps even moreso. Know your tools.
You're right. The intersection of "people who love making music" and "people who love electronics, software and engineering" is comparably small. I guess most of this demographic can be found working at Korg, Roland, Yamaha, Nord, Novation and so on. :-)
Hey Floyd, Id be interested in a video discussing synths apps on phones and tablets. The reason I ask is that I have often wondered if using Raspberry Pi's and then having to attach some sort of input and display, if its easier, cheaper and better to use something that is pretty much already there. Id be interested in a cost comparison, as well as a sound quality comparison. Also I am thinking more of previous generation phones and tablets, the ones we all have on our shelves collecting dust.
In some ways Id like to build a Panel that contained a series of small touch screens that could be wired with plugs looking similar to a modular synth. I imagine a lot more bang for your buck in terms of Control panel landscape. You could dial up different synths, effects and then wire them in different ways.
Hi, thanks for your feedback! I did a video on FL studio mobile (which is considered one of the better DAWs on smartphone) some years ago. If you can bear my monotonous voice delivery and the slow cuts, here's the video: ua-cam.com/video/YkfnKQVOpnI/v-deo.html ) As the PI is capable of running REAPER plus a lot of VST plugins, both systems can roughly do the same things, but a smartphone is a bit sleeker and overall, smaller. But I was considering a "smartphone vs. a complete hardware synth setup" video, but I'd need to make actual music in order to really hit it home :-)
Yes! I like how you think! I'm especially interested in live performance. I've found a couple apps that will work with MIDI devices for limited "jamming". Perfect piano is one example. But I've always thought smartphones were much more capable than this. I'd pay good money for an app with a handful of synths and drum kits with MIDI composing and live looping. Is that asking a lot? I'm not actually sure.
I really like that this channel focuses on people who don't have thousands of dollars for a single piece of hardware. I think a lot of channels that get hardware sent to them, are often times disconnected from their audience. I couldn't count how many times I've seen a cool piece of gear, and then realized that it cost $2500.00 usd. I don't know about everyone else, but I don't see myself buying any niche synth or effect for $2500 usd. I would rather buy a flagship synth that has all the bells and whistles, or a bunch of cheaper pieces. Don't get me wrong, the premium priced niche synths are cool, but it just makes me sad when I see the price. I think some channels need to keep that in mind when showing a piece of gear. If a newly released piece is super expensive, I feel like it should almost be part of the introduction. I'll be honest it causes me to feel a little animosity towards the channels that do this. It's pretty common with the gear channels that have a lot of subscribers.
Thanks for your feedback! It's a thing I try to keep in mind. (No one offered to send me gear up to now with the exception of @kassersynths DAFM synth 2 years ago). You're right, not talking about the price is strange, it's an important information. It rarely happens. I recently watched an episode of techmoan (great channel!) in which he criticised that rarely any youtube creator checks that "this video contains sponsored content" checkbox when they get free gear for review, though many legislations in the world require you to do so.
THis is an important conversation to be had. At one popint I got really excited about lofty aspirations regarding Pi based musical inventions. The thing is it's really just a PRIMITIVE computer far too underspecced for current speed demands. What else are laptops for? Also the Critter and Guitarri Organelle already exists and runs on a Pi. ITS AN INCREDIBLE INSTRUMENT AND I USE IT ON EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY PRODUCTIONS! Not very suited for live performances though just as a recording tool.
Thanks for watching! My video title was a bit clickbaity. In fact, there are more RasPi powered devices on the marketplace right now: Korg's Modwave, Wavestate and OP6, and I wouldn't be surprised if MPC is running on some kind of ARM processor as well. There's a lot of great stuff happening in the open source scene right now, but many projects remain in their "breadboard phase" as well.
I am building a 16 channel Linux based synth using 8 x C.H.I.P. and analog filters. A little cheaper than Raspberry Pi but able to do much the same. Thanks for your earlier videos Floyd.
I would have loved it if you could use Raspberry Pi's as plugin accelerators to offload processing onto, kinda like the UAD Satellite boxes. I know that you can use a second PC/Mac to run plugins on in Reaper, but it would be so much more convenient to just be able to connect the Pi to your PC through USB and control everything from the PC. Maybe it could be done some day using CLAP plugins on the Pi?
I think actually a lot of people do use micro controllers and micro computer (RPI, Arduino, variants) although they don't know. In many devices they use these controllers, sometimes even as main cpu. Or sometimes they use components which are the same on these controllers (not always a full board is used, but of course only the relevant components for those synths, arps, sequencers etc.
Isn't the Korg WaveState, or maybe ModWave, based on a Pi Maker Module? I'm not sure which of the Pi series that's closest to though. Bare metal seems like the way to go. I've often looked at Pis and wondered why I'd want one. They barely seem powerful enough to warrant having an OS, but using them stripped down and used as a microcontroller makes a lot more sense, to me. I have played with Arduinos and the Raspberry Pi Pico (RP2040). You can do quite a lot with those too, but the Pi is more powerful, for not too much more money. The main difference at the moment is that you can actually buy the Pi Pico - or the Adafruit ItsyBitsy RP2040 which is based on the same chip.
The Korg boards are based on Pi-Compute modules and very likely custom Linux stripped down to the essentials (possibly with help from ELK - just an educated guess). ELK audio OS would be my choice for a digital synth hardware project on Pi (you can run a VST3 headless with hardware drivers for LCD screens/buttons/knobs) - assuming they are still active - have not checked them out for a while. (I once did a 'bare metal' synth on a TI DSP (in assembly code) - ADC/DAC drivers/GPIO access etc.. but that was through necessity - there was not enough memory/power for a full blown OS anyway at the time)
@@mr_floydst I somehow missed that part, the first time I watched it. Something you said probably started me on a different train of thought, for a while :)
@@wavesequencer Elk looks interesting, but I'm guessing there'd be a huge learning curve involved in writing anything for it. Installing something that was open source and ready made, then tweaking it a bit, might be an option though. I've never looked into DSP chips. Some of the STM32s claim to have DSP capability, but I'm sure it's not the same as the real thing.
@@TooSlowTube I think with ELK the learning curve is the other way around (ie. saving you a lot of trouble to roll your own custom Linux/hardware drivers).. you can use JUCE API (which is very well known to plugin developers) to build a Linux targeting VST (so you could develop on another PC/Linux machine) and then run that build in a headless fashion in ELK OS with their hardware wrapping scripts/tools (I attended one of their workshops - it all seemed very straightforward). The only issue with ELK is licensing fees/contract to go commercial with a product.
Floyd, is Raspberry Pi 400 good for working with sound? I'm going to buy it as it's colder than Pi-4 and has the very nice case :) Watching the Amiga emulation on Pi400 now, it's very nostalgic and promising :)) We've started from ZX Spectrum and Amiga(s) later. Used ProTracker, OctaMed and some others.
It really depends on what you're trying to achieve. If you want to run a professional music production with 100s of plugins at once, this won't work. But for smaller tasks, certainly. You can load a couple of plugins and expect them to work smoothly. 8GB of RAM should give you some leeway, and the CPU is quite capable. For trackers, it's certainly a very good choice.
@@mr_floydst Unfortunatelly Pi400 gives only 4Gb RAM, Orange Pi800 seems to be better... but it gives the same 4Gb RAM. The task is to "replace" NTS-1 which I've decided to not buy. I want to have a standalone unit that will be able to be operated without a monitor. Or (if it's not possible) with their smallest 3.5 inch monitor. The main question is: Is it reliable? Windows/MacOS machines has real flaws about getting freezes or even stuck states when you're jamming. It was reported by my friends from Koan and other guys.
If "Open Source" is a requirement, please take a look at Zynthian, MOD DUO, or the Critter & Guitari Organelle. Those are very reliable and stable. The latter two aren't cheap, though. First I'd check if you aren't better served with a DAW on your Smartphone, though.
@@mr_floydst Zynthian seems to be good but the price is questionable IMO. Maybe I'll try to create my own based on some libraries and useful shields. Don't know yet. Jamming isn't for money in my case (yet), so I'm searching for low budget options :)
@@KiR_3d Then MICRODEXED might be for you. ua-cam.com/video/ZFvrbFw_cPg/v-deo.html It's a great "groovebox" minus the audio input of the NTS-1 plus a great synth selection plus tracker.
Maybe someday, somebody will build the OPi-1 for less than 2000 ;) Really, if somebody comes up with a nice case including keys and OLED display, I would plug a Raspberry-Pi into that and burn some software to a microSD... and the other important aspect to DIY music gear is that I can use anything with it. The GPIO pins of the Raspberry Pi offer possibilities that are not possible with any VST plugin. So please do more Raspberry Pi and Arduino music tech videos :)
^this. But it takes time and money to make your DIY project into something "professional". Building an actual PCB, case, knos and sliders that fit together and look nice.
Dá pra transformar um velho e quebrado Casio CT670 num supersintetizador com Raspiberry Pi ? Substituindo a placa principal e colocando um display com touch-screen ? Eu gosto muito do conteúdo do seu canal. Parabéns.
It should be possible in case the CASIO still has enough life in it the so keyboard controller still works. But it won't be easy, you need figure out how to make the circuits interact with each other. In case the CASIO has MIDI and that still works, it's easier, you could connect the "MIDI pin" of the PI to the 5 pin MIDI from the inside of the case and modify everything else to your needs.
I was considering using a pi to route and filter midi between some drum machine/sequencer/synth modules But after looking into it a bit, I ended up just buying a bome box 😅
But I think there's a lot of potential for that kind of thing! Connect some usb midi interfaces, send midi clock information, merge notes from a keyboard or sequencer, remap some CC knobs etc
I used a raspberry with Raspbian, a small monitor, keyboard and mouse at gigs, but my main problems with it were: Electricity is very variable in the places I play, and boot time wouldn't be that fast. Sometimes jack crashed, having to open the terminal in the middle of the gig Having to throw a lot of cables to connect all the things and a USB interface Quality of the monitor I chose with it (I wanted a small one, thinking of portability) was low, and were unavailable as far as I knew so I had to buy them online expensively. And then it died easily. I'd have to bring a no-break to solve problem one, which would be quite larger than the Raspberry itself, and a replacement to the old monitor... So I bought a cheap "ePad 2", which was more reliable because of it having a battery. I could still use most of the sounds I compiled on sf2, but had to say goodbye do Dexed and setbFree. In ten years I guess, if people keep interested in developing the Raspberries and ways of using them musically, these would be more practical and usable.
Thanks for sharing your story! I can feel your pain. ;-) Watching the DIY scene for some years now, I'd say there are some projects that are ready for live use, e.g. Zynthian. But there are still a lot of projects in early development stage which bring with them all the troubles you've described here.
after your barebones content i want to make one to use but at the moment i cant buy a suitable rasp pi in Australia. my other 3 pi's are busy. one is a recallbox game emulator my rasp pi zero w is running PiHole DNS and my rasp pi 4 2GB is running desktop . even second hand is getting hard to find. Congrats on the 10K..... onwards and upwards.
A few more thoughts......Looking at the price / availability of a PI, , the single button input that is used, and the primitive display, as well as linear editing, it makes me wonder why we wouldn't do this on a cheap Android tablet instead. The prices would be comparable and a whole lot less work setting up on a tablet. Imagine the extra screen real estate and the great GUI that could be had. Worst case, a MiniDexed project written for a 7inch Pi touch screen, ($88)
Yes, agreed - you're part of the first group then - using Dexed is more accessible on a computer/tablet right now. you can just load 8 Dexed plugins into your DAW of choice for the same thing. Thanks to it's GPIO port, PI can be used to build a hardware interface with a lot of faders, encoders, buttons and so on. of course you can substitute that with a MIDI controller, but you'd end up with more devices to carry around than a PI residing inside a keyboard.
@@mr_floydst Yeah I get that, and DIY is also a lot of fun. I'm not diminishing the project, I think it's great. I'd just like to maximise bang for buck. As I say, even if this MiniDexed project had a 7inch colour touch screen, instead of the dot matrix one, imagine the increased scope.
@@mr_floydst Nice! Dind't know that about the MPC One. It seems that many gear nowadays use Linux, RPi or another FOSS tech. I just read these day that Waves SoundGrid started based on Ardour and that the Poly Beebo modules are in LV2 format
pi zero 2 with lmms capable to play maximum 4 sf2 instruments from Tim6mb bank. so that is few. they are capable to play few built-in musical instruments. on the other hand qtracker, audacity are ok.
The title here was intentionally misleading and in the video I showed that everyone uses microcontrollers in music, often without noticing ;-) I felt that the default settings in the latest PI OS didn't do anything for musicians - in the contrary, latency is absolutely ridiculous now. Some user interaction is needed to get good results.
Thanks for pointing me at that - this is the first time I heard of PAIA! Fascinating stuff. Well yes, but no - I'm only describing what's happening. :-)
@@mr_floydst If you do, definitely go over the "Jump Step" feature. That's defintitely the best thing about the Volca Sample in my opinion, not sure if the other Volca's also do that. If it's easy to do with a bare metal synth I would love to know.
long ago, soon as i got a pi2, i started splatting synths, daws, midi production ware and stuff like hydrogen, got a midi interface and an ART usb mixer... true, it takes a bit of work to find space for it when you already have lots of stuff stuffed in every cranny, but that just means you build it into a suitcase and go mobile... i got a cheap aluminum valise, prices skyrocketed after i got it, i haint gettin another. now i have my moms old pi4 i can make better use of it, the pi2 really isn't built for producing music, a few tracks at a time and live production as an instrument is more what it's good for.
I wonder about who the target audience is for this channel. Most of these projects seem kind of like projects for entertainment themselves, like a software synth can be made much simpler than most of these tutorials. I can see some people watching and saying, "Wow that looks very difficult and unreliable, I'm glad I bought the high ticket items...." There need to be more entry level synths IMO, it shouldn't be that expensive to get into synthesis (I'm going to try one to get my daughter into playing with synths.) Handing a kid a pc, is just to much to make music.
Hi, thanks for sharing your thoughts. You're asking the real questions there! ;-) To be honest, the Raspberry Pi stuff kind of developed, people seem to like to watch this style of content. You have to be a person who finds relaxation in the process of building stuff. A lot of my viewers seem to be software / web developers who found electronic music as a fulfilling hobby. Microcomputers are at the core of many current hardware synths. I see my videos as a kind of "a pro pos": Here's an idea, I'll talk about the basics, and perhaps you can take it to the next level. In order to get good results, one needs a 3D printer. I think I need one to take these projects to a more professional level. That being said, this is not the only topic on this channel, but the one that some other media sites and UA-cam channels pick up from time to time. (And I'm thankful for that)
Ooh hot take by Sonic State. Just because something isn't popular doesn't mean it isn't good. If you pull up with a janky synth and still make an awesome track, who cares if anyone else uses it?
I had a unique sound programmed for the Seiko DS-250. I had the programmer. It was full of distortion and noise and sounded great. Used it on actual album. It's a very annoying ancient instrument.
My view is the Pi is overkill for midi compared to a Pi Pico and even a dirt cheap old windows TV stick or tablet with an atom CPU are far more useful for audio processing in a small form factor. less than $50 for a pico + old windows stick / tablet
"NO ONE uses Raspberry Pis in music production!" In much the same way that basically nobody makes their own guitars or drumkits. The thing to note is that it's not so much about the sound of the Raspberry, you either like how an instrument sounds or you don't. The "problem" is that the people who amke instruments using raspberry pi's rarely take it to the level of actually being a handy useful reliable system. If you mention the word "driver update" then you've already skipped past the point where you want to be. Lock yout system down to the most recent drivers and software versions and develop your box using that. Stop updating it. If radically new drivers come out: create a new box. This is literally how any manufacturer does it; they create one firmware, fix a few bugs, and some features and then move to the next version of their hardware and never update the old one. Don't fix what is not broken.
That's a good point! Professional musicians have other things to care about than fiddling with software problems. (That's why many PCs/Macs in actual studios are not connected to the internet, running fairly old software)
![[SunVox/MODEP/Patchbox OS] Raspberry Pi 4 Music Cyberdeck](/img/n.gif)
All I want is a Synth in a box. Transfer some presets as files, connect an existing USB midi Keyboard/Controller to perform/change presets and some usable audio outputs to play live. I don't want to carry a laptop which is more powerful and versatile but is more expensive/heavy/bigger.
Yes, that's an big plus for micro computers, they're small and light and they can run on power banks.
For oast 10 years I have been looking for an embedded solution to bury in back of CME80 controller keyboard. I had a P4 2GHz with 1.5GB RAM and an AC97 - Dell - that could cope with ZynAddSubFX. Too large. But amazing sound from low tech. I had hoped Android would work - too much latency. I ported Zyn to a Pi2 ... couldn't quite handle it. Then Pi3. Better. PI4 overclocked - close. Meanwhile I ported Dexed and put that on my channel a while back.
What I was doing with Arduino Mega was making full midi merger, keyboard Zoner, Arpegiator unit and basic sequencer (to add many Emulator 2 features to an ESi).
What I observe - this tech is it accessible to the average musician. Glad to see you are helping to bridge the gap.
Me too. I love small 1010 nanoxes, which are super tiny and do really well what they are supposed to do. But they are limited (by design) and not exactly cheap. The Micromonsta (which started it life as an open source project I think). Volcas are an option too...
But hell yeah, a DIY Raspberry Pi solution would be pretty awesome indeed.
@@stephenhookings1985I’ve been thinking about tearing down and gutting a valve steam deck. It should have the power to run anything I hope. Maybe put it into the shell of an mpc or something
@@stephenhookings1985 alternatively I’ve also been thinking about tearing down a laptop or a Mac mini and throwing that in a midi keyboard
Hey Floyd, I just wanted to say thanks for bringing me my favorite project of the spring this year. I loved your original MiniDexed video, so much so that I integrated it into a box that will hopefully serve for more “professional” uses. I put my Pi setup inside a box, gave it a dedicated headphone output, split the main output so that it’s on 3.5mm stereo, and on balanced 1/4” TRS L & R via an internal passive DI box, and added a USB-MIDI interface, so it has actual in, out, and thru DIN-5 ports. obviously there’s no midi output that I’m aware of in MiniDexed, but I have both USB and DIN-MIDI inputs that I can use from my controller keyboard. So far it’s been a blast, and I’m just getting started with sound design on it, but as a “preset player” it seems to work great, now I just have to get my head ‘round FM to understand how the operators interact properly, and then I can start designing my own voice sounds.
Thank you very much, and best of luck with your future builds! Exciting times ahead. :)
The love you show the QY series keeps me coming back. This channel gets the very niche I'm interested in haha
Thanks for watching! I'll Do more Qy content soon. :)
@@mr_floydst speaking of sequencers, have you ever considered doing a raspberry pi tutorial for old Atari or Dos sequencers?? :) I think that would be really cool.
I didn't consider it until now, thanks for your input! :)
@@mr_floydst I can almost get sequencer gold plus running! But figuring out how to get it to communicate with everything is is weird!
Floyd, thank you for all your pioneering work. I’m currently working on an analog, but when it’s done, a bare metal pi is definitely on the cards.
Thanks for watching and good luck with your projects!
Congrats on 10k, you should have 100k. So cool to see you on Sonic State. Luv your content, brain and talent. Kepp em coming...
Thank you very much!
Since your Mini Dexed video, I have ordered the remaining parts to build one. I cant wait. I think once Pis become available again this sort of thing will definitely catch on. As a 3d printer hobbyist, I think these kinds of projects will also catch on with specially designed cases for each project. Sort of a complete and self contained project.
No definately NOT a raving old fool, we love these pi videos. I'm interested in a pi sequencer too.
If you stop posting these videos, Im going to come over and put you in the head lock ;)
Ok ok I'll do more :)
Still on the fence regarding 3d printers. Maybe, later. :)
Floyd, I really admire your work. In fact, that inspired me to take a training with Arduino synths, in order to get near to a MIDI interface for Raspberry ecosystem. My goal is to integrate MIDI-Mackie and DMX on my work as theater technician using Raspberry Pies as logistic engine.
Thanks for watching! And good luck with your projects! :)
Congrats on 10k!
While I was always kinda interested in working with a RasPi and would have ideas what to do with it I hardly know anything about programing software and thus would have no idea where to start. I prefer taking what's already there and re-using or miss-using it. ;)
Thanks! With those "bare metal " synths, it's mostly a matter of copying files to an SD card and using the standard audio jack.
physical modellng synthesizers could do well in an integrated SOC of some kind, if it's got one job it can do it perfectly, and I'd love to see pianteq dedicated Pi devices, there is no reason that a physical modeling synthesizer that sounds like a real piano and harp and violin isn't available as a eurorack or even a toy volca. 2030 is too long to wait.
Hi, thanks for watching! This year, the "Aodyo Anyma Omega" has been announced - and it looks and sounds promising. Plus the "expressive e osmose" will _finally_ be shipped - and as I backed the Kickstarter campaign, I will show that one on my channel. Suffice to say I'm a bit hyped after that 3 year wait. ;-)
One of my favourite pieces of gear, the Tasty Chips GR1 Granular Synth is build around a Raspberry Pi3
Thanks for watching! Yes, and many others are, too! :)
Keep Rambling Friend, love these videos
Thanks! :)
There is Korg Wavestate Synth, based on a Raspberry, and this synth is awesome!
Thanks for watching! I think I mentioned those somewhere in the middle of this video.
@@mr_floydst Forgive me, i don't watched the full video :) But will do now :)
Oh Floyd. Despite the challenges, I was really committed to making a compact rig with reaper and raspberry pi. The limited virtual instruments and complicated set up are workable problems but I just figured out that there is no live looping or session mode for live performance. That's really the nail in the coffin for me.
I do know there are some ways available to get a similar result in reaper but I just need things to be easy for a while. I'm going to go back to Ableton with much more appreciation for what is a fairly pleasant user experience.
I am however looking forward to creating a dedicated zynthian unit for my keyboard described in your other video. Thanks for these videos.
Hi, thanks for watching! As I said in other responses, it's indeed easier to use existing solutions. RasPi is a platform for people who really, really enjoy tinkering and problem solving ;-) There are a few "works out of the box" solutions, but in reality those only work out of the box if you buy them as products (Organelle, MOD DUO, Zynthian, to name some).
I never tried to create loops in Reaper, but in my mind, all you need to do is to mark the start of the loop and it's end in the timeline, then press the loop button and then start recording.
@@mr_floydst I was able to create a simple loop as you described but the goal is to start and stop multiple loops on demand, but have them start on each bar or half bar so they sync to the beat properly. Basically Ableton session mode is what I'm looking for. I'll keep reaper in my back pocket in case I want to focus more on traditional composition as opposed to live performance. Keep up the good work Floyd!
Ironically (actually not, just a coincidence with regard to the timeliness of you putting together this video), I purchased you Raspberry Pi EP last Friday, and it's coming up on the rotation now (within an hour of me watching the video)! I reall ylike your music & videos - Things You Shouldn't Do On A Spaceship is EXCELLENT!
Thank you very much! This means a lot to me - it's normal my musical efforts don't get a lot of views so it's really nice to get feedback on them.
I really enjoy the Pi based videos mostly because they give me idea of stuff I can crib from for my own stuff as I'm running Linux as my OS on my computer (Actually have been for a lot of years at this point) case and point I had totally forgot about Synth1 even though I had used it years ago. Which is a shame as IMO it gives a fair few commercial VA options out there run for their money sound wise. On another note Korg isn't the only one using Linux to power professional standalone products, Mod Devices and Poly Effects and the Empress Euroburo/Zoia are all built around Linux and the LV2 ecosystem at their core with an easier to use UI acting as an abstraction layer to make the end user experience more gentle for your average musician. There have also been several high end digital mixing desks built around Linux. Linux has been quietly in a lot of places in the music world in some pretty damn high end kit like some Harrison units.
EDIT: Bonus round of some more brands/ devices using Linux for hardware units. Critter and Guitari, Roland (it's used as the host on some of their workstation class keyboards), Bose. These are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head and as a side note the Wavestate and Opsix isn't the first Korg hardware to have Linux as the underpinning OS playing DSP host as the OSAYS keyboard was built around Linux. I'm of the opinion the main thing holding Linux back in the world of ITB stuff is a mix of the technical side (Linux pro audio while awesome does have a higher technical knowledge barrier to entry) and a severe lack of support from plugin vendors and DAWs, as it is my out of the box basic config on my PC is so low latency even when running Pipewire that I've had some plugins freak out as they can't properly deal with the audio buffer being so small and low latency correctly causing them to have issues. I'm only running at about 64 samples of buffer most the time and some plugins just don't seem to deal well with it that low.
The list goes on and on: MPC is linux, as are several high end synth workstations, and (as you mentioned) a lot of automated mixing desks. Generally, embedded Linux is everywhere.
Which underlines the point of this video - getting into this tech has a really low barrier and could prove valuable in the future.
I agree with this video whole heartedly, this platform has such untapped potential. I hope we get more developers interested in it, I would love an amazing ecosystem around making music with the pi.
Thanks for watching! The number of commercial projects based on RasPi is growing steadily - sometimes it's hardware that doesn't get the spotlight on UA-cam (for example, mixing desks).
10k, congrats.
Thank you very much!
And there is the Monome Norns ecosystem.
Yes, exactly!
I'm still blown by the minidexed video. There is a similar diy synth project based on ESP32 microcomputer, took a look of it a couple of days ago and it sounds pretty cool. Considering ESP32 boards are super cheap, maybe they deserve a look :) cheers
Thanks for watching! That sounds interesting, I'll take a look at it!
interesting, I've got a couple WROOM boards, but so far I've only used STM32 (via I2S) and Teensy for audio.
Got a Pi plugged into the TV, but couldn't get any of the synths I tried to output audio. Tried Jack and Pulse, got nothing. I really wanted Bristol to work.
Thanks for watching! Bristol is nice, but also quite old and propably not that accurate. There may be better things around now, dexed and Tal Uno come to mind
@@mr_floydst dexed looks cool, though I'm thinking about getting the new FM volca when it becomes available. Want to move away from software a bit, been building some DIY eurorack, but that project is taking forever.
I’ve just setup a Minidexed using a Pi2 and it works like a charm, playing 8 DX7s without a hiccup.
Thanks for opening our eyes and ears to this marvel.
Thanks for watching! :)
I have been using an RPI Zero W with a usb hub to connect all my gear over usb midi. When it starts up it runs a script that finds and automatically connects all midi devices I have plugged in. No more daisychaining over old midi cables. Perfect for a dawless setup.
Thanks for watching! Yes! Linux' MIDI handling is super impressive! It's made for this.
Hi Floyd, i'm at the moment building a sort of groove box mpc live with the 8gb pi, a 7 inch screen soundcard, some scripts in reaper and a home made controller. I use a lot of your pioneering work to keep inspired . Just want to let you know that reaper Aarch64 version runs smooth on the new released 64 bits Raspberry Pi OS. Then just add the KXStudio Repositories and you have lot of working stuff without having the compile and build yourself. Add sws extensions and reapack for great JS plugins and nice scripts. (Tukan, Joep van Lier, Geraint Luffand js plugins are nice). Check the performance meter of reaper to get the most out of the pi. ;-)
Love the sound of this project! Would love to see how it works for you!
Thanks for your comment! I really need to install that update. Sounds really good.
Dude a bare metal synth environment would be awesome!
The are used in the Korg Wavestate
Thanks for watching :) I talk about this in this video but I can totally understand if you couldn't bear my incoherent rambling :)
I wasn't aware of the poll but I am definitely one of the Raspberry Pi people.
Thanks for watching! Ok, +1 for Team RasPi, then. :-)
I agree that there is potential there; I mean, it's a 'computerable' computer with GPIO; it was basically designed for applications like this from the start.
The problem is the intersect between music-makers (artists) and technologists. That's a wide gap that not many traverse and not many are interested in. I think most people watching this would be, but, I've noticed that most artists aren't too interested in technology. They just want it to not get in the way.
Which is really sad, considering that the computer is as much an instrument as a clarinet or hardware synth at this point, perhaps even moreso. Know your tools.
You're right. The intersection of "people who love making music" and "people who love electronics, software and engineering" is comparably small. I guess most of this demographic can be found working at Korg, Roland, Yamaha, Nord, Novation and so on. :-)
I've build a rackmount Minidexed (with some additions) and have sold my upgraded Yamaha DX7-II/FD.
Very nice!
Every time I hear "Hi, you're watching Floyd Stienberg's UA-cam channel." I smile. So up-beat.
Thanks :)
Hey Floyd, Id be interested in a video discussing synths apps on phones and tablets. The reason I ask is that I have often wondered if using Raspberry Pi's and then having to attach some sort of input and display, if its easier, cheaper and better to use something that is pretty much already there. Id be interested in a cost comparison, as well as a sound quality comparison. Also I am thinking more of previous generation phones and tablets, the ones we all have on our shelves collecting dust.
In some ways Id like to build a Panel that contained a series of small touch screens that could be wired with plugs looking similar to a modular synth. I imagine a lot more bang for your buck in terms of Control panel landscape.
You could dial up different synths, effects and then wire them in different ways.
BTW is it really Floyd or is that a 'stage' name? Similar to you, I also LOVE Pink Floyd. How cool if that is actually your name ;)
Hi, thanks for your feedback!
I did a video on FL studio mobile (which is considered one of the better DAWs on smartphone) some years ago. If you can bear my monotonous voice delivery and the slow cuts, here's the video: ua-cam.com/video/YkfnKQVOpnI/v-deo.html )
As the PI is capable of running REAPER plus a lot of VST plugins, both systems can roughly do the same things, but a smartphone is a bit sleeker and overall, smaller.
But I was considering a "smartphone vs. a complete hardware synth setup" video, but I'd need to make actual music in order to really hit it home :-)
Yes! I like how you think! I'm especially interested in live performance. I've found a couple apps that will work with MIDI devices for limited "jamming". Perfect piano is one example. But I've always thought smartphones were much more capable than this. I'd pay good money for an app with a handful of synths and drum kits with MIDI composing and live looping. Is that asking a lot? I'm not actually sure.
I really like that this channel focuses on people who don't have thousands of dollars for a single piece of hardware. I think a lot of channels that get hardware sent to them, are often times disconnected from their audience. I couldn't count how many times I've seen a cool piece of gear, and then realized that it cost $2500.00 usd. I don't know about everyone else, but I don't see myself buying any niche synth or effect for $2500 usd. I would rather buy a flagship synth that has all the bells and whistles, or a bunch of cheaper pieces. Don't get me wrong, the premium priced niche synths are cool, but it just makes me sad when I see the price. I think some channels need to keep that in mind when showing a piece of gear. If a newly released piece is super expensive, I feel like it should almost be part of the introduction. I'll be honest it causes me to feel a little animosity towards the channels that do this. It's pretty common with the gear channels that have a lot of subscribers.
Thanks for your feedback! It's a thing I try to keep in mind. (No one offered to send me gear up to now with the exception of @kassersynths DAFM synth 2 years ago).
You're right, not talking about the price is strange, it's an important information. It rarely happens. I recently watched an episode of techmoan (great channel!) in which he criticised that rarely any youtube creator checks that "this video contains sponsored content" checkbox when they get free gear for review, though many legislations in the world require you to do so.
THis is an important conversation to be had. At one popint I got really excited about lofty aspirations regarding Pi based musical inventions. The thing is it's really just a PRIMITIVE computer far too underspecced for current speed demands. What else are laptops for?
Also the Critter and Guitarri Organelle already exists and runs on a Pi. ITS AN INCREDIBLE INSTRUMENT AND I USE IT ON EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY PRODUCTIONS! Not very suited for live performances though just as a recording tool.
Thanks for watching! My video title was a bit clickbaity. In fact, there are more RasPi powered devices on the marketplace right now: Korg's Modwave, Wavestate and OP6, and I wouldn't be surprised if MPC is running on some kind of ARM processor as well. There's a lot of great stuff happening in the open source scene right now, but many projects remain in their "breadboard phase" as well.
I am building a 16 channel Linux based synth using 8 x C.H.I.P. and analog filters. A little cheaper than Raspberry Pi but able to do much the same. Thanks for your earlier videos Floyd.
Thanks for watching! :)
Curious to know more.
Anything new so far?
I would have loved it if you could use Raspberry Pi's as plugin accelerators to offload processing onto, kinda like the UAD Satellite boxes. I know that you can use a second PC/Mac to run plugins on in Reaper, but it would be so much more convenient to just be able to connect the Pi to your PC through USB and control everything from the PC. Maybe it could be done some day using CLAP plugins on the Pi?
Cool idea! Will have to try it, I guess :-)
Will a teensy m8 headless work on a pocket chip??
Hello, thanks for watching. If it's capable of powering the Teensy via USB and to run the web app or the display app, it should be possible.
I think actually a lot of people do use micro controllers and micro computer (RPI, Arduino, variants) although they don't know. In many devices they use these controllers, sometimes even as main cpu. Or sometimes they use components which are the same on these controllers (not always a full board is used, but of course only the relevant components for those synths, arps, sequencers etc.
Thanks for watching! Yeah, that's what I said in this video ;-)
@@mr_floydst haha true
Isn't the Korg WaveState, or maybe ModWave, based on a Pi Maker Module? I'm not sure which of the Pi series that's closest to though.
Bare metal seems like the way to go. I've often looked at Pis and wondered why I'd want one. They barely seem powerful enough to warrant having an OS, but using them stripped down and used as a microcontroller makes a lot more sense, to me.
I have played with Arduinos and the Raspberry Pi Pico (RP2040). You can do quite a lot with those too, but the Pi is more powerful, for not too much more money. The main difference at the moment is that you can actually buy the Pi Pico - or the Adafruit ItsyBitsy RP2040 which is based on the same chip.
Thanks for watching! I mentioned them in the video :) There are indeed a number of PI powered audio tools out there at the moment.
The Korg boards are based on Pi-Compute modules and very likely custom Linux stripped down to the essentials (possibly with help from ELK - just an educated guess). ELK audio OS would be my choice for a digital synth hardware project on Pi (you can run a VST3 headless with hardware drivers for LCD screens/buttons/knobs) - assuming they are still active - have not checked them out for a while. (I once did a 'bare metal' synth on a TI DSP (in assembly code) - ADC/DAC drivers/GPIO access etc.. but that was through necessity - there was not enough memory/power for a full blown OS anyway at the time)
@@mr_floydst I somehow missed that part, the first time I watched it. Something you said probably started me on a different train of thought, for a while :)
@@wavesequencer Elk looks interesting, but I'm guessing there'd be a huge learning curve involved in writing anything for it. Installing something that was open source and ready made, then tweaking it a bit, might be an option though.
I've never looked into DSP chips. Some of the STM32s claim to have DSP capability, but I'm sure it's not the same as the real thing.
@@TooSlowTube I think with ELK the learning curve is the other way around (ie. saving you a lot of trouble to roll your own custom Linux/hardware drivers).. you can use JUCE API (which is very well known to plugin developers) to build a Linux targeting VST (so you could develop on another PC/Linux machine) and then run that build in a headless fashion in ELK OS with their hardware wrapping scripts/tools (I attended one of their workshops - it all seemed very straightforward). The only issue with ELK is licensing fees/contract to go commercial with a product.
Hoping for a bare metal OB-Xd and a Bare metal Surge XT one day . Cheers !
I think building a UI for those would be quite complex...
@@mr_floydst I'm ok with a Waldorf style 4 to 8 knob matrix style UI if it's done right
Floyd, is Raspberry Pi 400 good for working with sound? I'm going to buy it as it's colder than Pi-4 and has the very nice case :)
Watching the Amiga emulation on Pi400 now, it's very nostalgic and promising :)) We've started from ZX Spectrum and Amiga(s) later. Used ProTracker, OctaMed and some others.
It really depends on what you're trying to achieve. If you want to run a professional music production with 100s of plugins at once, this won't work. But for smaller tasks, certainly. You can load a couple of plugins and expect them to work smoothly. 8GB of RAM should give you some leeway, and the CPU is quite capable.
For trackers, it's certainly a very good choice.
@@mr_floydst Unfortunatelly Pi400 gives only 4Gb RAM, Orange Pi800 seems to be better... but it gives the same 4Gb RAM.
The task is to "replace" NTS-1 which I've decided to not buy. I want to have a standalone unit that will be able to be operated without a monitor. Or (if it's not possible) with their smallest 3.5 inch monitor.
The main question is: Is it reliable? Windows/MacOS machines has real flaws about getting freezes or even stuck states when you're jamming. It was reported by my friends from Koan and other guys.
If "Open Source" is a requirement, please take a look at Zynthian, MOD DUO, or the Critter & Guitari Organelle. Those are very reliable and stable.
The latter two aren't cheap, though.
First I'd check if you aren't better served with a DAW on your Smartphone, though.
@@mr_floydst Zynthian seems to be good but the price is questionable IMO.
Maybe I'll try to create my own based on some libraries and useful shields. Don't know yet. Jamming isn't for money in my case (yet), so I'm searching for low budget options :)
@@KiR_3d Then MICRODEXED might be for you. ua-cam.com/video/ZFvrbFw_cPg/v-deo.html It's a great "groovebox" minus the audio input of the NTS-1 plus a great synth selection plus tracker.
Maybe someday, somebody will build the OPi-1 for less than 2000 ;) Really, if somebody comes up with a nice case including keys and OLED display, I would plug a Raspberry-Pi into that and burn some software to a microSD... and the other important aspect to DIY music gear is that I can use anything with it. The GPIO pins of the Raspberry Pi offer possibilities that are not possible with any VST plugin. So please do more Raspberry Pi and Arduino music tech videos :)
^this. But it takes time and money to make your DIY project into something "professional". Building an actual PCB, case, knos and sliders that fit together and look nice.
That’s fantastic! Feel free to reach out.
Thanks...? I'll start by subscribing to your channel. You've got some great cover versions there! :-)
Dá pra transformar um velho e quebrado Casio CT670 num supersintetizador com Raspiberry Pi ? Substituindo a placa principal e colocando um display com touch-screen ? Eu gosto muito do conteúdo do seu canal. Parabéns.
It should be possible in case the CASIO still has enough life in it the so keyboard controller still works. But it won't be easy, you need figure out how to make the circuits interact with each other.
In case the CASIO has MIDI and that still works, it's easier, you could connect the "MIDI pin" of the PI to the 5 pin MIDI from the inside of the case and modify everything else to your needs.
@@mr_floydst a placa principal está quebrada. Acho que não tem mais jeito. Mesmo assim obrigado por sua resposta. Deus te abençoe.
I was considering using a pi to route and filter midi between some drum machine/sequencer/synth modules
But after looking into it a bit, I ended up just buying a bome box 😅
But
I think there's a lot of potential for that kind of thing!
Connect some usb midi interfaces, send midi clock information, merge notes from a keyboard or sequencer, remap some CC knobs etc
Hi, thanks for your feedback! Did you watch my video on midish? Sounds like what you're looking for. ua-cam.com/video/7AmKlxYBQGc/v-deo.html
It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that some of the virtual pedal boards are based on rPi too
Yes, there are some pedals based on PI (the MOD series for example)
Subscribed :)
Thanks! :)
I used a raspberry with Raspbian, a small monitor, keyboard and mouse at gigs, but my main problems with it were:
Electricity is very variable in the places I play, and boot time wouldn't be that fast.
Sometimes jack crashed, having to open the terminal in the middle of the gig
Having to throw a lot of cables to connect all the things and a USB interface
Quality of the monitor I chose with it (I wanted a small one, thinking of portability) was low, and were unavailable as far as I knew so I had to buy them online expensively. And then it died easily.
I'd have to bring a no-break to solve problem one, which would be quite larger than the Raspberry itself, and a replacement to the old monitor... So I bought a cheap "ePad 2", which was more reliable because of it having a battery. I could still use most of the sounds I compiled on sf2, but had to say goodbye do Dexed and setbFree.
In ten years I guess, if people keep interested in developing the Raspberries and ways of using them musically, these would be more practical and usable.
Thanks for sharing your story! I can feel your pain. ;-)
Watching the DIY scene for some years now, I'd say there are some projects that are ready for live use, e.g. Zynthian. But there are still a lot of projects in early development stage which bring with them all the troubles you've described here.
after your barebones content i want to make one to use but at the moment i cant buy a suitable rasp pi in Australia. my other 3 pi's are busy. one is a recallbox game emulator my rasp pi zero w is running PiHole DNS and my rasp pi 4 2GB is running desktop . even second hand is getting hard to find.
Congrats on the 10K..... onwards and upwards.
Thank you very much! It's really difficult to get new hardware right now without paying too much. Hope it will get back to normal one day.
A few more thoughts......Looking at the price / availability of a PI, , the single button input that is used, and the primitive display, as well as linear editing, it makes me wonder why we wouldn't do this on a cheap Android tablet instead. The prices would be comparable and a whole lot less work setting up on a tablet. Imagine the extra screen real estate and the great GUI that could be had.
Worst case, a MiniDexed project written for a 7inch Pi touch screen, ($88)
Yes, agreed - you're part of the first group then - using Dexed is more accessible on a computer/tablet right now. you can just load 8 Dexed plugins into your DAW of choice for the same thing.
Thanks to it's GPIO port, PI can be used to build a hardware interface with a lot of faders, encoders, buttons and so on.
of course you can substitute that with a MIDI controller, but you'd end up with more devices to carry around than a PI residing inside a keyboard.
@@mr_floydst Yeah I get that, and DIY is also a lot of fun. I'm not diminishing the project, I think it's great. I'd just like to maximise bang for buck. As I say, even if this MiniDexed project had a 7inch colour touch screen, instead of the dot matrix one, imagine the increased scope.
Hi! Do you use Linux as your main production OS?
Hi! I kind of do: My main production machine is an MPC One, which is running Linux.
@@mr_floydst Nice! Dind't know that about the MPC One. It seems that many gear nowadays use Linux, RPi or another FOSS tech. I just read these day that Waves SoundGrid started based on Ardour and that the Poly Beebo modules are in LV2 format
Yes indeed, you'll find Linux on a lot of hardware nowadays. Korg Nautilus & Kronos, MPC, the Korg OPSix and many more. It just makes sense.
I think it's possible that you are both a rambling lunatic AND that bare metal synths might catch on! Nice vid as usual, sir.
Thanks! :)
pi zero 2 with lmms capable to play maximum 4 sf2 instruments from Tim6mb bank. so that is few. they are capable to play few built-in musical instruments. on the other hand qtracker, audacity are ok.
It's mostly a RAM limitation. The CPU isn't too bad, it could handle more.
I often find things would benefit of being more intuitive and fast to use. But I am quite happy with my pi sampler and zynthian.
Thanks for watching! I totally get that. Practicality over principles!
I wonder how true this is now, two years later, with pipewire widely available
The title here was intentionally misleading and in the video I showed that everyone uses microcontrollers in music, often without noticing ;-)
I felt that the default settings in the latest PI OS didn't do anything for musicians - in the contrary, latency is absolutely ridiculous now. Some user interaction is needed to get good results.
So you're trying to reboot PAIA into the 21st. Good luck, should be loads of fun.
Thanks for pointing me at that - this is the first time I heard of PAIA! Fascinating stuff.
Well yes, but no - I'm only describing what's happening. :-)
bare metal is a game changer, for sure!! why not pi vs. volca, etc…
I'll try to make such a video :)
@@mr_floydst If you do, definitely go over the "Jump Step" feature. That's defintitely the best thing about the Volca Sample in my opinion, not sure if the other Volca's also do that. If it's easy to do with a bare metal synth I would love to know.
long ago, soon as i got a pi2, i started splatting synths, daws, midi production ware and stuff like hydrogen, got a midi interface and an ART usb mixer... true, it takes a bit of work to find space for it when you already have lots of stuff stuffed in every cranny, but that just means you build it into a suitcase and go mobile... i got a cheap aluminum valise, prices skyrocketed after i got it, i haint gettin another. now i have my moms old pi4 i can make better use of it, the pi2 really isn't built for producing music, a few tracks at a time and live production as an instrument is more what it's good for.
Thanks for watching! That's an interesting solution.
a cheap USB sound card or a built-in bluetooth headset can used as a start
Yes indeed!
I use a Korg wavestate and opsix ...Both use Raspberry Pi ...So I definitely use Raspberry Pi's in my music :)
Thanks for watching :) I talk about this in this video but I can totally understand if you couldn't bear my incoherent rambling ;o)
@@mr_floydst LoL ...You're actually a very coherent communicator, to me at least. Love your video's, and especially your music :)
I wonder about who the target audience is for this channel. Most of these projects seem kind of like projects for entertainment themselves, like a software synth can be made much simpler than most of these tutorials. I can see some people watching and saying, "Wow that looks very difficult and unreliable, I'm glad I bought the high ticket items...." There need to be more entry level synths IMO, it shouldn't be that expensive to get into synthesis (I'm going to try one to get my daughter into playing with synths.) Handing a kid a pc, is just to much to make music.
Hi, thanks for sharing your thoughts. You're asking the real questions there! ;-) To be honest, the Raspberry Pi stuff kind of developed, people seem to like to watch this style of content. You have to be a person who finds relaxation in the process of building stuff. A lot of my viewers seem to be software / web developers who found electronic music as a fulfilling hobby.
Microcomputers are at the core of many current hardware synths. I see my videos as a kind of "a pro pos": Here's an idea, I'll talk about the basics, and perhaps you can take it to the next level.
In order to get good results, one needs a 3D printer. I think I need one to take these projects to a more professional level.
That being said, this is not the only topic on this channel, but the one that some other media sites and UA-cam channels pick up from time to time. (And I'm thankful for that)
@@mr_floydst You should get "Resin Time" to make you some custom resin synth cases, that would be wild. www.youtube.com/@EvanAndKatelyn
Ooh hot take by Sonic State. Just because something isn't popular doesn't mean it isn't good.
If you pull up with a janky synth and still make an awesome track, who cares if anyone else uses it?
Thanks for watching! To be honest, I'm super happy they discussed the topic - made my video one of the most successful on this channel ;)
@@mr_floydst haha very true, congrats 🎉
I had a unique sound programmed for the Seiko DS-250. I had the programmer. It was full of distortion and noise and sounded great. Used it on actual album. It's a very annoying ancient instrument.
My view is the Pi is overkill for midi compared to a Pi Pico and even a dirt cheap old windows TV stick or tablet with an atom CPU are far more useful for audio processing in a small form factor. less than $50 for a pico + old windows stick / tablet
Thanks for watching! I even made a video or two on old PC sticks, they pack enough power for multiple plugins simultaneously.
The Pi is self-hosting for development. I always find that to be a win for debugging.
I will be
"NO ONE uses Raspberry Pis in music production!"
In much the same way that basically nobody makes their own guitars or drumkits.
The thing to note is that it's not so much about the sound of the Raspberry, you either like how an instrument sounds or you don't. The "problem" is that the people who amke instruments using raspberry pi's rarely take it to the level of actually being a handy useful reliable system.
If you mention the word "driver update" then you've already skipped past the point where you want to be. Lock yout system down to the most recent drivers and software versions and develop your box using that. Stop updating it. If radically new drivers come out: create a new box.
This is literally how any manufacturer does it; they create one firmware, fix a few bugs, and some features and then move to the next version of their hardware and never update the old one. Don't fix what is not broken.
That's a good point! Professional musicians have other things to care about than fiddling with software problems. (That's why many PCs/Macs in actual studios are not connected to the internet, running fairly old software)
who are you?
Just some dude enjoying music and building things in his spare time, why do you ask?