As always, synthesized live on a Raspberry Pi Zero, featuring 10 simultaneous synths, 3 different synthesis models, audio and graphics captured real-time running on a £4 computer.
It’s nice that the software still works – mine has a dreadful tendency to code rot if I look away for a few months. The visualisation is somewhat different since the last time I posted this – the texture that drives the colours is now computed rather than loaded, and as a result it’s easier to tweak the visuals, so it all looks cooler and more electro-neon than it did before. The software now runs client/server. Synthesis is within a separate server application, the client is in charge of pushing MIDI into the server, and – unusually – pulling audio back. So the server knows nothing whatsoever about platform MIDI or audio capabilities. Visualisation is also done client-side. So the server does nothing except pull in commands and push out short blocks of synthesized audio.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
