Hi everyone,

I have released BKLVA Pocket DAW 0.3.3: Midnight Circuit for the M5Stack Cardputer ADV.

Pocket DAW turns the little ESP32-S3 computer into a standalone four-track music workstation. You can record sounds, chop samples, build drum patterns, play synths, create sample instruments and arrange complete ideas directly on the device.

This is the biggest update I have made since version 0.2.37.

The main new feature is Drum16, a 16-slot drum sampler controlled from the Cardputer keyboard.

Each pad can use:

• A sound recorded directly with the built-in microphone
• An imported WAV file
• A slice copied from the main Sampler
• One of the original synthesized drum sounds

Each pad has its own level, tuning, decay, choke group, start and end points, fades and filter. Drum16 also has separate Grid, Focus and Waveform views.

Tracks can now have independent lengths of 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 bars. This makes it possible to run a short drum loop against longer bass, chord or sample sequences.

Changing track type is also non-destructive now. Each track can remember separate Loop, Slice, Synth, Drum16 and Instrument setups. You can switch to another type and return later without losing the original notes, patterns or sound settings.

Synth tracks can be frozen into lightweight audio playback by pressing Fn+X. This reduces processor use while keeping the mixer controls and effect sends active. Pressing Fn+X again restores the editable Synth track.

Other improvements include:

• Proper multi-note chord recording
• Improved quantized MIDI timing
• Safer Note Off handling to prevent hanging notes
• Per-note gate lengths for recorded Synth performances
• Tempo-synced Delay with triplet and dotted divisions
• Per-track Delay and Reverb sends
• Updated Mixer and Output FX pages
• Independent track Mute, Solo and Freeze controls
• USB MIDI input and output
• Separate USB phone-audio sampling mode
• Better CPU, SD and streaming diagnostics

A fresh installation now opens with Midnight Circuit, a complete editable demo song using Drum16, Slice, Acid Bass and Pluck chords.

It is a real sequencer project, not a prerecorded demo. It only appears when no existing project is found, and it never overwrites an existing song.

Everything runs at 44.1 kHz on an ESP32-S3 with 8 MB flash and no PSRAM.

The complete firmware, illustrated manual and Mac flasher are available here:

https://erkanerdogan.dk/bklva-pocket-daw

Pocket DAW is still an evolving independent project, so I would really like to hear what you think. Please let me know if you find any problems, make something with it or have ideas for what should come next.

Since last post I have kept working on it fixing the parts that made no sense and pushing the Cardputer ADV quite a bit further, and managed to make stuff working on my experimental builds.

I am super happy that so many people downloaded it and tried it. Very cool.

Version 0.2.20 now feels less like a technical demo and more like a strange little instrument I can actually use.

The biggest addition is chromatic sample instruments. You can record or import a sample, select a slice, turn it into an instrument and play it across the keyboard or from USB MIDI. Instruments have four voices, envelopes, filtering, tuning, looping and 16 global save slots.

Other new stuff and things that I finally works and made it in this release:

• Long microphone recordings streamed directly to SD
• Up to 16 editable sample cues with zoom and slice fades
• Six-voice synth with eight editable presets
• Eight-part synthesized drum kit
• Step recording and quantized live recording
• Proper count-in and metronome while recording only
• Quantize from 1/4 to 1/64, or completely off
• USB MIDI routed to Synth, Instrument, Slice or Drum tracks
• Separate USB phone-audio sampling mode with monitoring
• Home Wi-Fi and Direct AP modes
• Browser-based SD manager for songs and samples
• Per-track mixing, master effects and automatic output limiting
• Eight song slots
• A much cleaner menu and status system
• Audio that no longer falls apart when I move the cursor around

It is still early software, and I am not going to pretend everything is finished. But this build seems stable, sounds good and has become surprisingly capable for something running on an ESP32-S3 with a tiny keyboard.

Somehow, this tiny ESP32 device is starting to feel like an actual hardware groovebox. I honestly didn't expect that when starting this project.

What is next?

The sequencer is still the part I am least satisfied with. I tried several new versions with piano-roll, tape and different lane views, but none of them felt better than the original four-lane layout. They did not make it into this release.

The next goal is a sequencer that is easier to understand, faster to edit and actually makes good use of the tiny screen - without turning it into a tracker or hiding everything behind complicated menus.

Other things I want to explore:

• A proper sample-based drum-kit creator with 8 or 16 slots
• Building complete drum kits from one recording using cue markers
• Better sample and instrument browsing
• More control over saved instruments and patches
• Expanding the browser manager for organizing songs and sample libraries
• OTA firmware updates through Wi-Fi Manage Mode
• More workflow improvements without breaking real-time audio
• Continuing to improve stability, recording quality and navigation

Some of these features will take experimentation, and I would rather leave something out than add a version that makes the device harder to use.

BKLVA Pocket DAW can be installed directly through M5Burner. The latest release, complete manual and feature overview can also be downloaded here:

https://erkanerdogan.dk/bklva-pocket-daw

If anyone tests it, please let me know what works, what breaks and especially what still feels confusing.

I wanted to find out how far the Cardputer ADV could be pushed as a standalone music machine.

Not just a demo that plays a waveform. I wanted recording, sequencing, sampling, synthesis, drums and effects , running in real time without another computer.

That experiment became BKLVA Pocket DAW.

The current build has:

• Four tracks and patterns up to eight bars
• Microphone loop recording
• Sampler with movable slice markers, zoom and per-slice fades
• WAV import and conversion to 44.1 kHz
• Six-voice dual-oscillator synthesizer with presets
• Synthesized kick, snare, hat and percussion
• Per-track filter, drive and delay send
• Master compression, delay, reverb and soft clipping
• Master resampling back into the sampler
• Long audio streamed directly from the SD card

Everything runs at 44.1 kHz, signed 16-bit audio with 256-frame processing blocks.

The interesting part is the hardware limitation: an ESP32-S3, 320 KB of RAM, no PSRAM, a 240 × 135 display and a keyboard that was definitely not designed for editing synthesizers.

Getting it working has involved frozen sequencers, microphone recordings that sounded like destroyed fax messages and a scratchy noise that appeared to follow the CPU meter. Real-time audio is very good at finding every bad decision you have made.

But the result is now surprisingly practical. You can turn it on, record something with the microphone, chop it into slices, sequence it, add drums and synth tracks, process everything with effects and resample the result, without touching a computer.

The latest public release is 0.1.19. It can be installed using M5Burner, and the firmware and full manual is also available here:

https://erkanerdogan.dk/bklva-pocket-daw

The next experimental build also has USB MIDI input working.

If anyone here has a Cardputer ADV and wants to test it, I would genuinely like to hear what works, what makes no sense and what you manage to break.

The original question was simply: How much DAW can fit inside this thing?

I am still finding out.

Hey game devs  👀

I’m building RetroLAN, a bootable USB arcade-style system for local multiplayer nights. The idea is simple: plug it into old/spare PCs, boot straight into an arcade lobby, find other players on the local network, and launch LAN-friendly games without needing accounts, installs, or a normal desktop.

I’d love to showcase indie games that fit that spirit at launch.

I’m especially looking for:

- LAN or local-network multiplayer games

- low-spec games that run well on old laptops/desktops

- games with Linux builds, DRM-free builds, or easy portable versions

- small arena shooters, racers, strategy games, party games, co-op games, weird experimental LAN stuff

What I can offer:

> a featured spot inside the RetroLAN arcade UI

> a small profile/link on the RetroLAN website

> compatibility testing on real old laptops

> feedback from early beta testers

> proper credit and links to your Steam/itch/site

> no exclusivity, no ownership weirdness

If your game is free or has a demo build, we can talk about bundling it directly if the license allows. If it’s paid, I’d rather list it as “compatible” and send users to your official store page.

I’m not trying to scrape or repackage anyone’s work. I want RetroLAN to become a good discovery shelf for games that are actually fun in the same room, on the same Wi-Fi, with people shouting across the table like it’s 2002.

If you’re working on something LAN/local-multiplayer friendly, drop a link or DM me. I’d love to test it :)