u/valdanylchuk

First image: Tanmatsu device running my retro toy synth app (37kB ELF binary). I love the cyberpunk look!

Full web-based version: https://mini000.itch.io/beeper

Source code: https://github.com/valdanylchuk/beeper

Youtube demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCH9XYZ7QB0

Second image: Ended up just mounting my Waveshare S3 display module in a $10 aliexpress phone keyboard case. Feels basically like a netbook. Beats my earlier cardboard fixture I shared here. I still have some dangling wires going to the amp and speaker, to be neatly fixed "some day".

Both devices run my BreezyBox firmware. Tanmatsu also has proper native firmware with a phone-style GUI launcher, which I did not fully explore yet.

For those who remember my earlier posts here about the BreezyBox, a few updates from the last 6 months:

• added sshd for inbound connections
• extended shell with variables, loops, conditions, tar, grep, diff
• added sound component, including pico8-themed sequencer, and a few example apps
• ported my self-hosting C compiler for RISC-V (rcc700)
• shared a full example firmware project for Tanmatsu (p4), in addition to the earlier Waveshare (s3)

Thanks for checking this out! I welcome any questions and feedback about the synth app or the Breezybox firmware.

I wrote a toy embedded synth for esp32 to learn a little about sound design. That is a good way to learn as a programmer.

Full web-based version: https://mini000.itch.io/beeper

Source code: https://github.com/valdanylchuk/beeper

Youtube demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCH9XYZ7QB0

At the same time, I looked for existing simple synths to try. There are nice apps and plugins, but even the simplest ones tend to have 40-50 knobs to manage, which seemed a bit overwhelming.

So I took up a challenge to make a reasonable number of distinct instrument presets and demo tracks with a minimum of controls. I ended up with 16. My "beeper" will not replace a real synth, but it is fun to play with. One benefit is, with fewer controls, you can move random ones and often find new interesting sounds.

Warning: there are some non-standard radical shortcuts, e.g. "Sustain" as an on/off switch. That limits the learning potential in some ways. But on the other hand, combined with all the other shortcuts, it enables some basic sounds with one-third of the usual controls, and once the user is comfortable with those, and wants more tweaking power, they can upgrade to some real synth.

Would you have balanced things differently for this sort of minimalist approach?

Ported my mini C compiler to esp32 RISC-V. The old Xtensa/s3 version got some traction, so maybe someone will have a use for this one, too:
https://github.com/valdanylchuk/rcc700

Thanks for your support, esp32 DIY community rocks!