What is the minimum number of controls a synth needs? I tried 16 (embedded/TUI/webapp)
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?