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The Raspberry Pi just keeps getting better doesn’t it? First a Pi powered tank; a bolt on to add Wi-Fi to your DSLR and even a Pi powered universal translator. But now we have the budget synth to make all kinds of music on, thanks to the power of Pi.
I’m no sound tech engineer but I know that your average synthesiser can cost well over £500. But this one? Well, it costs less than £50 thanks to Raspberry Pi’s insanely low price. Omenie, the guy behind it, has been blogging his progress which looks like it’s coming along at a startling pace. If you’re in the market for a budget synth for your 80′s glam-rock tribute band, he’s the guy to watch. [RaspberryPi.org -- Cheers Darrell!]
“I’m no sound tech engineer but I know that your average synthesiser can cost well over £500″
Yep, it shows. You can get pretty decent synthesisers from upwards of £150 these days – they might not be the most up to date machines but they still work well. Professional software synths like Massive are only around £140.
To be fair to Tom I think he was just miss quoting the guy who made this who says it sounds as good as any synth he’s heard up to £500.
I was going from what the guy said and a quick search of some big synths were well over £500
But that’s for “quite big synths” that are new, ie: your Yamahas, Rolands, DSI and Novation synths with oversized keyboards. Most others are quite reasonably priced and the second hand market is awash with yesterday’s gear that still works well. I just dislike it when people say that this stuff is expensive when it really isn’t, as there are cost effective and free alternatives.
I do appreciate you letting me know about this one though; I’ve been waiting for a decent soft synth to use with my RasPi. I like the modular approach to this dual wave synth and hopefully a more polished UI will come in the future.