# Basic Zynthian Box

**URL:** <https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/basic-zynthian-box/5347>\
**Category:** Building Zynthian\
**Created:** [February 4, 2021, 9:31pm UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/basic-zynthian-box/5347 "2021-02-04T21:31:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 18\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jollyjumper04](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/jollyjumper04/32/5859_2.png) [@jollyjumper04](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/jollyjumper04)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 9:31pm UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/basic-zynthian-box/5347/1 "2021-02-04T21:31:16Z")

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I want to build a zynthian but cannot afford buying all the parts from the website. What parts and connections would I require if I just want a screen (preferably 3.5 inches), the four basic knobs and a good quality audio output (I already own a raspberry pi). Thanks in regards

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**Author:** ![le51](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/le51/32/1706_2.png) [@le51](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/le51)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 9:38pm UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/basic-zynthian-box/5347/2 "2021-02-04T21:38:09Z")

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Hi, welcome

you can try it just with your pi and a hdmi screen, [see here](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/can-i-build-zynthian-with-just-a-pi/5344)

cheers

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**Author:** ![jollyjumper04](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/jollyjumper04/32/5859_2.png) [@jollyjumper04](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/jollyjumper04)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 9:41pm UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/basic-zynthian-box/5347/3 "2021-02-04T21:41:39Z")

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Thanks for the quick response, Im sorry if my title was misleading but Ive already tried that and am now looking for a more portable solution. Also the raspberry pi audio isn’t great as it keeps cutting out randomly.

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**Author:** ![le51](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/le51/32/1706_2.png) [@le51](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/le51)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 9:45pm UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/basic-zynthian-box/5347/4 "2021-02-04T21:45:31Z")

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they are a bunch of solutions for better sound quality:

- usb sound devices
- rpi hats (look for pcm5102 or pcm5122 on some chinese website)

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**Author:** ![le51](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/le51/32/1706_2.png) [@le51](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/le51)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 9:50pm UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/basic-zynthian-box/5347/5 "2021-02-04T21:50:45Z")

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also be carrefull regarding your power supply and your cable, especially if you want to plug some midi devices that should be powered by the raspberry .

Weak power can bring cracks and randoms cuts (xruns)

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**Author:** ![jollyjumper04](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/jollyjumper04/32/5859_2.png) [@jollyjumper04](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/jollyjumper04)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 10:12pm UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/basic-zynthian-box/5347/6 "2021-02-04T22:12:22Z")

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Ok sweet. How about the dial knobs, would I be better buying it off the offical zynthian store? I also noticed that it connects to the zynthian screen directly so would I have to purchase that aswell? thanks

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**Author:** ![le51](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/le51/32/1706_2.png) [@le51](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/le51)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 10:21pm UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/basic-zynthian-box/5347/7 "2021-02-04T22:21:23Z")

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once again, they are a bunch of solutions, but you’re getting away from the bare minimal !!!

- rpi + hdmi display + mouse is enough for testing
- more features and ease of use depends on what you’re able to tinker

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**Author:** ![jollyjumper04](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/jollyjumper04/32/5859_2.png) [@jollyjumper04](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/jollyjumper04)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 10:22pm UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/basic-zynthian-box/5347/8 "2021-02-04T22:22:22Z")

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Sorry the title was misleading ill change that

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**Author:** ![le51](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/le51/32/1706_2.png) [@le51](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/le51)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 10:28pm UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/basic-zynthian-box/5347/9 "2021-02-04T22:28:10Z")

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no pb, They are plenty of options in the zynthian shop, you just have to define what features you want and what you consider to be doable regarding your tinkering skills.

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**Author:** ![le51](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/le51/32/1706_2.png) [@le51](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/le51)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 10:54pm UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/basic-zynthian-box/5347/10 "2021-02-04T22:54:40Z")

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maybe the [succes case thread](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/success-cases/41) could give you some inspiration

Also, feel free to ask some more questions, they are nice persons around here that would be glad to help.

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**Author:** ![jollyjumper04](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/jollyjumper04/32/5859_2.png) [@jollyjumper04](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/jollyjumper04)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2021, 3:20am UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/basic-zynthian-box/5347/11 "2021-02-07T03:20:09Z")

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with the encoder knobs, could I get them to work by just connecting them directly to zynscreen display v1.4 and then to the raspberry pi? Or would I need to get the all in one circuit?

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**Author:** ![riban](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/riban/32/2331_2.png) [@riban](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/riban)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2021, 5:31am UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/basic-zynthian-box/5347/12 "2021-02-07T05:31:46Z")

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The enocders connect to the screen which in turn connects to the Raspberry Pi. That gives you a touchscreen, encoders with builtin push buttons and the four rubber push buttons (S1-S4). The touchscreen isn’t brilliant - it is resistive and a bit spongy so works best with the supplied plastic stylus.

The extra expansion board provides interface to the physical 5-pin MIDI connectors. It also provides the ability to expand digital and analogue i/o further by adding more modules. If you don’t need 5-pin MIDI or the extra i/o interfacing then you don’t need that expansion board.

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**Author:** ![jollyjumper04](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/jollyjumper04/32/5859_2.png) [@jollyjumper04](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/jollyjumper04)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2021, 10:20am UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/basic-zynthian-box/5347/13 "2021-02-07T10:20:46Z")

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Thank you for the response!

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**Author:** ![fdv81](https://discourse.zynthian.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/53a042/32.png) [@fdv81](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/fdv81)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2021, 11:35am UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/basic-zynthian-box/5347/14 "2021-02-10T11:35:57Z")

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I build a Zynthian box using a touchscreen for rpi that cost 22€ and works great you have to tweake it but in this forum i found the solution.  
I think that if you want to save money le best solution is to use with a RPI screentouch with a keyboard. For the output the headphone out works fine. This is a very basic cheap solution.

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**Author:** ![wyleu](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/wyleu/32/514_2.png) [@wyleu](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/wyleu)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2021, 11:42am UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/basic-zynthian-box/5347/15 "2021-02-10T11:42:13Z")

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> [@fdv81](#):
>
> This is a very basic cheap solution.

There is of course a hidden cost … [🧐](http://wiki.zynthian.org/index.php/Talk:Zynthian_Wiki_Home)

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**Author:** ![pat](https://discourse.zynthian.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@pat](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/pat)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2021, 1:40pm UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/basic-zynthian-box/5347/16 "2021-02-11T13:40:19Z")

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Hi, I had the same goal as you, except that I didn’t intend to have physical knobs in the first place, so I went for a nicer touchscreen, then I realized the UI wasn’t so practical without knobs so I added encoders, which led to something similar to what you are looking for. I haven’t completely finished assembling it but the screen works fine, the audio board should make sound soon, and the one encoder I have hooked up so far works well too (so the 3 other ones should as well). Plus you don’t even need to solder anything!

Here are the parts:

- a [Raspberry Pi 4](https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/), 2Gb seems plenty unless you use large SF2 (SFZ format, which is by the way a more powerful format, is streamed by LinuxSampler so ne need for huge RAM even for huge instruments)
- an [IQaudio DAC+ sound card](https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/iqaudio-dac-plus/), which is now part of the official raspberry pi foundation product line:
- a [BigTreeTech PITFT50](https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001305821541.html) 5 inch capacitive touchscreen using DSI interface =\> uses neither hdmi/usb ports nor GPIO
- a set of [KY-040 rotary encoders](https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B07SV5HHM5)
- some [dupont female-female cables](https://www.kubii.fr/site-entier/1521-kit-fils-premium-jumper-20-x-150mm-kubii-3272496003514.html):
- for true zero-soldering you need 2 items like [this](https://www.sinoning.com/product/1pcs-dupont-terminal-block-pin-header-2mm-2-row-5p-needle-splitter-pin-header/), too

If you already have the Pi + power supply + SD card, this should cost you no more than 70 extra euros to get you Zynthian running (and probably down to 50 if you go for a cheap 3.5 resistive touchscreen).

The design isn’t fully built and therefore tested, but I’m hopeful it’s gonna work fine. Quite busy these days but when I find a moment I’ll try to finish it and post something more detailed.

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**Author:** ![le51](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/le51/32/1706_2.png) [@le51](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/le51)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2021, 2:00pm UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/basic-zynthian-box/5347/17 "2021-02-11T14:00:29Z")

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Regarding hardware, they are a lot of options that are supported by zynthianOS and that Can fits differents needs … And this is extra cool. The most difficult is in my opinion to find/build a nice enclosure.

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**Author:** ![sleepy](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/sleepy/32/3716_2.png) [@sleepy](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/sleepy)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2021, 10:35pm UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/basic-zynthian-box/5347/18 "2021-02-11T22:35:57Z")

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I’ve made a pretty budget successful build with [$5 spi screen](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/spi-display-stops-working-after-selecting-non-dummy-dac/4038/15) (although it doesn’t have touch capability), $5 i2s soundcard (PCM5102), and arduino pro micro (about $4) to connect encoders. Kudos to @riban, who helped a lot with making arduino work with encoders, here’s a [post on how to make it work](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/arduino-instead-of-mcp23017/4050/52).