Paulee from Sonicstate here, just wanted to say hello
After a number of polite and very informative emails with José, I ordered a Zynthian v5.1 kit with an 8GB Pi. Though I’ve been working with synths for decades now, I’m a total Linux/Pi noob*, so I’m looking forward to learning and exploring the astonishing soundworld contained within.
*I’ve dabbled with Amiga PiStorm but that’s kind of unrelated.
Anyhow, I wrote this article, using the information I learned, to try and explain the scope of the instrument to a newcomer. This product is clearly a Labour of love, so I hope that I can in some small way spread the word.
Great publication! Thanks.
I would like to add how incredibly committed all developers are to accomodate suggestions and wishes! Almost always there is immediate respons when an issue , item or question is raised, no matter whether you are technical or not! So fantastically openminded (technically and morally) with constructive and enabeling feedback!
Almost anything is possible in the zynthian world!
Nice to have you onboard! I have watched quite a bit of your Sonicstate synthesiser content along the years, and it was always informative and fun.
I too started here as a total Linux beginner, despite a few decades in computer-related stuff and music IT. Mostly, I am still at a rudimentary/basic level, as far as system management and customisation go, but I am learning, and with patience and the little spare time available from other activities I am slowly building some decent skills on something.
You will find in this lively environment a fairly unusual mixture, of experienced engineers and coders with a bent for music and committed musicians with a bent for music technology and IT. And, the devs and main coders of the Zynthian platform are always extremely generous and ready to listen, on a level above any community standards I have experienced before.
We aspire to users not requiring any IT skills but we do ask those who are willing to delve into the command line if we are trying to resolve an issue, i.e. it should just work but when it doesn’t, there may be a need to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty.
I wouldn’t want anyone to get the idea that you need to be a geek to use zynthian… just that sometimes it helps!
I posted this comment on Sonicstate a few seconds ago:
One point that I felt was missing from an otherwise excellent introduction to Zynthian, is that Zynthian is Open Source Hardware as well as Open Source Software. All the design information, such as Schematics, PCB Layout, etc are freely available on GitHub. This is useful for the more technical user to understand Zynthian and how to interface to it. It has also allowed people to create other versions of Zynthian, such as Zynthian Mini at a lower cost.
Also, if someone wants to try out Zynthian before they buy it, they can generally do so with just a reasonably current Raspberry Pi and almost any sound-card.
A solid little write-up for sure! Almost like you know how to do your job or something, right?! Look forward to the potential video, and as others have been saying, don’t hesitate to throw any questions you have at the gallery, everybody here’s always happy to help
Yes @riban, in fact I did not mean to project the wrong idea that Zynthian is a complex musical device for engineering-grade users. It is just that, since it is very flexible and does (a lot of) fine things in its own special ways, it sometimes requires exerting a certain degree of technical awareness, to get around specific application scenarios.
This (mostly) does not happen with the stable OS release on the official hardware, that definitely provides a sleek and straightforward workflow, but implementing a variation of it or finalising a custom build (which is very tempting to do, once one has wrapped his head around the main system structures) is something that obviously expects you to get your hands a bit dirty , and this is when the generous help of the tech gurus in the community becomes vital.
I like that organic vibe, and the fact that this machine can be built to be anything you want it to be.
By the way, another question, if I at some point wanted to customise my Zynthian 5.1, I assume the silk screening/metal fab files are available? I think it’d look neat in another colour, wonder how much it’d cost to get a custom coloured top case
