Plinky STM32 based DIY Kit 8-Voice Poly WT/Granular Touch Synth

Interesting approach to UX but a pretty basic synth. Review by Loopop. I like how it overlays a scope on the control parameters on the OLED screen.

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Ooh! That looks nice :smiley:

The Github page, no firmware source? but there is an interactive web interface and some 1k an d 2k long waveforms

Looks like a lot of thought was put into the little box.

I think it quite reasonable that Alex keeps the source code closed while he monetises his product. There is so much effort invested into a fantastic looking product. I am really tempted to buy one. Maybe something for my birthday list.

[Edit] It sounds like everything is heading to GitHub so maybe he is opensourcing it. Thanks @pac_71 for finding this gem. There is the concern it might divide my attention, reducing how much time I spend on Zynthian :blush:.

Launches a flock of ravens , one of which flaps lazily to a stunted bush and perches, glaring back defiantly . . .

I’ve found it really useful to have the pd scope on the zynth gui… Great for knowing which zynth is doing which sound.

The wait may be long. Over 2000 people in the queue. (Maybe it is just raven-bots sent by the Zynthian dark army getting in there to make me think again!)

Hi! Plinky has been open-sourced piece by piece. The firmware is still very much in motion (gets updated a few times a week usually) and will require some cleanup to publish, so it’s still incoming. The wavetable header generator, panels, expander, WebUSB based editor and the experimental WebAssembly version have been published already.

The web version is accessible here: Plinky - mind that it’s running a firmware version from a few months ago and currently is not 100% wired up- it’s been more of a fun pasttime thing… but you can play the default preset a little :slight_smile:

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Welcome @miunau - so good to see you here. We are loving Plinky. Web version was initially a bit odd for me because it was in a scrollable browser window. Going full screen fixed that. I am getting lots of splats. Not sure if that is an issue with network bandwidth, local processing or something else. Still fun to give it a drive whilst we shuffle slowly forward in the massive queue that winds around the block from the store. Apple didn’t have such a long queue at its new stores!!!

Yes the web version is very much experimental still haha! While Alex is focused on the firmware, we’ve focused the web efforts with Orangetronic on the WebUSB editor side for now, which lets you load patches from Plinky to your browser, save them in another slot, name and categorise them, and share to others via URLs! There’s lots of ideas on what to do and if anyone wants to contribute you’re very welcome on the Discord.

I see the Plinky as quite complementary to the Zynthian (or Norns) as it doesn’t have its own std MIDI sockets, it can accept over MIDI over USB which lends itself to connecting to RPi/Computers and adds an open control surface to be hacked.

I wonder if you could do work out some user control surface mode via SYSEX and come up with something similar to a small version of the Monome Grid. Having some sort of smart controller function with parameter hints on the OLED could be interesting too.

You could use the sample/audio input and granular functions to manipulate the Zynthian output in a RT performance.

Sounds like i should have put my name on the waitlist before posting here :>

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I installed it locally and still got “splats” when I transitioned between notes. It seemed to be just not crossfading when it changes notes/volume and getting zero-level glitches in the sound engine. Noticeably worse when using the app on @miunau 's website.

Sort of interesting the non love of Plinky on r/synthesizers where I originally came across mention of Plinky. Obviously the 2000 on the waitlist get it :>

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How surprising that a load of guys who haven’t touched one complain about the touch interface and haven’t controlled one complain about the controllability and who seem a touch more narrow minded than the 80 year old bigot in the local pub are complaining. It’s almost as if Reddit users are troll-like! There are much better ways to give criticism and opinion.

Wait until the get the claws into a deep-menu, 4 encoder device like Zynthian!

Yeah, sorry the WebAssembly version is at the “it works on my machine” stage at the moment, lol! I’ll give it some love eventually…

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r/synthesizers is just 90% people upvoting someones photos of a synth they bought taken with a mandatory succulent and an optional cat.

I have their second lp. . .

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I got some better results when I updated Chrome/Edge to v91. Managed to get the Plinky Web demo working across my network and tested on a Surface Pro 7 where I could actually touch the bottom row and some parameters which seem to almost work.

I was able to somewhat change the sound parameters but not overly predictably given how sketchy the touch interface is and I couldn’t wholesale change/load another Patch. But I was able to change Pitch, Octave, Envelop as you would expect and could at least change the waveform although with less predictable results/

All of which is annoying close to having something working as a really good demo for us Plinky have nots :>