Raspberry PI3 + Audio/MIDIUSB + MIDI controller

Building Zynthian
1

This is my 1st question:

Is it possible to use Zynthian without any kit?
I mean with Raspberry PI3 + Audio/MIDIUSB + MIDI controller and any further hardware?

Thank you in advance. Ciao from Italy.

2

Hi @piattica!

Yes, of course! You don’t need any kit at all. You can build your own zynthian from scratch! Some people do in that way! :wink:

Not currently. The Zynthian GUI is “menu driven” and needs some kind of display and 4 rotary encoders + 4 switches to work. Normally, we use rotary encoders with switch.
Of course, zynthian supports external MIDI/OSC controllers for controlling the synthesizer parameters, including, when supported by the engine, Bank Select and Program Change messages, but not for controlling its GUI. Perhaps in the future a MIDI/OSC interface could be added, but it’s not planned for the next realease.

Best Regards!

1 Like
3

Thanks for fast replay.

I am not able to build my own Zynthian from scratch​ but I would like to try Zyntian as expander.

Is it possible to have an image for SD card, ready to play for example a patch of Dexed?

4

Hi @piattica!

The standard Zynthian SD image can be modified to run headless, loading a predefined synth configuration at startup.
The new SD image, that will be released in a few days, includes a new feature that can simplify this task, so, perhaps you would be interested in it. Anyway, in order to run headless, some modifications should be done.

Best Regards!

5

Hey jofemodo.

I have further questions on this subject so I figured I’d hijack this thread since it’s highly related.

I have a 7" HDMI touch screen that I plug into my RPi, how hard would it be for Zynthian to support such a device? Is there already support for it? Imagine if that worked.

Since Zynthian works on an RPi 3, would it also work with an RPi 2?

6

Very good, Jofemodo!

Are there some tutorials or some suggested readings to help us, newbies of Zynthian?

7

Hi @EmperorCookie!

I think it should be quite easy with the new SD image, that will be out in a few days. The last zynthian GUI version, that is included in the new SD image, is fully scalable to any screen size.
Anyway, you may have to modify some lines in the startup script to use the first framebuffer (/dev/fb0) because in RBPi the HDMI screen in configure in the first framebuffer by default. Zynthian currently uses the second one, /dev/fb1, for the SPI screen.

Best Regards!!

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Will that new SD image support USB touch screens?

9

Thanks
I am not able to build my own zynthian from scratch
​
but I would like to try a zyntian.

Is it possible to have a image to write on a SD card ready to play Dexed
​​
?

  •   Paolo Piattica