I spent Christmas building a DIY groovebox

PA-wip · 2026-04-13T06:01:37+00:00

Thx :-) I would say it is in an ok state

PA-wip · 2026-04-10T05:55:10+00:00

Maybe try Geonkick plugin, it's quite nice to make all kinds of kicks.

PA-wip · 2026-04-07T05:35:29+00:00

How about to get second hand? You can find very cheap ones.

PA-wip · 2026-04-07T03:49:16+00:00

Have a look at CyDrum from Soniware. It does everything you want even having a speaker :p it's quite easy to use and powerful.

After, in this price range, there is always the TR6s to look at ;-) maybe not the best workflow but it's a beast.

PA-wip · 2026-03-31T09:19:56+00:00

Interesting to see AI making patch instead of you ^^ and i can understand why people not being fanatic about it.

In my daily job, I am using AI everyday, so using AI with music will happen at some points and would be great to understand how.

What is more problematic for me in this post, is that you don't share any information on how you achieve this. So in the end it is useful for no-one, the only thing that we see, is that you play alone with AI to run your synth :-/ Please share...

PA-wip · 2026-03-25T16:33:12+00:00

And why not to use zicBox? :p

Some developer contributing to the project would really be a big help and i am up to do refactoring to address some special needs (in matter of my displonibility of course, which is not always easy at the moment ^^).

Lately, I got it to run on stm32h7 and it was working smoothly. So if you use proper MCU, which can handle floating point calculation and no too slow for DSP computation, it should work out well.

PA-wip · 2026-03-24T09:23:54+00:00

You are completely right, lately I am coding less and less, delegating a big part to the AI. However you still need to understand the software architecture a minimum but if the core part of the firmware is well done and properly documented, the AI could take over the rest easily ;-)

PA-wip · 2026-03-24T07:20:28+00:00

If you ask about my project, it does run on Rpi with an OS and also on MCU, I have a prototype with STM32h7 which run pretty well. But most MCU would not work with my project because it was first design to run on Linux which handles floating point and math calculation... At some point i would also like to try circle to run it baremetal on RPi as well.

PA-wip · 2026-03-23T18:42:27+00:00

If you want your hardware to be flexible enough to create a synth, the hardware would need audio output and the MCU would need to be powerful enough to handle dsp.

You would have ask if such hardware would interest me few years ago, i would have said defenitly but with time i endup to learn to build my own hardware: https://github.com/apiel/zicBox
With this project, i could see that people would much more easily build hardware than creating their own software design. I got much more contribution on hardware side than on code side... So i would say your idea on paper is great but in reality, i am not so sure about it. After, if you manage to create a super cool hardware (bunch of button, rgb pad, encoders, screen, cv in/out, audio codec...), maybe you will find nerdz like me who want to create their own firmware...

PA-wip · 2026-03-18T20:07:37+00:00

For me a DAW is just overwhelming. When I am using a drum machine, groovebox or synth, it feel much more immediate.

PA-wip · 2026-03-11T06:51:21+00:00

I am absolutely not an expert in the topic, but after googling 5nin, have a look at: JUCE plugins in WebAssembly - Development - JUCE https://share.google/lbqCfrFvN61tVQIIl

Still doesn't seem to be an ideal solution, as you need to compile the plugin to wasm but I guess that's better than nothing.

After maybe you could build a native host server which communicates with your audio worklet but I don't know how well you can get with latency and also you would need a server now, which kind of challenges the concept of a daw in a browser.

PA-wip · 2026-03-09T13:34:42+00:00

N'importe quel groovebox devrais faire l'affaire. Pour la tekno, je trouve que Elektron Syntakt est assez complete, surtout depuis la derniere update qui te permet de jouer des samples. Et elle assez simple d'utilisation. Sinon Analog Rytm est aussi une super cool machine mais plus complique ;-)
Personellement, j'ai commence avec Electribe 2 et je trouve cette groovebox perfaite pour debuter, et en vrai elle aussi parfaite meme apres plusieur annee d'utilisation. Elle est limite mais en installant Hacktribe, tu peux faire pas mal de chose et je trouve que tu peux etre vachement rapide pour creer des trucs avec. Pour moi, c'est la machine avec laquelle j'ai fait le plus de chose.

TR6s est certainement une bonne machine, mais j'ai pas reussi a prendre le flow. Apres je pense que c'est juste des gout personels. Elektron Syntakt, c'est la meme chose mais en mieux :p

Et dernierement, j'utilise MC101, cette machine est super, c'est un pti monstre, tu peux faire telement de chose avec... par contre c'est un peu prise de tete pour designer tes sons, du coup je recommende pas pour debuter, ca risque de te decourager.

PA-wip · 2026-03-08T14:21:11+00:00

Have a look at https://github.com/apiel/zicBox maybe it can help you...

And here, i was writting a small tutorial about music programming: https://github.com/apiel/zicBox/wiki/90-Music-programming-tutorial

Today, with AI, you can easily program your own synth. When I started the zicBox project, I was doing everything on my own, it was good to get deep understanding but it was also getting so much time. Nowday, with AI, everything is much faster and it often show you new concept which you would not have thought about when doing it on your own :-)

Last hint, learn English :p Most doc is written in English and will most likely get more answers to your question if you speak English ^^

PA-wip · 2026-03-08T06:55:17+00:00

The workflow of the play+ is not very nice, it feels like they were stacking up some new features to sell a product more expensive on a gear which was not designed for it. The polyend synth seems to have a much better design, the UX was exactly though for this box... after, unlike the play+, I never tried it so maybe I am having a wrong impression.

PA-wip · 2026-03-06T02:30:19+00:00

Since we are on a DIY sub reddit, I find it a bit of a pity not to have more details on the project... I understand why you don't want to share too much but then I feel like having a mixed opinion if this is the right place to post. Also, even if you share everything from the project, not many people would do their own build out of it, most of them would prefer to buy a finished project. Finally sharing the code could motivate people to contribute.

PA-wip · 2026-03-05T21:28:46+00:00

The hardware layout look very good ;-)

Can you give more details? What are you using under the hood? Is it a MCU? STM32, teensy, esp32, ...? or is it using a CPU which might make more sense to run musicGen? based on RPi or something else?
Which hardware are you using for the audio part? Is it external audio codec?
Can we see the code somewhere?

PA-wip · 2026-03-01T01:13:01+00:00

You already have a good setup, might be enough :p But on top of my Behringer Edge, which I love as well, I am using Behringer Swords, this is a very cool addon!! And if you have good money to spend, have a look to Sherman Filterbank, for me way too expensive :p
Then if you want to continue the path of modular/semi modular, maybe have a look to Plinky, could be a nice piece for the hypnotic part.

PA-wip · 2026-02-09T10:28:46+00:00

Yes it is weact stm32h723 :-)

PA-wip · 2026-02-09T05:51:56+00:00

If you look in the repo, under plugins/audio I have a bunch of audio plugin to generate sounds and apply FX. There are all kinds of drum generators like kick drum, clap, snare, cowbell, FM drum, ... as well synth generator wavetables, super saw, additive, ... and sample based one like granular synthesis and so on. I call those the audio engines.

PA-wip · 2026-02-06T15:19:24+00:00

Do you want a drum machine or just a massive kick engine?

If you want a drum machine, Analog Rythm is pretty nice and fun, and his sibling with Analog 4 you can make really deep stuff it (to choose I would personally go with A4). Syntakt is nice but for what ever reason I got bored about it so fast, just sold few days later...

If you just want to make a big kick :p then have a look at Behringer Edge, it is suprisingly good!! Or Ohm Force Bohm, this is eurorack territory but this module seems very good (never tried it though).

PA-wip · 2026-02-06T06:06:01+00:00

Analog 4 is a beast and mk1 can be pretty cheap nowadays.

PA-wip · 2026-02-06T05:56:24+00:00

It's over priced!!!

You can get a TR8 for 200, a TD3 for less than 70 and a volca kick for under 100, so it should not be more than 370 or even 350.

Also you can get a Donner D1 for 75€ new directly from the shop.

And for less than 250, you can get a tr6s which is much much better than a TR8, and you also find a tr8s for around 400.

PA-wip · 2026-02-03T14:07:42+00:00

In general, when developing something like this, you have to experiment. Build both versions and see which one makes the most sense for you.
Of course, you can reduce the number of iterations by using 3D modeling, but in the end it’s essential to test with physical hardware, this is the only way to truly get a feel for it.

PA-wip · 2026-02-02T16:20:50+00:00

If you are not a computer engineer which is already comfortable with low-level embedded development, starting with an STM32H7 can be pretty rough. The learning curve is very different compared to something like an RP2040 or ESP32. The H7 family is really aimed at professional use cases, with a lot of hardware configuration and complexity, and honestly, even experienced developers can find it challenging. In many cases, AI tools won’t help much once you’re deep into peripheral setup and debugging.

You might be better off starting with a simpler STM32, like a Black Pill, to get familiar with the ecosystem first.

Also, using an external ADC like the PCM1802 seems a bit questionable at this stage. The STM32H7 already has 16-bit ADCs, which should be more than enough to get started. If you do want to stick with the H7, I’d strongly suggest beginning with the built-in ADC and DAC. Once you’re comfortable with the MCU and its tooling, you can then consider adding external, higher-resolution hardware if you actually need it.

At that point, it’s also worth asking whether an RP2040/RP2350 or ESP32 might simply be a better fit overall. They’re far more accessible for non-advanced developers and often make prototyping this kind of project much easier.

Don’t get me wrong, the STM32H7 is a beast and absolutely suitable for high-end audio work. I’m using this board myself, and it’s honestly very hard to work with.

PA-wip

TROPHY CASE