TubeOhm Jeannie: the latest firmware (3.2.0) adds wavetable synthesis with colorful visualization to the DIY polyphonic Synthesizer.
The development of the Jeannie polyphonic Synthesizer has continued in recent months. Now, at the end of summer, there is another significant update ready to download.
Firmware 3.2.0 is out now for testing and brings wavetable synthesis to the DIY desktop synth. Due to CPU constraints, the wavetable synthesis is not as deep as other synthesizers, but it offers the classic features you would expect. The wavetables for both oscillators are also beautifully visualized.
You can download the current version at the Sequencer Forum.
Update From March 13, 2024
Jeannie has been around for two and a half years. It is a digital desktop DIY Synthesizer from Germany with eight voices of polyphony. The synth has grown nicely in 2023 and 2024. Among other things, you can get now an all-black case from Erica Synths that makes the synth look more finished.
Last November, the developers added a new mono mode, smoother filter control, new distortion curves, and more. The new firmware 3.10 is probably the biggest sound update for Jeannie Synthesizer so far.
TubeOhm Jeannie 3.10
With the all-new firmware 3.10, you can explore 21 new oscillator models. These come from the open-source Eurorack oscillators Mutable Instruments Braids and Shruti.
You can find classic oscillators but also more unique ones such as vowels, Shruti PD, and 8-bit oscillators. It also hosts an extended multi-wave oscillator with up to six tunable sawtooth oscillators.
This update also includes four different wavetable oscillators that can be modulated with two LFOs and an ADSR envelope. Moreover, you get a new patch volume parameter with a built-in DSO to adjust it. On the main page, you also get a new level indicator. Plus, the new firmware fixes some bugs.
As an extra goodie, the new Jeannie firmware also ships with new sound banks from a user and TubeOhm. These raise the number of patches to 500.
Article From November 2021
Last May, just before summer, I reported about Jeannie, a new DIY digital polyphonic Synthesizer from the developer Rolf Degen. He is known to some for his De-Generator, which I have already presented here.
Rolf told me today that Jeannie is now available from the TubeOhm website.
Jeannie DIY Synthesizer
Jeannie is an 8-voice polyphonic DIY Synthesizer with two oscillators (sync, FM…), multimode filter, waveshaper, two envelopes, two LFOs, and a step sequencer. It consists of a DIY motherboard with a Teensy 4.1 (816 MHz), an optional DSP extension board for the effects, a housing, and a power supply (12V min 1A).
The core of the sound engine uses two oscillators per voice with 945 different waveforms to explore. There are not a few and you get more parameters to dive deeper into them. Pitch, pitch envelope, glide, detune, level, PW amount, PWM, and oscillator mix…
Jeannie also offers an up to 8x unison mode, giving you up to 16 oscillators in a single voice. It’s impressive for such a compact synth.
Then, both oscillators move into a multimode state variable (Chamberlin) filter with 12dB/octave and adjustable resonance. LP, HPs, and BP filters are available for selection.
It gets exciting behind the filters as you can find here a rich multi-type waveshaper (XOR ring mod, XMOD, MOD, FM…). A slightly different signal path, as you normally know it from synths. This design decision shows that the waveshaper works as a shaper for the waves and as a distortion effect.
You have two classic ADSR envelopes and two multi-wave LFOs on the modulation side. For melodic content, you can activate a polyphonic sequencer with up to 4 voices.
Effects
Jeannie has a digital FX runs at an adjustable clock rate between 10 and 60 kHz. So, whether it is clean or dirty effects, it is your choice. You can choose between different effects, including chorus, flanger, and reverb. echo. If you want more, you can upgrade the engine via an additional board containing a DSP.
It gives you 14 new effects that are programmable and storable, including a distortion, tonator, chorus with two and five stages, gate, X- delay, and more.
Backside
On the backside, you have a 12V DC power supply input, a power switch, a stereo output, MIDI In/Out with Thru functionality, and a USB connection for firmware updates. Internally, you can find a micro-SD card on which you can store up to 2048 patches. That should be enough space for the next years.
The synth is operated with the main encoder, four-parameter controllers, a volume knob, and some function buttons. In addition, there is a colored LCD display and handy lights that give you the status of the functions (MIDI, FX…)
A very exciting project that is now ready. For such a compact synth, Jeannie offers a lot of functionality. And a lot that goes beyond the standard. See the waveshapers or the many waveforms. And the most important thing: it sounds great and versatile. Looks like an amazing DIY project for the cold days.
TubeOhm Jeannie is available now as a DIY project. The PCB is available in two versions: for experienced users without pre-soldered SMD parts for 63,90€, with for 92,30€. The full Jeannie 3 kit with all pre-soldered PCBs and parts is available for 294€. A power supply and an SD card are not included.
More information here: TubeOhm
Hey,
Nice project that I have been following on ElectroTecnique’s facebook group.
It could be nice to perhaps mention the original project from http://electrotechnique.cc/ thanks to which Jeannie exist also 🙂
yes 🙂 I also covered this project
more cool Emilie derivative work. nice! i love Plaits on Prologue, and Aodyo’s Phi is hella great sounding! can’t wait for Omega.
FYI, the “More information here: TubeOhm” link goes to a page that no longer exists (https://www.tubeohm.com/jeannie.html). Looks like the correct address should be: https://www.tubeohm.com/jeannie-main.html
Ugh. I just realized that I used my email address as my name in my previous comment (currently in moderation). Can a moderator please delete that comment to avoid the address being scraped by spammers? Thanks.
One point why Jeannie is under the radar is of course it is DIY. You can’t buy it ready to use and there is soldering for several hours to make it run. But it sound absolutely incredible and it is worth to build.
This desperately needs an industrial designers touch or just someone with a pair of eyes and a modicum of taste.