Phjanderson TeensyMix Synth is a new open-source DIY 8-voice polyphonic Synthesizer based on the Teensy 4.1 development board.
You can buy synthesizers off the shelf with just a few clicks. That’s the easiest way you can get one. Alternatively, you can explore the DIY route and build your synth. There are countless DIY projects out there where you can craft your own synths from simple electronic components.
The latest fascinating project comes from Phjanderson, who has released a full polyphonic synth on a Teensy.
Phjanderson TeensyMix Synth
TeensyMix Synth is a new open-source 8-voice polyphonic Synthesizer based on the Teensy 4.1 development board. The developer says it is designed for easy building and only requires the +/—45€ Teensy board, the LCD display, and a digital-to-analog converter.
Phjanderson TeensyMix Synth is a virtual analog Synthesizer with two oscillators per voice. They feature sawtooth, square, sine, triangle, sample-and-hold noise, and several sampled waveforms.
Each oscillator has a different feature set. Oscillator 1 offers waveform shape modulation and supports up to seven stereo unison, while the second gives you frequency modulation (FM). On top of that, you get a per-voice wave folder to add more harmonics to the waveforms.
Then, the oscillators run into two multimode filters that are individually controllable. You can achieve various combinations of lowpass and highpass filtering. You can only adjust the resonance on one filter. It would be better if both would offer resonance control.
On the modulation side, you get a multi-wave LFO for modulating various destinations (frequency, filter, etc.) and two envelope generators. One has a fixed connection to the amplitude, and the second can modulate the filter and other parameters.
Further, you get a stereo ensemble chorus and a per-voice waveshaper for distortion effects. Phjanderson uses a 24-bit digital-to-analog converter in the TeensyMix Synth to send out the stereo signals. They go out on two 3.5mm line mono outputs.
TeensyMix Synth offers MIDI over USB to the computer and a USB port. You can add 5-pin DIN serial MIDI in and out at any time at your synth.
MIDI Control
Indeed, the small DIY synth does not offer haptic control. However, the parameters of the digital engine have full MIDI CC support, allowing you to manipulate them with any MIDI controller easily.
In the demo, the developer used an Akai midiMix MIDI controller with 24 dials, nine sliders, and buttons mapped to the synth.
First Impression
It’s a lovely DIY project. It’s not an exceptionally-featured digital synth, but it is compact and sounds pretty nice in the first demo. I would just pack it nicer in a better case if I were to build the synth for myself.
The Phjanderson TeensyMix Synth code is open-source and on GitHub.
More information here: GitHub
“the small DIY synth does not offer haptic control”. Haptic isthe sense of touch.
haptic in form of knobs and sliders 😉