SynthFest France 2026: Wee Noise Makers have turned a paper music box into a digital Synthesizer and MIDI sequencer.
Many, many synthesizers were on display at this year’s SynthFest France. A large portion were classic keyboard synthesizers. But there were also some more fascinating, unusual ones.
One of these was brought along by the developers of the open-source PGB-1 groovebox. Wee Noise Makers showcased the digitization of the classic paper music box.
Wee Noise Makers Music Box
Music boxes have a long history, dating back to 1885, when the Symphonium company produced the first. Nowadays, they are more like mementos of the past than tools still in use.
In their Music Box, Wee Noise Makers have brought the mechanism into the modern world, turning it into an electronic music instrument. Let’s take a look at the hardware.
Here, the paper goes through two different PCBs. On the bottom, you have one with LEDs shining on the top, while the top one houses photoresistors. They will detect whether there is a hole in the paper.
The Noise Nugget is the core, featuring a built-in processor unit based on the Raspberry Pi RP2040. It converts the holes in the paper into digital note data.
It’s A Synth & A MIDI Sequencer
Unlike the vintage counterpart, the digital version features a sound engine. The prototype that the developers showed at SynthFest France 2026 featured a tweakable Synthesizer engine powered by the open-source Mutable Instruments Braids oscillator.
This engine is fed with paper discs, just like the old ones. However, you can now modify the input and repitch or transpose the sound in the hardware menu afterward.
For those who want to take things a step further, you can connect the unit to other synths via the MIDI output and use it as a cute manual-operated sequencer.
Wee Noise Makers Music Box First Impression
Very cute. I immediately had a grin on my face when I saw the colorful prototype at the booth. I don’t think many people will actually make music with it, but it’s a fun idea to bring an old music tool into the digital world.
I reckon, depending on the price set in a campaign, enough people would back it just for fun.
The price and availability of the Wee Noise Makers Music Box are TBA. They are considering a Kickstarter campaign but are waiting to see if enough people would be interested in the project.
More information will follow here: Wee Noise Makers / Kickstarter
That interviewer got Rick-Rolled and no one acknowledged it. I just wanna say I saw what they did there.