Watch as a telephone is transformed into a DIY analog drum machine

Push-button telephone. Analog drum machine. Arduino Nano. DIY amplifier. Shashwath Sundar, aka simple_but_nerdy, makes the telephone-drum machine fusion seem like it was meant to be.

Sequencing with light on an alien-looking instrument by Kacper Ziemianin

DIY and instrument-making can be about tinkering and inventing. But it can also be about finding one instrument for your performance and iterating over the long term. That’s what Kacper Ziemianin, aka Ctrl Freq, has done with this “Light-Sequencer” instrument (LSe) – and it’s just reached a breakthrough third hardware version with an accompanying live show.

Peter Kirn - January 10, 2025

Music Thing Modular Workshop System: patch, hack, code, mic, jack in

Tom Whitwell and Thonk have revealed their latest: a complete modular system ready to be tote in its own hard case. The Workshop System has all the modular, patchable goodness you’d expect—contact mics and guitar/stereo line inputs—but it’s also got a computer inside, with unique programmable cards.

Peter Kirn - October 8, 2024

Learn music instrument design from Roger Linn and Sasha Leitman

Peter Kirn - June 8, 2024

Polystepper, a gorgeous electroacoustic synth made with stepper motors, and more wonders

Peter Kirn - May 3, 2023

Game Boy Advance gets a new, free step sequencer, complete with p-locks

Peter Kirn - May 1, 2023

Darwin Grosse, musical visionary and voice for Max and DIY learning, has passed away

Peter Kirn - June 7, 2022

Dart, a line of open source MIDI and DMX controllers, in wonderfully wacky variations

Peter Kirn - April 6, 2022

Go check out people making music and visuals by connecting synths to plants

Peter Kirn - March 15, 2022

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