Bastl’s Kastle 2 and Citadel Eurorack are now DIY kits, open source platforms

It started with Kastle 2, Bastl Instruments’ cute and clever handheld. It could be a multi-effect, a sample player, a synth. Then Citadel modules came along and did those things in Eurorack. Now, Bastl’s got a surprise: you can buy these as DIY kits, and a big chunk of the Raspberry Pi-powered platforms are being released as open source. Here are all the details.

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.

Peter Kirn - January 9, 2026

What’s new in the DIY world of Music Thing’s Workshop System

It’s a Very Workshop System Jamuary. Music Thing’s patchable music lab-in-a-lunchbox has proved that small-batch personal hardware can attract a select, dedicated community sharing great stuff with one another. Let’s catch up with what’s been happening in that magical village of synth wonder in the past year. Don’t forget, the ideas and code here are all open — meaning this could inspire more.

Peter Kirn - January 7, 2026

Autodafe has an explainer on getting JE-8086 up and running

Peter Kirn - December 31, 2025

A free emulator of Roland JP-8000 and the love of supersaws and trance

Peter Kirn - December 30, 2025

How to run Bitwig Studio on the Steam Deck gaming console

Peter Kirn - December 11, 2025

Mute on your Push like it’s an Elektron — Push:Mute Mode

Peter Kirn - September 10, 2025

Code turns MacBook hinge into a creaking door, Theremin

Peter Kirn - September 8, 2025

A little-known Nintendo DS piano peripheral meets homebrew sound

Peter Kirn - July 31, 2025

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