Hi!
I’m Matt, mild mannered electrical engineer by day(yes, I have a day job), nerdy electronics designer by night. I’m designing open source hardware. I do all the hardware design and write the code all by my lonesome. My first project was the Rockit 8 Bit Synth. Next came it’s little brother Sprockit. But stay tuned, I’ve got a bag of ideas. If you want to drop me a note, send me an email at matt@hackmeopen.com. I’m open to all ideas. If you want to help with this blog or have some interesting ideas for projects, let me know.
I started this blog for a couple of reasons. First, I wanted to publicize my creations and have a venue to sell them. But as I worked on my designs, I discovered another reason. I searched far and wide for answers to my many design dilemmas and could never find any good help on the internet. It seems like there is in-depth design information at the very technical level and then there’s a lot of lousy information on the low end which is often poorly written or just plain wrong. There are few sources for quality usable electronics design information outside of textbooks. I’m trying to provide the knowledge I gain the free use it deserves. I’ve found in the process that I enjoy the opportunity to write and to kick a little knowledge. I hope you find some of it useful!
Hey, looks like alot of fun. Reminds me of my playing with synthesisers back in the 80s. I was also working as a EE for lockheed), single, and building boards. Later I learned that most that most people cant tell the difference between working and looks like it should work (which is much faster to build). Now, I mostly do sculptures (with some lights). My website shows a robot I used in karnival (here in germany).
Now, I am making a Proton Pack. I am still thinking about what lights & sounds it should have.
http://maternus5.dyndns.org//ProtonPack11.html
As an idea for your next synthesizer version, I would add a USB interface. I am told it is simple to do software decoding/encoding of it on chip. Increase the ram (if necessary), and allow for uploading of wave tables, or triggers, or what ever.
Steve
hello! really like the personalized look and good sounds these synths crank out! on the possible project idea maybe a good drum synth like the DCM8 except using a synth engine and not samples.
Branden
Thanks. I’ve thought about drum machines. I need a 27 or 28 hour day.