The project began by taking a metal-encased USB plug apart to reveal the plastic frame. This was then trimmed and scraped out to make room for the circuit components.

Synth-master Unearthed Circuits has combined four oscillators with various levels of pitch adjustment and come up with Drone Machine; the joystick individually mutes or activates each one.

You’d think that a synthesizer that makes as much noise and sports as many knobs as this one would have more than a dozen transistors on board. Surely the circuit behind the panel is complex,… ...

11-18-2013 TECH This Open Source DIY Synthesizer Makes Music Hacking Dead Simple The littleBits Synth Kit lets you snap together your own synthesizer, opening up hardware to whole new set of geeks.

Programmer and musician David Whiting has developed a simple synthesizer, The Endless Acid Banger, that keeps the sound and rhythm generated by the algorithm flowing endlessly.

Step 5: We can get a generic synth bass sound by setting Oscillator 1’s waveform to a square shape – do this by clicking the Square icon in the Oscillator 1 panel.

To get the gist of how a synthesizer works, though, all you really need is this cheeky video starring 1980s pop icon and geek all-star Thomas Dolby.