This tiny $29 computer lets you build DIY synths, pedals, and more
Audio electronics company Electrosmith has launched a Kickstarter for a little audio development board called Daisy. It’s a physical board computer designed for use in DIY instruments and sound processors — think of Daisy like a Raspberry Pi but just for music gear.
Shaped like (and about the size of) a stick of gum, Daisy is both for professionals and for beginners who like tinkering with electronics and code. If you’re okay with fiddling around a bit, you can use Daisy even if you’re not a programmer. It comes loaded with everything to make all sorts of audio hardware devices, like synths, effects pedals, or MIDI controllers. Plus, no soldering is needed — just plug in a USB cable to start loading programs.
You can just buy the board as a blank slate to build something from scratch, or get a ready-made Daisy device if you want to go straight to programming. Electrosmith has made four devices that Daisy can be used with. There’s a breakout board (a more robust version of Daisy for prototyping), a guitar pedal, a Eurorack module, and a desktop synthesizer.
Daisy has a lot packed into a tiny footprint. It’s got two channels of audio I/O that support 24-bit stereo audio with 32-bit DSP processing, support for MIDI I/O through a Micro USB port, USB pins and UART pins, 64MB of SDRAM, and more than 8MB of flash memory. There’s much more baked in, but essentially Daisy is a flexible starting point with lots of ways to expand (like adding extra audio channels or another USB port).
