A Tiny Toy Synth For Smaller Computers

Even for the non-musical among us there is a lot of fun to be had with a simple synthesiser and sequencer, as the different controls can be manipulated to show their effect on the sound. Beeper, from [Valentyn Danylchuk] is just such a synth, and with only built-in loops, it has a focus on the instrument rather than the arrangement. What you get are a simple set of controls, from which you can modify the sound to your liking. We’ve been playing with it here, and it’s surprisingly addictive.

The target for Beeper is ESP32 microcontrollers, with builds for the S3 and P4, but there’s also a web version and one for the Mac. It’s operated using the arrow keys on your keyboard, and  the web one at least isn’t the most responsive piece of software. Below the break you can see (and hear) it on a Tanmatsu ESP32-P4 based handheld computer.

It’s certain that there are more accomplished synthesisers and sequencers to be found, but there’s still a place for one that’s simply a musical toy like this. Sometimes playing with something is more important than achieving something with it.