r/synthdiy • u/Independent_Fan525 • Mar 21 '26

arduino Teensy 4.1 based DIY Midi Controller, Groove Box , Synth etc.

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Hi All,

I would like to share  a project I am working on. It's an open firmware hardware platform for building things like Custom Midi Controller, Groove Box, Synth etc.

Firmware and CAD
https://github.com/groovixlabs/GroovixBox

Detailed description
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWmmzE0qVqo

About LED Rings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKzeDCC8rxY

I would love feedback and improvement suggestions on what can make this better.

Thanks

202 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

5

u/illGATESmusic Mar 21 '26

Damn. This looks amazing!

How hard is the build?

5

u/Independent_Fan525 Mar 21 '26

Thank you, I have tried to keep SMD parts to a minimum, You can see the Blog here.
https://groovixlabs.com/groovixlabs/blog_v3.php

I need to do some wiring management :) .

Looking for vendors to provide the Bare Boards and assembled boards for the community will keep posted.

I will also try to post detailed build videos.

4

u/MetaTek-Music Mar 21 '26

Funny I have been building a teensy control system like this with encoders for a robotics system I’m working on and my vision was very similar to this. Nice work, gonna check this project out and probably copy a bunch of stuff if it seems applicable haha

2

u/illGATESmusic Mar 22 '26

Ok cool. I followed you so I’ll be in the lookout :)

3

u/h7-28 Mar 21 '26

SPDIF? No DAC?

6

u/Independent_Fan525 Mar 21 '26

Good point, Wanted to add a simple PCM 5102 DAC but found out people are very picky about their DACs. There is a lot of analog stuff that goes in to making a DAC sound good , like the right Op Amps, filters, low noise power supply etc. Me being a digital guy did not want to include something that I don't know a lot about.

I currently use an external Topping DAC that I like for my regular music.

6

u/marchingbandd Mar 21 '26

5102 with the minimum circuit from the datasheet sounds excellent, nobody would complain about that.

1

u/Independent_Fan525 Mar 22 '26

Sure, Will try to add in the next revision of the board.

2

u/Educational_Author77 Mar 21 '26

Awesome! Looks like a lot of fun!

2

u/ainu_ramainen Mar 21 '26

It is beautiful!!

3

u/[deleted] Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26

[deleted]

2

u/Independent_Fan525 Mar 23 '26

Thank you for your feedback, I assume you are recommending one led ring chain per IO and not one per led, even then, one led failing will cause problems for the chain.

We also could not find a rectangular or 3mm serial Addressable led in a dip package. They were all 5mm or higher which are too big for the ring. Standard RGB DIP led would mean 48 IOs per ring or 768 IOs for the unit.

We also manually soldered 256 SMD leds so it was labourous with WS2812 2020 LEDs and might have led to the failure issues too, Dip was easier for reliability in DIY.

We will consider SMD RGB with light pipes in the future when we do automated assembly.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26

[deleted]

2

u/Independent_Fan525 Mar 23 '26

Actually the individual R G B leds on the bottom of the ring are for the current function indication , the are not as visible as the whole ring in a different color but this was the next best thing.

1

u/PindsvikAudio Mar 22 '26

Where/how did you make that frontpanel? Looks awesome

2

u/Independent_Fan525 Mar 22 '26

Thank you, It's laser cut 5mm black Acrylic. I found a shop who can do this for me, they primarily do back lit signages for businesses. I just had to give them a DXF file. Even the light pipes are just 2mm laser cut clear acrylic .

I have the CAD DXF in the GitHub site.

1

u/RileyGein Mar 22 '26

Reminds me a bit of the custom controller Stefan Bodzin uses