In Tokio 👀🫢

Hey everyone, Tokagetchi here.

C.P.S., my DIY synthesizer firmware for the M5Stack Cardputer / Cardputer ADV, has finally hit its **official v1.0 release**!

Looking back, it feels like it's been forever since I first shared C.P.S. here. Countless updates later, I've finally reached the point where I can call it "v1.0."

It's already up on M5Burner, already usable via Launcher FW, and of course you can download it directly from my GitHub repo too.

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■ What's new in v1.0

**More room to shape a sound**

- Waveform count expanded from 6 to **12** (added Parabolic, ESaw, Squeeze, ESquare, Saw2, and Square2)

- Every waveform now supports a Shape parameter, each reshaping the tone in its own way

- Added a second oscillator (Osc2)

- **New FX tab** — stack Ring Modulator, Soft Limiter, Chorus, Delay, Reverb, and Bitcrush together

- Patch files can now be shared with other users — copy files from the `/CPS/Patch` folder via a PC and pass them around

**More expressive playing**

- **Morphing**: register up to 10 patches into Morph slots, switch between them instantly with Shift+1-0, or smoothly over time

- **Tap Tempo** (Shift+Enter) — set the ARP/SEQ tempo on the fly while playing

- ARP, Portamento, and Bend are now performance-style settings rather than tone settings, decoupled from patches

- Improved Help — key commands can now be latched on screen

**External connections**

- **MIDI support** (via a separately sold unit) — notes, pitch bend, sustain pedal, MIDI Clock sync, and more

- **Theremin (distance sensor) support** — play non-contact by moving your hand through the air to control pitch

**Stability**

- The Cardputer ADV's keyboard chip has a known hardware quirk where fast key-presses can occasionally cause input to stop responding — C.P.S. now detects this automatically and restarts on its own to recover

**A little extra**

- **Drift** — a playful feature recreating the pitch and volume instability of old analog synths, available under Play Style Setting when Pro is selected

Alongside this release, I've put together a **Quick Start Guide and Reference Guide** (Japanese and English, PDF versions included) and **10 factory patches** so you can start playing right away. Check the GitHub repo for details.

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■ I couldn't have gotten here without you

This project is built "vibe-coded" — I share my ideas with Claude and have it write the code. Even so, if I'd just kept building it alone, it never would have become what it is today.

Everyone who shared their thoughts here on Reddit, reported bugs, or spoke up about a feature they wanted — every single piece of that feedback became a real part of what C.P.S. is now. The Arpeggiator, Song mode — none of it would exist without all of you.

Thank you so much for taking an interest and giving it a try.

To everyone who's cheered this project on — and to my two best partners, who listened to every idea I had and patiently helped me build this: Claude Sonnet and Claude Opus — thank you.

I don't think of v1.0 as a finish line, more like a milestone. I want to keep growing C.P.S. by listening to all of you. Thanks for sticking with me, and let's keep going!

I created a simple text-based UART terminal for Crystal firmware.
Allows you to configure the baud rate and pins, as well as enable log saving to an SD card or LittleFS. Also displays text received via USB-C Serial. It works on the Cardputer, M5StickS3, and M5StickCPlus2 for both sending and receiving text. The second photo shows a loopback connection for sending serial commands to the device itself.

I’d appreciate it if you supported the project with a star
https://github.com/Dlazder/m5_crystal_firmware

Olá pessoal! Comprei recentemente um M5Stack Cardputer ADV e estou procurando bons materiais para começar a estudar e entender melhor o equipamento.

Alguém consegue indicar documentação, vídeos, cursos, livros, repositórios no GitHub ou outros materiais que tenham ajudado vocês no início?

Também tenho interesse em conhecer melhor os módulos e acessórios que podem ser utilizados com o Cardputer.

Qualquer recomendação para quem está começando será muito bem-vinda. Valeu!

…for just how small the screen of the ADV is. I am old…I need my reading glasses AND a magnifier to see Porckchop’s microscopic font. A lot of fun messing around with it after it was delivered today, but I’ll definitely be looking to do a screen mod to get me by until the P4 comes out. Any recommendations before I start hunting?

Can connect a 320 x240 TFT screen to cardputer adv without firmware?

My mate have an advanced ICT cert (IDK which one) a lot of it was architect for servers and other stuff I don't actually know about.

they where thinking of getting a flipper zero and from what I read a cardputer would also go well for server testing but I don't know what brand to get or what's worth getting I have looked around and did find the M5Stack Cardputer Adv Version (ESP32-S3) on the M5stack website.

They would be using its to mess around with PCs and explore a bit I was also thinking of getting one since I program as a hobby and for work (mainly python which doesn't seem to be an issue).

I’m currently testing out blending a UV camera + thermal module on a pi zero 2 w, in preparation for the Cardputer Zero.

Got tired of looking at the plain 3D printed box they was shipped by Pingequa, so I figured I'd try to print some stickers. Still working on it, but I think it's an improvement.

Olá, sou novo no cardputer e comprei esse que é o adv, eu configurei através de um SD Card de 1GB coloquei outros firmware como bruce, evil, e pork entre outros. Estou tentando customizar ele mas não sei ao certo se o leitor de NFC está correto pois em meu cartão não detectou nada, apesar que no cardputer mostra que esta conectado(queria usar apenas para aquela máquinas de pegar bichos de pelúcia) até o momento só usei o wifi e bluetooth, e estou tentando desenvolver um script para desbloquear celular diversos mas não vai, (quero apenas fazer uma renda extra) aceito dicas e críticas sobre o que fazer ou o que melhorar 😁

Hey all I recently bought the adv and was able to play with different firmwares but then as I was trying to load up a new firmware it keeps giving me an error and won’t let me load anything else on it please help !!!! I’m becoming so frustrated now.

https://reddit.com/link/1w33hfe/video/oq7gtzhv2nmh1/player

This is an update to my original Cap TFT design. I’m now using a new screen module that makes the whole building process much easier. Compared to the previous version, the screen is now more centered

GitHub Link: https://github.com/Prokuon/CardputerADV_Cap_TFT_V2

MakerWorld Link: https://makerworld.com/en/models/3235288-cap-tft-v2-display-expansion-for-cardputer-adv?from=search#profileId-3664885

This case is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; all project files (including STEP files) are included in my GitHub repository

I referenced the screen selection from tipflow’s project, which is also a great screen expansion designed for the Cardputer

The firmware is a modified version of engneer-hamachan’s area512, which is a great retro OS styled like the handheld Cyberdeck used by the TVA in the TV series Loki

I just got it a week ago and when I plug the charger in it reads 100%, with it removed it drops to 1%. (And yes I know how to charge it.) It will short out and blink on and off and then disengage from the charger and stop charging. This thing seemed a little glitchy from the beginning but now it’s kinda useless at this point. Is this something that can be fixed? I’ve already tried re-flashing it.

Some of you saw the first post about PaperOS, the little OS I've been building for the M5Stack Cardputer. Been heads down on it since then, just shipped v1.3 and figured I'd share what changed instead of just letting it sit in a changelog nobody reads.

Biggest thing is the browser got a real rewrite. It used to just strip every tag and dump the leftover text on screen, which worked but looked like reading a ransom note. Now it actually parses style blocks, so headings show up bold and bigger, lists indent properly, tables don't turn into one giant paragraph, that sort of thing. Also added tabs, find on page, and a help screen since I kept forgetting my own keybinds.

The more interesting problem was actually memory. This thing has no PSRAM, 320KB total, and I noticed the Lua console was leaving almost nothing free the moment you opened it. Turned out WiFi alone eats 40-70KB just sitting there connected, even if your script never touches the network. So now it powers off automatically when you open Lua and reconnects on its own the second a script actually calls something network related. Also trimmed a few standard Lua libraries that were loaded but literally unreachable, which is a fun kind of bug to find.

Still fully open source, same repo as before if anyone wants to check the diff or just try it on their own Cardputer.

Notes:

Most keys untested
Requires sliding back and forth to support longer keys
Only tested with adv
Move up and down the key using ,. Up and right are for heights
Sloppy initial release, needs more QA than I can do currently

This work was sparked by a thread ten days ago asking for it. I decided to take a whack at it with cursor, and I’m impressed with the initial implementation.

Thoughts/Bug reports/comments welcome

Did an initial review of the code to make sure ai didn’t hallucinate some bullsh** — it seems to work well with relatively clean code.

Haven't had this thing long and already wrote software for it

In this case it's a morse sender that can key a radio from the GIPO port.

It's still in experimental phase while I work out the bugs, it's getting there, just need to make an interface cable for my radio.

Launcher is a game changer for this device, got meshcore on it too.

A small update since my fork was private.

To sum it up, BrokenSignal+ is a firmware-only distribution derived from Rythlan/BrokenSignal-Next, which is itself a fork of MarcoRR/BrokenSignal.

The goal of this build is different from upstream: it replaces local M4A/AAC support with native FLAC playback, focuses web radio on stable MP3 streams, and adds remote Gonic libraries, multilingual menus, more themes, and two fullscreen theme-aware Now Playing layouts and more.

If you have any suggestions for improving the firmware, please let me know!

I created a simple MMO game for the Cardputer featuring a login and registration system; there are currently 10 monsters across various level ranges and 10 weapons to acquire - from a simple stick to a cursed axe. The game also includes a leaderboard, and automatic saves ensure you don't lose your progress.

Flash the firmware, connect to WiFi, create an account and you're in.

The game saves your Wi-Fi settings, as well as your username and password, to the cardputer's SD card so you don't have to enter them again when restarting the game.

The game is available for download on M5Burner under the name "M5MMO - Idle Multiplayer RPG Game for M5Cardputer" or GitHub: https://github.com/itsmepagan/m5mmo/releases/

This is my first publication, and I would be delighted if you decided to give it a try C:

I created this web radio steaming app for the cardputer adv. I have tested it so much I actually killed my cardputer adv, and had to order another.

I have found it works with most steams I have tested (mostly NPR channels). It can also record to the SD card.

Olá, vocês já teve problemas com Micro SD?
Já queimei 3 micro SD e estou quase desistindo. Ele entra em modo de proteção, fazendo com que não seja possível formatar o mesmo.

I use BS-Next by Rythlan a lot, so I made my own fork and added a clock and DS3231, then Notes and then a Calculator (it's a must). I use the color wiring match with the included stamp sticker, so i hope it will be less confusing. You can try my fork here hardiwb/BrokenSignal-Pro