Zynthian Blog – The Open Synth Platform

Granular Delays – Zylvio’s first post!

Hello everyone!

My name is Silvio Alvarez, but you can call me Zylvio. I’m an artist and music producer and i’ve been collaborating with zynthian developers (@jofemodo) to organize the engine library and improve the user interface, among others.

Starting now, I’ll be writing blog posts for your enjoyment, covering everything from effects and synths to samplers and more.

For my first post, I want to talk about one of my all-time favorite effects: the granular delay.

Organelle emulation

Probably you know about the Organelle, a little device from Critter & Guitari, based in RBPi and PureData. This device has been out there from 2016, more or less at the same time zynthian project was born. It’s been a long time from there and a whole ecosystem has grown around it, with lots of interesting patches: audio effects, samplers, synths, sequencers or a mix of all these things.

Its minimal user interface has been a key piece on its success, as well as an open framework based in a visual programming tool (PureData) that allows to develop new patches that fully integrates with the UI.

We have been following the project from its early days , when we shared the space in the Sonar+D exposition (2016) and always loved the simplicity and elegance of Organelle.

TAL-U-NO-LX: the best Juno 60 sound comes to zynthian

We are proud of announcing the arrival of TAL-U-NO-LX to zynthian. This commercial plugin, from the swiss company TAL software, is one of the best Juno 60 emulators in the world. It faithfully recreates the iconic sound of the legendary analog synthesizer. Each oscillator, filter, and envelope has been painstakingly modeled to capture the essence of the original hardware, delivering an unparalleled level of authenticity.

New zynthianOS version: Oram-2502

Good news! We just released a new stable version called Oram-2502.

For those of you unaware of the latest Oram releases, you should know that Oram is the name we choose for the current release series, tributing to Dafne Oram, the electronic music pioneer that produced some of the first electronic sound/music pieces for Radio TV serials and films.

Zynthian Kit V5.1 released!

Good news! After successfully sold-out the V5 kit, that was released by August 2023, we are proud of announcing the release of the new Zynthain Kit V5.1.

The new Zynthian Kit V5.1 doubles the processing power from the original V5 kit. It’s designed to work with the amazing Raspberry Pi 5 computer board, that has increased its capacity in many aspects.

Zynthian Kit V5 is here!

We are proud of announcing the arrival of the long-awaited Zynthian Kit V5, the latest creation from ZynthianLabs.

It’s been a long journey and certainly i could tell a good story about the development of V5, its roots, epiphanies, setbacks and sorrows, but i better leave this for a next entry and put the focus in the device itself, the V5.

We could say that the V5 is more of the same thing, but it doesn’t sound very appetizing, right? Although it’s not false at all: more design, more display, more buttons, more connectivity, more power, more usability, more quality, more integration. More can be really much more.

An amazing travel thru the Zynthian V5 internals

Introducing V5 at Sónar+D 2023

6 years after the zynthian project debut in Sónar 2016, we are coming back to Sónar 2023 for celebrating its 30th anniversary introducing our new flagship device, the V5.

We will be there, in Barcelona’s Fira 1 facility, from 15th to 17th June 2023, enjoying the good company and jamming with our friends from the modular world that would give us some feedback about our eurorack module prototype:

New ZynthianOS version: stable-2211

It’s been a long way, but finally, the new version of ZynthianOS is here and its called stable-2211. Many things have changed, so be prepared to enjoy with the new features.

Here is the link to download the SD image:

https://os.zynthian.org/zynthianos-last-stable.zip

We strongly recommend you to download and burn the new SD image. Trying to upgrade from previous stable versions is a long and error prone process so we have decided to block it to avoid people’s complains. Old stable versions can’t be upgraded!

Regarding changes, the biggest one is the new mixer screen that totally replaces the old layer list screen, but the list of improvements and fixes is huge. These are the more important ones:

New Zynaptik-3 module

Hi @zynthianers!

We just released a new version of the zynaptik module:

and this time it comes in 3 flavours:

MIDI: 3 x MIDI ports (IN/THRU/OUT). Nothing more. It’s the right choice for people buying v4 kits that already include the Zynscreen display and don’t need the extended options.
Standard: adds 16 x GPIO (MCP23017) and include 4 x JST-SH connectors for connecting the official v4 controllers (encoders with switches). With this, now you can build your custom zynthian using v4 parts and the display you like more. The 40 pin “zynaptik” connector is also there, 100% compatible with versions 1 & 2, so you can use the GPIO ports as you like: connecting the zynface module, adding custom switches, etc.
Extended: adds 4 x analog inputs (ADS1115) & 4 x analog outputs (MCP4728) that can be used for CV/Gate, etc. The “extended” version is similar to the older zynaptik-2 module, but adding 4 x JST-SH connectors for the encoders.

ZynADAC v1.0: an Open Hardware soundcard for Zynthian

We are proud of present to all of you the new Zynthian’s official soundcard, the ZynADAC v1.0, an open hardware soundcard for an open hardware project.

The new ZynADAC has the same features you are used to because it uses the same DAC/ADC Burr Brown chips, powered by 3 ultra low-noise voltage regulators (LDOs) and synced by 2 high-stability oscillators, which guarantees the lowest noise & jitter. Also, it’s fully compliant with the RBPi HAT specification.