Zynthian is an Open Synth Platform based in Raspberry Pi, Linux (Raspbian) and Free Software Synthesizers (mostly).
The ZynthianOS SD-image includes all the software you need for building a ZynthianBox, including a good amount of sound libraries and presets. This repository contains the software for the Engine Manager & User Interface.
The list of supported synth engines is quite long and includes, among others:
- ZynAddSubFX (Additive/Substractive/Pad Polyphonic Synthesizer with FXs)
- FluidSynth (SF2 Soundfont engine)
- setBfree (Hammond B3 emulation)
- Linuxsampler (SFZ/GIG Soundfont engine)
- Sfizz (SFZ Soundfont engine)
- Pianoteq (Non Free! Trial version included)
- Aeolus (Pipe Organ simulator)
- Dexed (DX7 emulator)
- OB-Xd (Oberheim OB-X emulator)
- TAL NoizeMaker (Virtual Analog Synthesizer)
- MOD-HOST + MOD-UI (Plugin Host & Web GUI by ModDevices)
- And many more ...
A Zynthian Box is a hardware device that runs the zynthian's software stack. Although it's not a closed hardware specification, there is a (more or less) cannonical recomendation:
- Raspberry Pi 3/4
- Supported Soundcard (ZynADAC, HifiBerry, etc.)
- Spported Display (Zynscreen, PiScreen, PiTFT, Waveshare, HDMI, etc.)
- Zynthian controllers (4 rotary encoders + switches)
- GPIO expander (MCP23017) => Highly recommended. You could need it because the RBPi GPIOs are busy
- MIDI IN/THRU/OUT ports => It uses RBPi's UART (optional)
You can learn more about the Zynthian Project in any of our sites:
You can buy official kits in the zynthian shop: