How Our Kits Work

Updated configuration, new faceplate (smaller footprint) and price adjustment.  Works great, runs Linux DAWs and soft synths very well.  Is made to hook up a USB class compliant sound card and midi device such as Expert Sleepers modules, or really, any class compliant USB audio/midi interface and can be used to control any CV based hardware module as well as pass audio and midi  in and out.  The screen is 5″ and is very clear and bright.  There is a fast Sandisk 256GB USB 3.1 thumb drive used as the boot drive which makes boot times low and takes up a very small space.  There is one USB 2.0 and one USB 3.0 plug forwarded to the front panel and a single USB 2.0 port free in the back of the unit for connection to soundcard hardware.  There is a heat sink and fan installed that keeps the CPU running around 55°C and below in most circumstances,

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a full size screen can be plugged into the exposed HDMI port (see second picture–older configuration pictured but same functionality).  Mouse and keyboard can be USB RF style or Bluetooth, although basic USB is recommended for the most reliable performance.

There is a nearly exhaustive list of Linux music focused software (freeware and demo) included free of charge including an unregistered copy of Reaper (will work fully with or without registration), Bespoke Synth, Cardinal, Carla, Surge, Helm, Noizemaker, OB-Xd, ZynAddSubFX, Dexed, Stochast, and many more synths and FX plugins that are compiled for aarch64, which is in the hundreds.  Its literally chock full of great tools for audio and CV and MIDI of course.

The unit runs smoothly and without many problems.  This unit is not problem free however.  The list of issues is as follows:

  • It is unstable with both screens active and must be rebooted after configuring the small screen to ‘inactive’.  This minimizes problems.  The unit will still turn on the small screen when the large one is not present.  One screen also minimizes the impact on CPU usage.  With a single screen active the unit will run for days without a crash.  A link to the screen utility is on the desktop.
  • An RF mouse / keyboard may have trouble connecting depending on circumstances.  Usually front connected dongles dont have a problem but line of sight is recommended and distance has to be short between mouse and dongle.
  • Bluetooth signal is not as strong as it should be but does work
  • Browsing the internet will interfere with music programs because the browser uses a lot of CPU and RAM.  Its recommended that you disable WIFI while working on music which can be done easily.
  • USB buss power current availability is limited and your power hungry USB peripherals may need to be powered separately.   a powered USB hub is recommended.

This unit cannot be powered from the Eurorack rail and has a forward facing USB C plug and an over spec PSU included.  You must un-plug and re-plug this to hard boot.

There is no rack rash as its newly built.  There is some hot glue in use on the rear to protect some fragile parts but you cant see it from the front.

I would describe this unit as robust and very usable.  I can easily have 5 soft synth tracks and one sample based drum kit running in reaper with FX and still have plenty of room for more.  The unit can be used to forward CV signals from Cardinal and other CV producing soft synths to effectively control hardware modules.  This works very well.  The unit can handle many inputs and outputs intended for CV or audio at once (my Expert sleepers modules provide 16 outputs and 10 inputs, but you can add even more).

Its possible with a small utility currently sold on a 3rd party website to send midi over standard network cable between multiple units (this is not netjack).  This would allow you to use the second unit to act as a plugin synth or a remote virtual modular synth intended to control your hardware modules via CV signals sent to for instance, expert sleepers modules residing in the same rack.