Macchiato Mini Synth Digital Synthesizer DIY Kit

(2 customer reviews)

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The Macchiato Mini Synth is a fun, great-sounding, easy-to-use digital synthesizer that fits in the palm of your hand. Build it yourself from a fun and easy kit – soldering required. Make your own cardstock cabinet using the provided template (cardstock available separately),  or get a shiny black acrylic cabinet kit.

Requires 9V DC power. Use a battery (not included) or pick up a plug-in power supply.

SKU: MMS Category:

Macchiato Mini Synth DIY Kit

The Macchiato Mini Synth is a fun, great-sounding, easy-to-use digital synthesizer that fits in the palm of your hand. Build it yourself from a fun and easy kit - soldering required. You can make your own shiny black acrylic cabinet with our cabinet kit.

Requires 9V DC power. Use a battery (not included) or pick up a plug-in power supply.

Out of stock

Macchiato MiniSynth Acrylic Cabinet Kit

This Acrylic Cabinet DIY Kit is an elegant way to enclose your Macchiato Mini Synth. It assembles quickly with a minimum of tools and supplies; see the What You Will Need tab below.

9V DC Power Supply

Use this 9V DC center-negative power supply for your Macchiato Mini Synth, or use your own 9V battery.

MIDI Cable 5 Pin DIN 5 ft (1.5m)

Control your Mini Synth with any MIDI controller with this typical MIDI cable.

USBTiny Programmer

Easily update or restore your synth's software with this device.

6 in stock

Description

The Macchiato Mini Synth is a versatile little 8-bit synthesizer you can build and mod yourself. It features a built-in 13-note capacitive-touch keyboard with 2-note polyphony, MIDI IN, and eight control knobs for shaping your sound.

The synth kit can be completed in an evening. It’s an easy build, suitable for ages as young as 13 (with supervision).

MACCHIATO FEATURES

  • Capacitive Touch Keyboard, 13 keys, 2-note polyphony
  • MIDI IN to control your Macchiato with any MIDI device:
    • Responds to Pitch Bend, Modulation, Velocity, Volume and Portamento
    • Selectable MIDI Receive Channel
  • Wave Shape Select: Sine, Triangle, Saw, Square
  • 4-Octave Shift: C2-C3 through C5-C6
  • Adjustable Attack & Release
  • LFO Shape Select: Sine, Saw, Ramp, Square
  • Adjustable LFO Rate, Depth and Cutoff Frequency
  • Volume Control
  • LED Power Indicator
  • 1″ On-board Speaker
  • Audio Out — accepts 3.5mm (1/8”) TRS  or TRRS male jack
  • ISP Header for PC connection (to upload software updates/mods)
  • Requires 9V DC power from battery or center-negative wall adaptor

CABINET OPTIONS

Your kit comes with a template you can use to make your own cabinet from card stock (available separately) or a cereal box. Optionally, you can order a shiny black acrylic cabinet kit.  Finally, with some ingenuity, you could make your own cabinet or chassis, install the synth and apply the groovy Macchiato labels.

INTERNAL SOFTWARE

The Macchiato Mini-Synth incorporates the Mozzi Sound Synthesis Library for Arduino by Tim Barrass, and is covered by the Creative Commons Attribution / Non-Commercial / Share alike License.. The Macchiato code was written in the Arduino environment and is available open-source on the  ZDL Updater App for PC page.

2 reviews for Macchiato Mini Synth Digital Synthesizer DIY Kit

  1. Anna (verified owner)

    The macchiato is a superb little device that is easy to play and even easier to transport. The controls are very functional, providing a customizable sound that fits any tone of melody I want! Each knob has a different purpose to help you fine tune the sound of your synth, allowing a wide range of tones to fit into one small instrument. I could mess around with the macchiato for hours and still not run out of variety. I love my mini synth!

  2. ryantroyford (verified owner)

    I’ve been messing around with simple theremins and guitar effects pedals for the last year or so, and was eager to branch out into simple synthesizers. A coworker showed me the Macchiato, and I think I had placed my order within thirty seconds. The kit is well designed, the instructions are well written and in-depth (they also include a lot of “how this works/why this is does what it does” type of information, which I was very thankful for), and it was a blast to build. Within a couple hours I was beeping and booping, learning about LFOs and different wave shapes. This thing is endless fun, and I could not be happier with my purchase! They’re also made right here in Chicago, which is awesome.

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What You Will Need

Here’s everything you will need to build The Macchiato Mini Synth kit. *These tools are available from this site. Follow the link! To make your own cabinet using the provided template, you will need the following:
  • Card Stock from Zeppelin Design Labs, or from a craft store; or a Cereal Box
  • Steel Ruler or Straight edge
  • X-Acto knife or other sharp hobby knife
  • Several push pins or thumbtacks
  • Scissors
  • Butter knife
  • A few small binder clips or large paper clips
  • Rubber cement
To build the plastic cabinet kit, you will need the following:
  • X-Acto knife or other sharp hobby knife
  • Steel straight edge
  • Scissors
  • Some medium and fine sandpapers (180, 240 and 320 grit)
  • Plastic cement
  • Super Glue
  • A few binder clips

Documentation

  • Detailed instructions for assembling the synth kit, making a cardstock cabinet, or building the plastic cabinet kit
Download Cardstock Cabinet Template (264kb PDF).
  • Your Macchiato includes this template, but if you need another, here it is. Requires 11x17 printer!
  • Get playing fast!
  • Detailed reference material explaining every control
SOFTWARE
Your Macchiato comes loaded with the latest software, version 1.2.2 (November 2018). This software also comes bundled inside the incredibly simple Updater App. Use the app to refresh corrupted software. On the App page, on the What You Will Need tab, you will find the source code if you wish to examine it.