How small could a hardware synth be?  How small could a sampler be?

I'm building this Stribe thing, it's 7x7 inches square and an inch
thick.  Like the monome but slightly bigger and it uses touch-strips and
many more leds.  I keep daydreaming about walking around with it with no
computer, just playing it.  While building it I waste so much time
wrestling with my cursed computer.  Once this thing is done I want to
turn off my computer for a month and just play thru analog synths and
samplers and sequencers again - ahhhh.  So what about a tiny
synth/sampler on a circuit board I could build right into the device?
Needs to be  battery powered.  I've build some little amps and stuff.
Any ideas for a good circuit?  Also will support MIDI and OSC of course.

I came across a few nice ones:

http://www.elby-designs.com/avrsynth/avrsyn-about.htm
http://www.roboterclub-freiburg.de/atmega_sound/atmegaSID.html
http://www.medcosm.com/picaxe_beatbox.htm
http://www.critterandguitari.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=2

I know there are more microcontroller based synths out there, also my 
interest lies in the chiptune direction, so that may not be up your 
alley.

I imagine that you could get a pretty small modular setup, and build 
sometype of sequencer that speaks osc to the monome, and sends control 
voltage out to the modulars.

If anyone can track down anymore of this type of stuff, let me know, I 
am very interested!

thanks.

i've thought a lot about this kind of thing.

shortly after i got my 40h i started brainstorming a set of modular 
digital components, like a sample module that runs off of an sd card, a 
module that has 8 channels of filters, a module that works as a tone 
generator/lfo, a delay module, etc.

the critter thing seems closest to what i was imagining.

definitely interesting stuff. maybe i will be able to develop a protocol 
for that modular system as my senior design project for computer 
engineering. it's up in the air right now.

a few more links I left off by mistake:
http://www.saratronics.com/index.html
http://oopic.com/soundgin/
http://web.media.mit.edu/~nvawter/projects/1bit/

> set of modular digital components, like a sample module that runs off of an sd
> card, a module that has 8 channels of filters, a module that works as a tone 
> generator/lfo, a delay module.

I am pretty interested in a more digital modular synth, I am not sure 
how to get around the problems with building something like this, but 
the idea of passing control data around serial ports on each module 
appeals to me quite a bit, as does a modular that is more based around 
sample based synthesis instead of analog (VCO->VCF->VCA) synthesis.

another link I came across today:
http://tinyurl.com/yopwvd

discussing submodules in old analog synths, I wonder what the equivalent 
for digital synths would be.

ah, also, I maybe Off Topic'ing this thread? Or perhaps it should be 
moved to the open forum?

sounds on topic to me, but then, maybe i'm just helping to hijack =P

connectivity in digital modules is definitely an issue.

i was thinking it would be best to use cat5 with good ol' rj-45 jacks 
and an ethernet switch. i think that doing it that way, you could even 
make the signal path programmable, sort of like a complex mixer bussing 
system or something...

soundgin looks really cool, but it's a bummer for me that the software 
is windows. i've been trying to find every excuse i can to uninstall 
windows from my mac... soundgin isn't helping.

wow guys this is some great info - so many options.  Basically I want to 
be able to control it from my 8 touchstrips and maybe have a few presets 
to flip thru and some built in melodies I can tweak.  Sort of like one 
of those cheapo 80's keyboards with all the buttons.

I love modular analog synths but only drool from afar those are some 
spendy toys.

For analog, modular style:

http://musicfromouterspace.com/analogsynth/SOUNDLABMINISYNTH/soundlab.html

-Colin

i've been enthusiastic about implementing a tiny opl3 synth. midibox has 
a module for this already, and a few others...

I went and ordered a critter and the USB programmer - looks 
well-supported and it's basically a synth/sampler on a card:

http://www.critterandguitari.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=1

opl3 (http://www.ucapps.de/mbhp_opl3.html) looks intriguing but like too 
much work for right now.

Hm, just realized the saratronics.com board is stereo... maybe I'll need 
one of those, too.

I think the title of this topic should have been more like: "what 
mini-synth can I easily build into my device?"  Actual building of a 
synth up from scratch is down the road aways.  Been wanting to do 
something like the soundlab synth for a while.

These little mini synths-on-a-card are cool, though.

I don't know about any small synths, but wher on earth did you get plans
for the Stribe?  Did you figure them out? Anyway, If you get this
message please tell me. I'm curious.

Didn't GET plans, MADE plans.  My invention.  You like?  I hope to make 
a kit at some point soon and all plans etc will be posted for all.