thingstruments

You have to see this. The Hammond Novachord restoration project

  Another unique instrument from Aaron Sherwood , the Magnetophone . I've previously covered his Glockentar.

  This is an insteresting concept: solenoids play glockenspiel imitating you while you play the strings. It is called the Glockentar and made by Aaron Sherwood .

  Here's a DIY hacked Cynthcart, which is connected to the NES, making this a synthesizer with the power of both the C64 SID and the NES audio chip.

If you don't know what a whamola is, this video will make it clear for you. For more info and build instructions, head to this post at Hack a day .

Very cool - the sequencer controlling the robot band is a metal cylinder with adjustable protrusions. Super sleek build!!!

Matt built a 4-oscillator digital oscillator running on an ARM Cortex-M0 . And it's awesome!

Great news for all you guitarists out there: ElectroSmash have created pedalSHIELD , which allows you to download, or if you know C/C++, even write your own guitar effects!

This joystick is not just any joystick: it has an APC ( Atari Punk Console ) inside, and instead of controlling flight simulators it makes sounds. And there's more: with these instructables , you can make your own at home!

You've all seen the laser harp used by Jarre. Now they are available from Goodchild Engineering . Very impressive build! Found on Hack a day .

DIY MIDI-controlled robot percussion playing Superstition. Here's the link to the build log for those who want to make their own. Found on Hack a day .

More DIY for you. This guy made his own Akai MPC style controller - but with laptop trackpads ! This means each pad can track it's own X/Y coordinate! This must be a first in the history of pad controllers! Found via hack a day .

Another cool DIY controller, this time made with distance sensors . Combined with the software, a MAX/MSP patch, this DIY enthusiast can now control his favourite synths like a wizard. Found on hack a day .

Here's some more from littleBits: a keytar and a synth spin table project. littleBits are a product family of little electronics modules that can be connected together like legos. If you don't already know, they just started collaboration with Korg for a new synthesizer module product line...

Dentaku have created a mini-synthesizer the size of a cassette tape: Ototo. Looks fun!

Korg just keeps bringing out some excellent toys for synth geeks. Now they have started collaboration with littleBits , a company making open-source modular circuit boards that can be connected like legos. That's right, Korg is now making open-source synth modules. They've released the monotron schematics already a while back and seems like it worked out just fine for them. It's great to see a big company like Korg embracing the DIY synth community like this! Read this great article on create digital music for more info on the littleBits + Korg collab.

No more fiddling with pots: this guy removed the knobs and replaced them with an on-board Arduino with a Bluetooth module. On top of that he wrote an Android application with which he can change presets on the fly and even create some tremolo-like effects by switching between the presets automatically. Details on the project can be found on the Arduguitar home page .

Here's a great DIY build: a small keyboard imitates 4 NES controllers that are connected to the original NES running a NESK-1 synthesizer cartridge . Check out also this demo of the NESK-1:

Here's some Arduino powered synth magic for you. frauAngelico is a drum synth / sequencer, Standuino Pi is a drone synth and the microGranny a cool little granular sampler. Mix them up and you've got this:

This guy built his own modular and filmed it all with a time-lapse app for the iPhone. The synthesizer can be also heard on the soundtrack. Amazing work!