DigitSynth

DigitSynth

DigitSynth is a wearable MIDI controller that interacts with the Roland JD-Xi synthesiser. It allows the user to trigger chords and shape the resulting sound in real time using finger movements.

Hardware Requirements

Bill of Materials

The table below outlines the hardware components used in this project. Exact component matches are not required, and suitable alternatives will yield comparable results. However, as the software has been developed specifically for the Raspberry Pi, it is strongly recommended to retain this as the target platform.

A MIDI-receiving device is required to complete the setup, either a hardware synthesiser or a software synthesiser running on a connected laptop. In this project, a Roland JD-Xi synthesiser was used, receiving MIDI directly from the Raspberry Pi over USB-B.

Wiring Diagram:

Architecture

Software Requirements

Toolchain

Our build system is CMake, but we provide a simple top-level Makefile to make things easy. Feel free to run the cmake commands manually if you are so inclined. The install-deps.sh script will automatically install dependencies required by DigitSynth.

Installing

A simple install can be performed using the .deb package in the latest release. Download digitsynth-aarch64.deb, then run bash sudo dpkg -i digitsynth-aarch64.deb in your terminal after navigating to the directory into which the archive was downloaded. The standalone binary can also be found in the release. Note that dependencies still need to be installed.

Building

1.1 Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/RTES-Group/DigitSynth.git
cd DigitSynth

OR

1.2 Download the release

Find the latest release on the right-hand side of this page. Download either the .tar.gz or .zip. After downloading and navigating to the download directory:

zip

unzip DigitSynth-xx.xx.xx.zip

cd DigitSynth-xx.xx.xx

tar.gz

tar -xf DigitSynth-xx.xx.xx.tar.gz

cd DigitSynth-xx.xx.xx

2. Install Dependencies

Dependencies

Simply run the install-deps.sh script:

./install-deps.sh

3. Enable SPI and I2C on the Raspberry Pi:

SPI must be enabled before the project will run:

sudo raspi-config
# Navigate to: Interface Options → SPI → Enable
# Navigate to: Interface Options → I2C → Enable

4. Build the project:

cd application/
make

5. Run:

build/digitsynth

Unit tests

To run unit tests:

make test

User Guide

A full user guide covering button modes, controls, and MIDI mapping is available here:

DigitSynth User Guide

Demonstration Videos

Demo 1	LED Mode Demo	Demo 2

Social Media

Follow our build journey on Instagram:

We are also awaiting a write-up on Hackaday.com about our project, so keep an eye out on their blog!

Contributing

See the issues tab for a list of potential contributions. In particular, we would welcome expanding support for other synths.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License — see the LICENSE file for details.

You are free to use, modify, and distribute this project. We just ask that you credit the original authors.

Authors & Acknowledgements

Developed by:

• Logan Brown — GitHub
• Becky Clarke — GitHub
• Dougal Harris — GitHub
• Finn McConville — GitHub
• Jamie Wedlinscky — GitHub

As part of the Real-Time Embedded Systems module at University of Glasgow, 2026.