16 thoughts on “TubeOhm Teases New 8-Voice DIY Synthesizer, ‘Jeannie’”

1. wow! That looks intriguing… A couple of questions Immediately come to mind: Will it be a “full” DIY kit? and what is the estimated kit cost?

2. Looks like a full kit to me- surface mount chips on the board but not the discrete components which can be soldered by a hobbyist.

3. “we used 6 SMD components because space was limited.
   However, we made sure that the footprint of the SMD components was enlarged so that the components can be soldered easily.
   But we will also offer boards where the SMD components are already soldered on”

   Unfortunately it has only 16 bit and they don’t mention the sample rate.

   1. “ Unfortunately it has only 16 bit ”. Really? I remember when 8 bit and 12 bit were standard for affordable digital keyboards. Some people are obsessed with a numbers game when it comes to specs. 16 bit still gives a theoretical S/N ratio of 96db.

      1. And I remember when VHS tapes where the standard for lookin’ movies at home.
         Fortunately we moved on…..

         “16 bit still gives a theoretical S/N ratio of 96db”
         Yeah, in the ideal case of full leveled, compressed music. In a synth, it depends on how many notes you play. If the 16 bit are reached while playing an 8 voice chord, what do you reach when after that you play just one single note with the same sound? 5 bit? 6 bit?
         This is why for examples the Strymon effects have this exceptional audio quality; they work at 24/96 ….

         1. this is a teensy project

         2. Who the hell cares about that kind of stuff? What matters is how it sounds like, what a sad time you must have making music if you’d limit yourself to 24-bit / 96khz or think ‘good technical specs’ equals ‘good sound’.

         3. You clearly have absolutely no idea what bitrate actually means in this context. Please go inform yourself.

   2. I’ve been following the development of this on the PJRC Teensy forum, and I know that Rolf was testing various DACs for their best sonic qualities, and you can add a DAC board if 24 bit is necessary:

      https://forum.pjrc.com/threads/63255-New-Teensy-4-1-DIY-Synthesizer/page6

      1. From that forum it looks like it’s not 16 bit after all? Looks and sounds really nice

   3. I’ve been following the development of this on the PJRC Teensy forum. There is the option to add a DAC board more to your liking, although Rolf did evaluate the DACs for their sonic qualities.

   4. I think perhaps they haven’t updated the bit-depth specs list to 32 bit since they upgraded their DAC.

      >State of affairs 04.05.21 …we had to change the DAC…The PT 8211 (0,15 c) ….was exchanged for a PCM 5102A (6 €) No noise, a higher output amplitude, no distortions.

      Now, as far as i can see the old cheap PT 8211 does indeed have a 16bit DAC,
      But the new replacement they are using since the 4th May the PCM 5102A has a 32 bit DAC and a max sample rate of 384kHz

      https://www.tubeohm.com/new-developement.html

      I could be wrong, but I think they just didn’t update the specs when they updated the component.

   5. The synth has a TI PCM5102A, which is a 32-bit audio DAC. I’m not sure why you think it’s 16-bit.

4. “- 1 multimode filter”

   Is that a single filter for the 8 voices, or 1 filter for each?

   There’s a few mini-synths available and more like this are popping up.
   eg. the Audiothingies – Micromonsta 2
   https://www.audiothingies.com/product/micromonsta2/

5. What’s the size and pixel resolution of the graphic display?

6. Jeannie, quit livin’ on dreams
   Jeannie, life is not what it seems
   You’re lost in the night, don’t wanna struggle and fight
   There’s someone, who needs you
   Oh, babe