Ray Wilson’s Music From Outer Space Weird Sound Generator is a popular synth DIY project.

Wilson notes:

This is not even a shadow of a real music synthesizer but merely a fun little noise maker.

Building a WSG, while fun, is not a deeply scientific or religious experience. The WSG does not look or work at all like a synthesizer used by anyone whose name rhymes with either Cakeman or Bemerson. The WSG does not have a keyboard, it has a few knobs and switches. Do not expect to use the WSG in concert. The WSG makes mildly entertaining, droning beeps and boops.

It is designed to be built on a solderless breadboard and experimented with or put on a proto-board or PCB and placed into an outlandish case for fun by electronics hobbyists. That, as they say, is the entire enchilada.

Resources:

• WSG at the MOS site
• Matt Stanfield’s Awesome WSG Blog
• Scott Stites’ DIY site
• Dozens of Weird Sound Generators on flickr