New DIY Touch Synthesizer, The Tiny TS

tinytsDeveloper Jan Ostman (DSP Synthesizers) has announced The Tiny TS – an open source credit card sized (100x65mm) synthesizer, with a 1-octave capacitive touch keyboard.

It has Audio/CV/Gate outputs and 6 synth parameter dials. Ostman says “If you don’t like the onboard sound of the synth, the CV’s output 1V/oct and Gate from the keyboard, so teams well with my other oscillator chips.”

The synthesizer parameter knobs are:

  • DCO: Coarse pitch and Double. The CV out follows the keyboard and coarse pitch.
  • DCF: Filter peak and ENVmod.
  • ENV: Attack and Release affecting amplitude.

Here’s the first video demo:

Pricing and Availability

The Tiny TS is expected to be available on Dec 1, 2016:

  • $20 for the PCB only.
  • $30 for PCB and a preprogrammed chip.
  • $50 for full kit with all the parts.
  • $60 prebuilt plug & play.

It’s also being made available via an IndieGoGo campaign.

30 thoughts on “New DIY Touch Synthesizer, The Tiny TS

  1. no demo, no sounds, no further informations & no real pictures! which kind of synthesis and audio resolution, do i need a hamster and a wheel to power it, which kind of gate (ms, voltage)
    they say: “if you don´t like the sound …” be sure, you will not like the sound!
    i give this guy max. 8bits with 22khz mono …
    any bets aswell?

    1. Perhaps you should have clicked through to their website which contains the answers you seek. Doing so was certainly more informative than reading your comment.

      1. that´s what i´ve been looking for, but if they need to hide it maybe i shouldn´t find it …
        no time for clicking through, btw. where to click through? i gave it a second try and i still can´t find these informations. if i read a published product presentation i want these informations immediately and not hidden behind some clicks 😉 this is just wasting time …

    2. A demo is now available.
      The synthesis method is “Resonant Peak Modeling” with 2 Sine DCO’s.
      The VA engine runs at 33.5KHz sample rate.

  2. Fantastic idea! Can’t say I would mind the novelty of having a keyboard with cv/gate the size of a credit card. I could see myself bringing my driftbox when I travel more often. Also giving more consideration to cv/gate only synths when satisfying my addiction.

    1. I wouldn’t count on this as a CV source. Based on his schem there’s no auxillary DAC. It looks like he’s doing smoothed PWM straight from the chip (not a stable voltage), and trying to tune 5 octaves with only a 0-255 range is uh, difficult. Good enough for testing if your gear makes sound, but not much more.

  3. credit card size?
    probably worked great until wife gets hold of it (charge it, charge it)
    or the clasic (your fingers are too fat, if need special dialing wand mash the keypad now)

  4. The problem with most of Jan Ostman’s creations are that they either unfinished, forever in beta mode, poorly coded or simply vaporware. From his much maligned DSP G1 VA, to a host of chips that are under-powered or poorly engineered.

      1. Bill, I had yet to find an appropriate or humorous post from you until just now. You’ve finally done it, I actually smiled a little. Well done.

  5. Long time reader here- Please stop promoting this guy’s projects. He has been ripping people off for years. view the Muffwiggler and mutable Instruments forums to see how he treats people who do business with him. He’s banned from Kickstarter because of his previous dishonesty with several well respected companies. I know he makes cheap synths but please stop referring people to his scams.

    1. I’m not banned from Kickstarter and I have not been dishonest with any company.
      Nor am I scamming anyone.

      This is slander and i’m not sure why Synthtopia approved this post.

      I will report this post.
      Please have it removed.

      1. Like many others, I have been waiting for the tinyts kit I backed on kickstarter but
        haven’t heard any news since July. Jan still updates his wordpress blog, yet he has chosen not to respond to frustration of many backers.

        Jan, if you are not scamming anyone please either fulfill your pledges or refund the ones you haven’t.

      2. Actually, janostman, you’ve been VERY dishonest with your kickstarter backers. You’ve failed to deliver to most of your backers, and you do not respond to requests for information. It looks like the same scam is running at indiegogo.

    2. Hey anonymous guy, Ostman has neat designs that do amazing stuff and sound pretty good given the limitations of the AVR chips he uses. I’m glad to see his projects highlighted here. I looked at the two forums you mentioned for evidence of your claims about the guy and found nothing to substantiate any of your claims.

  6. It’s probably good to be aware that Jan is pretty bad about fulfilling his promises, at least with regards to his Kickstarter. There are still a lot of really disappointed people, and it’s like pulling teeth to get any kind of communication with him. I wouldn’t suggest doing business with him until he makes it right. It’s really unprofessional, and I would think he would be embarrassed by it. Instead, he seems to be dodging it.

    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/732508269/the-tiny-ts-an-open-sourced-diy-touch-synthesizer/comments

    It looks like people are pretty upset over here too:

    https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-tiny-ts-an-open-sourced-diy-touch-synthesizer#/comments

  7. I was a kickstarter backer for this synth.
    After trying different ways to contact him, still no answer, no kit, nothing !

    So be aware that you will surely loose your money by dealing with him.

  8. As a kickstarter backer for the tiny synth who has payed for a full kit but never received anything, I second DG’s sentiment. Don’t dump money on this or any other product of Jan Ostman.

  9. Like many others, backed this one on kickstarter and never received it, lots of promises but still waiting, come on Jan, fulfill your promIses !

  10. Starting to wonder if it was a blessing that Ostman has failed to send us the Tiny-TS. If his engineering is anywhere near as bad as his business acumen, I’m not sure I’d want this device reducing the average coolness of my studio.

  11. Jan Ostman, I am another unhappy backer from Kickstarter. I backed your Tiny Synth project over a year ago (January 7th 2017) and like many others have yet to receive my synth. I understand you have many projects you work on, but not notifying customers of their products is not only frustrating for us but unfortunate for you. By ignoring comments and concerns by customers you’re damgaing your reputation, before you know it no one will support you. That would be a tragedy because you’re very talented. I’m here to just ask that you try to solve the concerns on Kickstarter and either fulfill orders or refund backers. I decided to back you’re project because I recently got very interested in music producing with my friend and thought your synth would be a great starter kit, amd still think it will be. I wish you the best and hope to receive my synth soon.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *