Waiting for the bass to drop? Wait no longer! Today we're making our own Raspberry Pi-powered synth controlled with a MIDI keyboard. This project will allow us to create our own sounds and play them by pressing keys on our keyboard. I'll be using a Yamaha keyboard with a USB MIDI port to interface with a Raspberry Pi 3 B+, but this project should work with any Raspberry Pi and keyboard with MIDI output.

Short demo video

We'll build our synth system using a program called Pure Data (abbreviated as PD). PD was created by Miller Puckette in the late 90's. The tool is used professionally and even runs on different operating systems, making it ideal for our project. PD uses files known as patches, which can be created on one machine and easily transferred to a different one. Follow along as we install, configure, and use Pure Data on the Raspberry Pi to work with a MIDI keyboard.

PD can be used for a lot of different projects. Today we’re using it to make a MIDI controlled synthesizer, but it’s scope of capabilities is much more broad. You can create a vocoder, autotune incoming audio streams, and even use it to make pedal boards for electric guitars.