The littleBits/KORG synth kit is really unique. I didnt know what to expect when I first received it…I certainly didnt expect it to be able to deliver quality sound in such a small package. What I think most people will find compelling is that the kit is flexible/powerful enough for true musicians/DJs but it’s also intuitive enough for a novice to pick up and begin to understand how a synthesizer works.

The kit comes with:
Filter
Micro Sequencer
2 Oscillators
Keyboard
Envelope
Delay
and more

Bought mine on the littleBits site after seeing the ad on Amazon and got it within a few days. Bonus was that I saw some cool projects on littleBits’ site for ways to use the kit and combine it with other equipment.

Highly recommend this for all levels of musicianship and teenagers-adults

This is the third littleBits set that we own and it is by far the favorite. This kit allows so much imagination to build and create, but also has some pretty straight forward projects for those that are newer to littleBits and their imagination isn’t quite there. As always with the littleBits, I wish it would include a pegboard to snap pieces into. The magnets are not strong enough and it is frustrating for little guys when they keep falling apart. I also wish they came with more ideas in their idea book. I would also say that if you are new to littleBits, this is just a music oriented set. If you are not highly into music, then I would do another starter set instead. This one, however, would be most favorable for the younger audience. Other than that, I would highly recommend!

Korg has been catching my attention with some really interesting products these past couple of years: the KORG DS-10 Synthesizer for Nintendo DS actually compelled me to run out and purchase a DS even though I’m not much of a gamer and the Korg KAOSSILATOR and Korg KAOSSILATOR 2 have taken hours and hours of my time since their introduction.

Now, on to the littleBits Electronics Synth Kit . THIS is the electronics kit that I’d always wanted but which never existed. Until now. LittleBits and Korg got together and produced something totally amazing – a modular hardware-based analog synthesizer kit for a mere 9 (check out the PAiA catalog of professional analog synthesizer modules to see how that 9 stacks up). Amazing. Audacious. And so totally cool!

OK, I’ll (try to) stop gushing for a moment — here’s the skinny. LittleBits is known for creating a number of magnetically coupled modular electronics kits… which, to be perfectly honest, is not necessarily something I’d normally find very interesting as I’m a roll-up-your-sleeves-and-heat-up-the-soldering-iron kinda technology guy. But an analog synthesizer is perfect for the modular approach and the littleBits Electronics Synth Kit gets it right. In case you’re not familiar with old-school analog synthesizers, they were often modular in nature and basically consisted of one or more voltage controlled oscillators (variable tone generators), a low-frequency oscillator, voltage controlled filters, envelope generators, white noise generators and some effects — you generate one or more tones and mess around with the pure sound to simulate musical instruments or to create totally new musical instrument.

So, what’s in the kit?
(1) 9V battery
(1) power module
(2) (voltage controlled) oscillators – generate tones/waveform which change pitch/frequency according to input control voltage
(1) noise/random voltage generator – generates audio noise OR a random control voltage
(1) (voltage controlled) filter – changes filter frequency according to input control voltage
(1) envelope generator – changes how fast a sound rises and falls in volume (e.g., simulates a bell sound)
(1) “keyboard”
(1) micro sequencer – generate a sequence of 4 different control voltages for 4 different tones
(1) delay module – audio reverb/echo effect
(1) Y-connector – splits trigger/control voltages so you can send it to two modules at the same time
(1) mixer module – combines two different sounds
(1) audio amplifier with speaker
(1) manual explaining the basics and history of analog sound synthesis

The manual does a nice job of explaining the basics and history of sound and analog sound synthesis and also helpfully provides diagrams showing some interesting configurations of the module to experiment with but, paradoxically, avoids the subject of voltage control which allows other modules or the keyboard to adjust parameters like frequency for the oscillators and filter. You might want to hit up the library at some point. And, at times I really wished there was a second Y-connector. Plus, the envelope module in my kit initially experienced some issues with outputting sound (which, it turned out, wasn’t caused by the settings of the knobs but cleared up after some fiddling with the module’s connectors). But these are all very small quibbles compared to the sheer joy of building something and playing with the different parameters to create some amazing sounds. To my knowledge, there is nothing like this kit available anywhere else and I would very highly recommend it to any tinkerers of any age (yes, adults, you too!) interested in electronics, sound and/or music. I would like to thank littleBits and Korg for such an amazing kit even if it did keep me up well past my bed time!