oldtokage-collab/c.p.s.--cardputer-syhnth--

C.P.S. is a synthesizer you build yourself using the M5Stack Cardputer, a small pocket sized computer with a keyboard. The project targets both the Cardputer ADV and the original Cardputer, and it was built by sharing ideas with the Claude AI assistant, which wrote most of the code. The creator describes it as fully vibe coded and shares progress on Reddit and social media, with community feedback shaping many features. Playing the synth means typing on the device's keyboard, where two rows of keys form a musical layout. A beginner friendly Easy Mode gives a simple diatonic scale, while a Pro Mode offers a full chromatic keyboard with black keys. You can shift octaves and transpose notes, control volume, and bend pitch with dedicated keys, which gives a guitar like choke effect. Sound comes from a wavetable oscillator that can morph between sine, triangle, sawtooth, and square waves, plus a sub oscillator, adjustable noise, a filter with several types, its own envelope, and a general purpose LFO that can modulate pitch, volume, timbre, filter, or pulse width. A bit crusher effect adds a lo fi, gritty tone, and portamento smooths the glide between notes. On the CardputerADV, the built in motion sensor lets you tilt or move the device to control up to seventeen different sound parameters, each with its own sensitivity, axis inversion, response curve, and calibration settings. The original Cardputer, which lacks this sensor, instead uses key presses to substitute similar control. A patch bank lets you save, rename, duplicate, and randomize complete sound settings, and everything is stored automatically to an SD card. Getting started does not require any programming: you can flash the firmware using M5Burner, install it through a Launcher, or build it yourself in VSCode using PlatformIO if you want to modify the code.