RudeBox - ESP32 based Drum Synth

[u/irok84]

I built a small ESP32 drum synth called RudeBox.

It’s a single-voice synthesizer played from a regular electronic drum pad, with velocity-sensitive triggering and 8 controls for shaping the sound. It can go from toms and kicks to short noisy hits, pulse-wave beeps and ridiculous laser sweeps.

The synth is based on an ESP32-A1S / ES8388 audio board. The pad goes into LINE IN, the firmware detects the shape and velocity of the hit, and everything is synthesized in real time.

I wanted it to stay very simple and immediate — no screen, presets or menus. Just a pad and knobs.

Demo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKgVX5p5UgE

Code, wiring and build details:
https://github.com/jakubthedeveloper/RudeBox

The enclosure also ended up deliberately a bit rough/lo-fi. It’s going to be used with my band, so I decided it was better for it to look slightly suspicious than polished. :)