Honestly one of the most rewarding builds I’ve done. You finish with an actual playable sampler, not something that just sits on the shelf looking like a science project :)
zeptocore kit
A DIY handmade, handheld sample player.
Details
zeptocore is an open-source handheld device for playing with samples, designed as a simple, tactile, and immediate tool for shaping sound in real time. it plays stereo 16-bit audio at 44.1 kHz from an sd card, organizing up to 256 samples across 16 banks, and pairs this with a set of built-in effects, a realtime sequencer, and a single-cycle wavetable bass voice. the interface is intentionally minimal and hands-on, encouraging experimentation through modes like jump, mash, and bass, while supporting midi, clock sync, and usb connectivity. powered by two aaa batteries or usb-c and built with a small onboard speaker, it’s meant to be portable, hackable, and fun—something you can pick up and play immediately, but also modify and extend as you like.
Videos
Specifications
- manage audio with zeptocore.com
- mono or stereo playback of 16-bit (internal 32-bit) audio files @ 44.1 kHz sampling rate
- SD-card storage for gigabytes of samples, recalling up to 256 audio files across 16 banks
- powered by two AAA batteries for up to 4 hours or powered by USB-C
- tempo-synced with a selectable BPM between 60 and 300
- loaded with 16 real-time effects like timestretching, delay, distortion, fuzz, tapestop, resonant filters, etc.
- realtime sequencer with optional quantization and performance-oriented controls
- MIDI (in + out) over USB for syncing with DAWs and external gear
- sync-compatible with any gear that has a clock input/output signal
- built-in speaker for portable playback
- open-source, wonderfully hackable (GitHub)
Customer feedback
Reviews
I bought this mostly because the whole platform is open source, and that ended up being the best part. Build the instrument, change the firmware, make it behave differently... exactly what DIY gear should be.
great little DIY project. took me a bit to get everything dialed in but once it booted up and started chopping my own samples... very satisfying
Building it yourself makes the whole thing feel even more special. By the time I had it running I already understood the hardware well enough to start thinking about mods.
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