I recently decided to purchase a Zynthian device, which is a Raspberry Pi based hardware device which hosts Linux plugins to produce or process sound. You can for instance run a synthesizer on it like ZynAddSubFX (which I believe is where they got their name “Zynthian”, although I’m not sure about that), and play it using a connected keyboard. Or piano. Or organ. Or any other of a load of plugins and effects that come with it. You can also install your own, as long as it’s in the LV2 plugin format. All in a compact package that is rugged and easy to take on the road.
What’s also kind of fun with it, although I suppose it can turn off some people to it, is that you only get the parts; you have to assemble it yourself! But this was a fun Lego-like project to me, and the instructions are great, so for me it was an enjoyable experience.
It is primarily aimed at, and optimized for, keyboard players, but it works equally well as a guitar effects processor with one minor adaptation: It doesn’t have a high impedance input, so if you connect an electric guitar directly to it, you will get a somewhat weak and muffled signal. The solution is to put a small buffer pedal in between, like the Mosky Pure Buffer, or the TC Electronic Bonafide Buffer. You can also play it straight, but be aware that you won’t get exactly the same response as a dedicated guitar processor with a high impedance input, even with exactly the same effects.
However, the focus of this article is not on guitar playing, but on using the Yoshimi software synthesizer, which is is a fork of the earlier mentioned ZynAddSubFX. Both are excellent synthesizers, and have mostly the same features. I’m using Yoshimi primarily because: 1) I chose it at a time when ZynAddSubFX was not in great shape on Linux (this has since changed), and 2) over more than a decade, I have developed and submitted some features to Yoshimi that make it especially useful to me. But like I said, both are excellent, and I’m not here to tell anyone which to use.
But if you do want to use Yoshimi, and you happen to want to use it on the Zynthian, then this is the article for you. Until recently this was not really possible, at least not without major downsides. But this spring I developed the necessary patches to get Yoshimi to work properly on the Zynthian, and I’m happy that the maintainers of the platform accepted my patches.
Everything you need to install it and make it work is available in this repository, and this gives you access both to all the presets, as well as the ability to edit patches directly using the VNC based UI on the Zynthian device. Since Yoshimi can also use ZynAddSubFX presets, if you install everything, you will have an even bigger Yoshimi presets library than the ZynAddSubFX presets library which ships with the device software!
I’ve been extremely happy with the Zynthian so far, both in my home studio, and taking it to rehearsals or gigs. It is worth mentioning that what you are paying for is the hardware, the software is free and open source, so it’s not quite commercial-level usability or UI experience, and it does have some rough edges in certain spots. But it is constantly improving, and for tinkerers like myself I enjoy the freedom it gives to do whatever you want with it. I have already used it to play some very custom plugin setups which I could not possibly have done on a commercial unit, and which I would otherwise need a laptop for. It’s warmly recommended to all guitarists and keyboardists who are also open source enthusiasts!