Zynthian is a open hardware platform, currently in development, that promises to be a ‘swiss army knife of synthesis’, equipped with multiple engines, filters and effects.

Zynthian’s hardware specification is public and the software is open source, so the platform is designed to be fully hackable.

Specifications:

Hardware

Powerful CPU: ARMv8 x 4 cores, 64 bits, 1.2 GHz, 1 GB RAM (Raspberry Pi 3)
High Quality Audio Interface: 24 bits, 96kHz (HifiBerry DAC+)
Touch Screen 2.8″
32 GB of storage (SD Card)
Connectivity

Up to 5 MIDI instruments simultaneously (4 x USB, 1 x MIDI-IN)
Line Audio Output (Jack & RCA)
Headphones Audio Output (mini-Jack)
Ethernet Network (RJ-45)
802.11n Wireless LAN (WIFI)
Bluetooth 4.1 & BLE
HDMI (future applications)
Software

Multi-engine
Polyphonic Complex Synthesis (ZynAddSubFX)
Wavetable Synthesis (FluidSynth & LinuxSampler)
Hammond B3 Emulation (setBfree)
DX7 Emulation (Dexed)
Effects & Filters
Reverb
Chorus
Flanger
Wah-Wah
Compressor
EQ

Specific hardware on GitHub, Raspberry Pi 2
https://github.com/zynthian/zynthian-hw/blob/master/README.md

Thanks for pointing this out.

Looks very interesting... any idea when it might be available?

Very cool! I'm checking this out.

The parts they are building it from seem to be readily available,

Raspberry Pi for Mainboard, Adafruit PiTFT, HiFiBerry DAC+, plus amp and encoders and midi parts. But yeah, obviously takes a lot of the setup and soldering and such out of the equation if you can get your hands on their zynthian box. At which point, it's exciting that they've got multiple engines and fx running on it already. I'm sort of eager to see if a mate and I can get some of our own stuff running on it.

The zynthian box looks interesting - albeit I wonder if, at present, it is a little underpowered. I will be monitoring it closely. I still have a V-Machine and a more powerful variant of the zynthian box could replace it.

Ya. Since they are basing it on Raspberry Pi, it might be dependant on how that platform advances processor wise.

Hi --

I've been experimenting with soft synths on the Raspberry Pi 2. I'd like to use the RPi as a stand-alone synth box, so I'm rooting for Zynthian. Looks interesting.

If you want to go the DIY route, I wrote a few articles about my experience -- kind of a tutorial:

Get started with Raspbian Jessie and Raspberry Pi 2
Get started: Linux ALSA and JACK
Raspberry Pi soft synthesizer: Get started
USB audio for Raspberry Pi
Qsynth and FluidSynth on Raspberry Pi: The basics

The RPi2 has enough compute power for light- to medium-weight synthesis. The TFT screen is a smart move. I'm using a Behringer UCA222 audio interface. With four USB ports, there isn't any real need to go to an integrated board like the HiFiBerry.

All the best -- pj

Thanks for the links to the tutorials.

Has anyone built this and can comment on quality of sound engines and hardware?

http://zynthian.org/

Synth Engines
ZynAddSubFX: Additive/Substractive/Pad, polyphonic multilayer, effects
FluidSynth/LinuxSampler: Wavetable synthesis
setBfree: Hammond B3 emulation
Dexed: DX7 emulation (FM synthesis)
ePiano: Rhodes emulation
NoizeMak3r: Fat grooves and more ...

All the software is standard Linux software, will run on Linux PCs, too.

Ya but the Rasberry Pi kits aren't expensive and as hardware you get a dedicated user interface and a compact box with a decent DAC and connectors. In other words, it doesn't feel like a Linux PC.