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This is very cool. I'm very interested in using ESP32 for MIDI/Audio/Synth projects, I have one of my own on the go: https://doug.lon.dev/fourays ;)

I hope to get confident in doing PCB layouts in KiCAD and manufacturing my own synth modules on a budget. I'm currently a bit stuck on how to get the front panels designed and manufactured, and coupling that with the correct "UI" hardware (pots, buttons, sockets) in order to make the thing assemble correctly.

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Lots of folks are doing front panels in PCB these days. They're precision and sturdy and you already have the workflow set up.

That's good advice; I had thought of doing this, and it requires a little bit of project refactoring, but you are correct that I do seem to already have the tools. Adding a few more unpopulated PCBs to the order would be pretty cheap as well, I guess around $1 per panel.

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