Shmøergh Hog – The making of a simple analog synth | Hacker News Reader

Shmøergh Hog – The making of a simple analog synth

peterzimon.com

209 pointsb6dybuyv24 comments

This is really well documented with lovely schematics, and the link in the github to the proper "korg style" toggle switches [1] on AliExpress is worth the read.

The code [2] is very nice as well, showing how clean a bare metal Pi Pico project can be.

[1] https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32958319752.html

[2] https://github.com/shmoergh/hog/blob/main/boards/midi2cv/src...

Thanks a lot for your kind words everyone! Zimo (author/builder)

Is there a forum where people can discuss using this synth?

So far the best place to discuss things is under the build guide:

https://www.shmoergh.com/hog-build-guide/

This is amazing and super inspiring. I love how such a professional looking enclosure is actually a repurposed Ikea flowerpot—-brilliant.

Does anyone know how one would print the black text on the flowerpot? I have an acrylic enclosure from a project but could never figure out how to get text printed on it.

Maybe using a cutter like the Cricut or similar - cut it in vinyl and stick it on?

Hey Mobeets, Zimo (author/builder) here.

The text on the flowerpot and the wooden box was “printed” with toner transfer method. It’s a super simple process: you print the text flipped with a laser printer and use toner transfer solution and rub the text on the surface.

I used this solution for it (hope it’s fine to share it): https://ideahobby.eu/product/10556/express-transfer-20ml-p32...

Here’s a video how it’s used: https://youtu.be/tsc7cHJ98pQ?si=cZ0b0W0ajJjQE1gf

Wowwww I had no idea this was a thing. Thank you for sharing, this is perfect

As a danish and german speaker, the name is hard to get used to, because it conflicts with all the lexical rules existent in nordic germanic languages. This name, lexically, does not make sense at all, also you won't find any word in nordic languages written like this. "shm" just does not exist and "øe" also is very very rare in northern germanic. On the other side in western germanic, "oe" is the "ö". So this gets even more weird. Haha. Nevermind! :-D I love such projects. Very well done! Looks beautiful. Sound is not mine, but that is a question of my bad taste.. ;-)

Haha :D Yeah, I know. A danish speaking linguist friend of mine told the exact same thing the other day with very similar reasoning as yours. This name stuck with me for a long time as an idea if I ever want to start a _fake_ nordic brand - and I think for _that_ it’s perfect :D

I'm only learning Danish.

I decided the start of the name is from the far north (Norrland) dialect of Swedish, since they pronounce the Swedish SJ sound as SH.

The letter Ø and especially clusters of pointless, not-pronounced consonants at the end of the word is very much Danish, so we can assume the second half is spoken like Danish øen, "the island" (two syllables, ø-en), and ignore the rgh :-)

Cool project, very nicely done.

And Ikea Bittergurka as enclosure is a great idea for my next project.

Cool project! I understand mass producing these doesn't much sense, but would a build kit that has just PCBs with SMD components in place and the rest of work left to user work? I know someone who did a similar project and it turned out that when ordering PCBs, single one is really expensive compared to even a tiny batch.

Yes, this is a valid option if we see high demand for it.

Surprised there are so many through hole parts. Why not SMT if going through jlcpcb?

Yes that’s a valid question and the reason is because I havent’t yet got to convert all of them to SMT.

Gorgeous cases! And I love the breakdown of the process. Super inspiring work!

What are the prerequisites for building one of these boards? Can I read the GitHub and start building? Or, do I need to do some reading about CircuitJS, and tools like that?

To be honest, this build is pretty advanced and I wouldn’t recommend as a first synth DIY project.

In short I assume anyone who wants to build this synth generally understands the concept of subtractive synthesis, basic electronics, can read schematics and PCBs (using KiCad) and has experience in soldering. I’ve written a build guide which has a “prerequisites” section as well as details on how to order PCBs and assembly steps: https://www.shmoergh.com/hog-build-guide/

The schematics might also be a good resource to dig deeer and understand the building blocks of an analog synth.

I just watched the video KiCad Introduction (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9b_6WLemmg). It's only five minutes and I feel like I'm now "PhD Level."

All joking aside, any suggestions on a fun starting project? I do understand subtractive synthesis (software side) and music production and your project looks so fun, but definitely out of my league. As a fan of yours, I'm interested in any suggestions you have on jumping in. But, I'll keep reading about HOG until then.

Thanks for the warning: "The author, host, and all people associated with these web pages disclaim any liability for damages should anyone be killed or injured while working on these projects..." I don't want to die.

Looks great and sounds filthy. Excellent post

"Lunatics like Ben Eater", ha ha.

great job and great writinng! one of the most beautify synths!

A Leggjob!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com