All you need to make music for just $163.
The company behind innovative modular music system Patchblocks has launched a Kickstarter campaign for its latest product, a collection of affordable gear called Minijam Studio.
Including a pocket-sized drum machine, synthesizer, analog filter, mixer and speaker, Minijam Studio gives you everything you need to make music on hardware for just £130 ($163).
The compact devices bear more than a passing resemblance to Korg’s popular Volca series of synths, though the drum machine and synth are digital rather than analog, which helps to keep the price down.
They also take inspiration from Patchblocks, a modular system of easy-to-connect pieces that allow anyone to build their own synthesizer for a relatively low price.
In a press release, developer Mindflood says that Minijam Studio is an attempt to boil down a hardware studio to a series of compact and affordable products. This comes at the expense of some pro features, “but not compromising the enjoyment of noodling and jamming with such machines.”
The tek.drum (drum machine) and tek.wave (wavetable synth) have some really impressive features for such a low cost, including rechargeable battery with 12-hour life, sequencers and pattern memory.
Mindflood hasn’t included MIDI connections on the devices, but their sync inputs and outputs allow the devices to communicate with each other and synths that use the same technology, like Korg’s Volcas and Teenage Engineering’s Pocket Operators.
If you don’t want to purchase the whole set of gear, Mindflood is offering each product individually. The tek.drum, tek.waves and tek.hub mixer cost £45 ($56) each, with the tek.filter at £40 ($50).
Mindflood only launched the Kickstarter campaign yesterday (April 2), but it’s already made £23,000 of the £50,000 it needs to put the Minijam Studio into production. If successful, it should ship in September 2017.
Read next: Buying your first synth: What to consider and where to get the best deals
