Gray Area Grand Theater: Breadboarding Modular Synthesizers Workshop

In this hands-on DIY Breadboarding Modular Synthesizers Workshop, you’ll learn how to design your own modular synthesizer from scratch. Using basic electronic oscillators, integrated circuits, and discrete components, you’ll explore the fundamental principles of sound synthesis. We’ll create and arrange melodic and rhythmic patterns, building musical sounds from the ground up.

Over the course of two days, we will focus on two circuit typologies: square wave oscillators for synthesizing pitched instruments and sine wave oscillators for emulating percussive sounds. After learning how to build these circuits out on breadboards, we’ll explore two ways of interacting with our circuits – one a button-based system for actuating sounds, and another an automated circuit for sequencing them.

By the end of the workshop, you will have built your own unique, playable instrument capable of generating synth melodies and sequencing drum patterns in real-time.