I have bought recently a bunch of ICs from 8080/8086 computers (mostly peripherals like PIC, I/O, Timers, memory) for next to nothing and i am trying to build a "retro" synth. It is way more fun and challenging than arduino or esp32, and not really complicated! A lot of instruments of the (Roland Juno, Oberheim Matrix 6, Akai AX-80) are using these chips too, so when in doubt i can take a peek at the schematics and move on with construction.

IMHO this can be used more generally - look at pet-projects that people are making in their free time. There is no such thing (in most cases) as deadline or "finish", because there is always something that can be added, improved or taken care in any way. Keeping all ideas in a notebook allows you to review them with other contributors, and even when project would be abandoned, this would allow to refresh memory when someone decides to come back later.

In this case however, having some quality time with son is the most important thing, and putting a deadline would affect the fun for the worst.

i can see repeated repositories too.

I bought one recently, and it sounds awesome, despite the fact that there are still some minor issues even after firmware update.

What issues do you have with it?

I do really like that they're able to improve on the product with firmware updates. One of the benefits of software-controlled oscillators.

I'd love it if they'd open it up with an SDK like Korg's Logue series.

There are the not really serious issues that still exists after firmware update: - When you quickly tap the pitch strip at the right edge few times, the screen turns off for a while (but it comes back up at next user input) - When connected via USB to my PC, and when arpeggiator with UP mode is enabled, then a first touch on the keyboard on any note will cause a Midi Start message to be sent to a DAW (and thus starting a playback) - Pressing octave up/down, shift and arp/sequencer buttons will sometimes result with random note being played.

I like the fact that Arturia managed to squeeze new synthesis types and find a space for more presets in V5 update. I have my synth connected to NTS-1 which acts as a FX processor and i really recommend that setup as it sounds much better.