sammichFM was designed to be the “no excuses†MIDIbox FM synthesizer kit – i.e. for all those people who want a MIDIbox FM but consider building it with modules too time-consuming, too newbie-unfriendly and/or too hard to design and construct a control surface.

sammichFM therefore has the following design constraints/features, which support each other:

• looks a lot like sammichSID
  
• cheap (relative to fully modular MIDIbox FM with “pro-looking†control surface)
  
• small
  
• DIY newbie friendly
  
• minimal control surface
  
• single “walwartâ€/AC adapter supply, no bipolar PSU and mains power wiring!
  
• sandwich-style†stacked PCB design, no wires!
  
• laser-cut 3mm acrylic case by Ponoko, customization possible
  
• industry standard 2×20 character LCD, customization possible
  
• common control surface parts used, customization possible
  
• available as a complete kit, including PCBs, components, case, hardware and new OPL3 chipset!
  
  • One Core module and one OPL3 module, fully integrated on one PCB with power supply.
    
  • 4 simultaneous instruments of 6 voice polyphony each, plus drum kit. Each voice is a 4 operator waveform.
    
  • Each instrument can be routed to one of four audio outputs, via two stereo 1/4″ phono jacks.
    
  • Five “BankStick†slots, so you can store 5 banks of 128 patches, 32 “Ensembles†and 16 “Drumsetsâ€
    
  • Minimal control surface with up/down arrow buttons for fast menu scrolling.
    
  • 2×20 character LCD with support for low-power (25mA) or high-power (250mA) LED backlight.
    
  • Potential for future upgrade to 32-bit microcontroller via an undocumented “daughterboard†header.
    
    More details on this Wiki page, discussions in
    
    http://vimeo.com/20854289?pg=embed&sec=20854289
    
    sammichFM Assembly video made by Siempre La Luna (featuring backing track by TK!)