DIY KITS

Output Mixer 2 Learning Kit

EDU DIY Output Mixer 2 (mixer for our upcoming EDU DIY Drum system) allows you to build and understand a 4-channel output mixer from scratch. On a breadboard, you’ll set up an inverting summing amp, add a send/return loop, diode distortion, and a headphone driver.

EDU Labor Assembled

Start designing circuits the moment you open the box. Labor Assembled includes a ready-to-use mki x es.edu Labor unit with Labor Scope pre-installed – giving you a three-channel oscilloscope, built-in dual power supply, interfacing section, and essential analog building blocks in one self-contained workstation. No soldering required. Developed in collaboration with Dr. Shalom D. Ruben (University of Colorado), Labor is both an educational tool and a powerful prototyping environment. Build your own filters, oscillators, envelopes, sequencers – or follow along with our series of circuit-design learning kits to learn the fundamentals.

EDU DIY Drum Sequencer

Most drum sequencers are complex machines – packed with buttons and LEDs, all driven by a microcontroller. For the mki x es.edu DIY Drum Sequencer kit, we decided to take the opposite approach: a hands-on rhythm engine with a minimalist interface, built from just a handful of logic chips. Each of the sequencer’s four channels is programmed in real time using a single button. Patterns loop automatically, can be shortened on the fly, and support half-time playback for slower, evolving grooves. Accents are handled using synced LFOs, while a simple resistor-DAC turns patterns into stepped control voltages – perfect for modulating pitch, decay, or other parameters. Whether you’re looking to learn about sequencer design, sharpen your soldering skills, or just want a drum sequencer that plays like an instrument, this DIY kit packs surprising depth into a refreshingly simple interface.

Elektor Formant System DIY Kit

Since Erica Synths originated as a company that originally developed DIY kits for Eurorack modular synthesizers, we want to keep the spirit of DIY synths alive and besides our mki x es.EDU DIY series, we went full in and set out to develop a contemporary, DIY-friendly and extended version of the Elektor Formant synthesizer, originally published as a DIY kit in Elektor Magazine during the late 70s. In collaboration with Harald Antes of haraldswerk.de we developed a modular system based on the original Elektor Formant designs and added several modules to take its functionality to the next level. We kept the unique internal wiring of the modules so the system can also be played without patching, exactly as described in the original Elektor Formant manuals.

Pikocore XL

The Pikocore is a lo-fi music mangler based on the Raspberry Pi, developed by Zack Scholl.

EDU DIY FM Drum

Introducing an FM Drum circuit that fuses analog punch with metallic tones of FM synthesis. This DIY kit offers a wide range of sounds for your patches, from kicks to toms, metallic clangs and more – a great addition of versatile, rhythmic elements to your system!

EDU DIY Labor PSU Connector

PSU Connector for easily connecting your Eurorack modules to the Labor workspace!

EDU DIY Labor Scope

This DIY.EDU Labor add-on, featuring the oscilloscope, the voltmeter, the spectrometer and the tuner, turns the Labor into self-contained electronics development and experimentation station.

EDU DIY BBD

Before digital advancements simplified sound processing, engineers tackled delays using bulky tape echo machines or natural echoes from reflective surfaces. In the late 1960s, engineers Sangster and Teer innovated with the bucket brigade delay (BBD), a system that splits audio into samples passed through a transistor-capacitor chain. This method mimics how sound travels, delaying the output signal relative to the input. Over the course of building this module, we will reverse engineer the architecture of a classic bucket brigade delay, recreate a bare bones version on the breadboard – and then use a proper BBD chip to implement a simple audio delay effect.

EDU DIY Labor

Get started in circuit design with MKI x ES Labor. Developed in collaboration with Dr. Shalom D. Ruben, teaching professor of engineering at the University of Colorado, Labor is a fully-featured circuit design playground and a powerful electronics learning tool – all in one. Created as a universal platform for electronics education, Labor enables users to explore a wide range of topics, from fundamental concepts to advanced design techniques. Whether you're a beginner learning the basics or an experienced engineer refining your skills, Labor offers a versatile platform for experimentation and discovery. Build your own filters, oscillators, envelopes, sequencers – or anything else you can imagine. Or start with the fundamentals by following along with our series of educational DIY kits.

EDU DIY Snare Drum

No drum machine is really complete without a punchy, snappy Snare Drum. Together with the Kick, it creates the rhythmic backbone for most grooves. So for our percussion-focused second season of educational DIY kits, we knew we had to come up with a Snare circuit that would complement the Kick and Hi-Hat we’ve already released. After a lot of fine tuning, here’s what we came up with: introducing mki x es.edu DIY Snare Drum.

EDU DIY Hi-Hat

Synthesized, analog Hi-Hats are pretty fascinating. That’s because emulating any kind of cymbal using an analog circuit is tough since the sound a real cymbal produces is not quite pure noise, but also not really harmonic. Still, a couple of classic drum machines like the Roland TR-606 and TR-808 took their best shot at it, with quite strange-sounding results that have since become iconic in electronic music. Inspired by this, we decided to follow suit and continue our percussion-focused second season of educational DIY kits with the mki x es.edu DIY Hi-Hats.