12 things to know about Workshop Computer
8 HP 25 mm deep 175 mA Designed 2026
Available from Thonk Videos Request Design Files Request Schematic
- Workshop Computer is a simple but capable music computer, inspired by the early music studios like EMS in London and Bell Labs where computers were used to control analog oscillators and filters, compose algorithmic music and generate waveforms.
- Because it's no longer 1968, Workshop Computer is powerful enough to do audio effects, sequencing and can connect with other devices over USB.
- Workshop Computer loads programs stored on tiny custom-made program cards slightly larger than Micro SD cards. It's like a game cartridge for your Eurorack Modular Synth, or the old floppy disk you used to boot up an early PC.
- The Computer comes with seven program cards:
- Reverb+ is a great-sounding old-school stereo reverb with some useful utilities including sequencing and MIDI.
- Simple MIDI turns the Computer into a simple USB midi interface to send and receive MIDI.
- Turing Machine is a random looping sequencer with two channels and multiple scales.
- It also comes with four blank program cards which you can write with downloaded files.
- Learn more about these cards and the whole Workshop Computer system here.
- There are already dozens of program cards available to download, developed by a vibrant community of developers. They range from useful utilities to wild experiments. You can find program cards to download here. You can upgrade to
- Workshop Computer was originally part of the Music Thing Workshop System, which includes a powerful analog toolkit with the Computer. The standalone Eurorack version is electronically identical and 100% compatible with the Workshop System version.
- This video shows how to load your own program cards.
- Workshop Computer has three pairs of inputs and outputs: for Audio/CV, for precision control voltages for pitch, and for pulses.
- Workshop Computer is a fairly straightforward DIY build. All the tiny surface-mount electronic components are pre-soldered, you only need to attach pots, switches, sockets and LEDs. If you have any experience this should be very straightforward. If it's the first thing you've ever soldered it might be worth practicing on something simpler (like a Mikrophonie or Mini Drive kit) beforehand.
- To understand what's involved building a Workshop Computer, this 45 minute real-time video shows the whole process, explained by me.
- Within the development community, people have created program cards using use C++, Arduino, Rust, Python and Lua. Find out more at the developer site and in the Workshop System Discord.