WVR: tiny open source sample player platform for audio projects

30 Dec 2020 by Robin Vincent |

5,0 / 5,0 | Approximate reading time: 2 Minutes

WVR · Source: WVR

Previous Next

WVR is a ready-made wav player board for building custom electronic instruments and experimental machines. It features a dual-core 240MHz processor, 16MB of RAM, 8GB of storage, WiFi and Bluetooth, USB MIDI and HiFi audio. It’s ready to go out-of-the-box.

WVR

So what could you use it for? It could be a sample player triggered using all sorts of input possibilities. You could use it in art installations, to generate sound effects in monsters and robots, build it into a speaker as a music player or use it as a musical instrument. It’s a platform and a little board that’s packed and ready to perform without needed much in the way of soldering or coding.

WVR Board · Source: WVR

It’s perfect for makers who want to integrate sound into their projects whatever they are trying to make.

As a sample player you can upload samples over Wi-Fi, then control the pitch and volume, whether they latch, one-shot or loop, apply sensitivity curves and velocity responses. You can map samples to velocity for building multi-sampled instruments with up to 18 stereo samples playing at one time. It can hold over 12 hours of audio at 16bit and 44.1kHz. It has a MIDI input plus a bunch of GPIO pins that can operate as 8 analog inputs and 4 capacitive touch inputs. Firmware can be written in Arduino and ported over via the Wi-Fi.

It’s a pretty capable little board.

The Kickstarter is trying to raise £5,778 to get it off the ground and a single board will cost you CA$30 or CA$45 with the programmable USB Host backpack. They offer a makers board which has audio connectors all ready to go and a development board which adds in MIDI, knobs and switches for deeper applications.

WVR Dev Board · Source: WVR

WVR has a lot of potential for being built into a pedal, small enclosure or Eurorack module. It’s a great platform for getting your ideas into a workable instrument.