Unearthed Circuits DIY Drone Machine synth with arcade control

There's little that excites us more than a DIY synth, but slapping an arcade-style joystick onto a fuzzy, glitchy, beeping analog monster practically pushes us over the edge.  Synth-master Unearthed Circuits has combined four oscillators with various levels of pitch adjustment and come up with Drone Machine; the joystick individually mutes or activates each one.

Pitch is either controlled by the cluster of retro knobs in the lower left-hand corner, or can be thrown over to the bank of photo-resistors up near the top.  The dangling arm is actually a strobe light that can be directed at those photo-resistors for some extra-glitchy triggering.

Finally there's an effects section, with overdrive, fuzz and ring-mod effects.  Again, there's the potential of linear control over them via knobs, but the metal handles at the front are in fact body contacts for less predictable results.  More Drone Machine images in the Flickr gallery here.

[via MAKE]