Description
Plinky is an 8 voice expressive polyphonic touch synthesizer that specializes in fragile, melancholic sounds, designed by mmalex. Think of it as an 8 stringed instrument, arranged in 8 vertical monophonic strips. You can play Plinky straight away with those 64 main pads. Plinky can be used either as a standalone desktop instrument or can be mounted inside a Eurorack case as a 24HP module.
The kit comes with the software already programmed and all the small SMD parts already presoldered. All other parts you need are included in the box, you just need to provide tools and the solder. Papernoise design made a special edition back panel illustration for Plinky that comes with every new kit. Papernoise designed the Mutable Instruments, Hexinverter Edition Noire, ChronoBlob & Rabid Elephant panels. Free sticker too!
Each of the 8 strings on Plinky has:
- 4 oscillators or sampler grains, detuned by the movements of your fingers
- A white noise generator
- Two ADSR envelopes
- A resonant 2-pole low-pass gate
- Distortion
Plinky also has global delay, reverb, high pass filter and saturation units along with a simple mixer, arpeggiator, sequencer and sampler. The row of 8 shift keys (blue LEDs) along the bottom are used in conjunction with the main pads to select parameters, presets, sequencer patterns, and samples. Plinky also supports 4 external CV modulation sources, each with their own LFO.
Plinky was designed and released in 2021, but was then forced out of production due to the global chip crisis. In cooperation with Plinky’s creator mmalex, in 2024 Thonk and Making Sound Machines are bringing back the new and improved Plinky v3 Kit.
Plinky v3 integrates a TRS MIDI input and output directly on-board, so it’s now possible to sequence polyphonic chords externally and expressively play a melodic line on top. This new revision also improves the DIY build experience, making Plinky an even more easy-to-assemble DIY build. The USB connections have been updated to USB-C and the v3 circuit also improves the noise level on the inputs.
Best of all, Plinky is now open-source, with improvements and contributions from the Plinky community and PCB contributions from Making Sound Machines, TiNRS, Okyeron and LPZW.
You can power Plinky by either connecting it to your Eurorack power (it requires a 5V connection) or USB (although it is best not to power through both at the same time). For connecting USB you can use either one of the connectors on the front or the back (but again, don’t use both at the same time!).
Plinky Rev3 – Build Guide | Play Guide | User Manual
Plinky Standalone Dimensions (without case): Width 12cm, Length 13cm, Height 2cm
Plinky Standalone Dimensions (with case & lid): Width 13.3cm, Length 13.8cm, Height 2.9cm
Optional – metal case & clear cover
Now you can upgrade your Plinky Desktop experience with a freshly designed rugged metal enclosure and hard plastic lid.
The case is black powder-coated and has cutouts on the front and rear for the audio and MIDI IO jacks. Each case also includes a PET-G hard plastic lid to protect your instrument from dust, liquids and accidental impacts.
The case and lid can be purchased on their own here: https://www.thonk.co.uk/shop/plinky-case
