Best Dev Boards for Music

Making something then using it to play beautiful music or find peculiar sounds is an enjoyable and rewarding experience. We have been creating music and sound for at least 40,000 years, and makers today have access to all sorts of fun tools that we can use in our quest for cool sounds.

I’ve seen countless awesome audio projects from makers in every corner of the world, from vintage analog bleeps and bloops to futuristic gestural controllers. There are many different ways to invent instruments and make music: here are some of my favorites in 2025.

OpenTheremin

The OpenTheremin is a modern version of the legendary theremin instrument invented by Lev Theremin back in 1920. The theremin is played with two antennas, one to control pitch and one for volume. The OpenTheremin kit features two heterodyne oscillators, a built-in Arduino compatible micro-controller, auto-calibration, a high-quality digital to analog audio converter, and two control voltage (CV) outputs for using the antennas to control other devices. The deluxe bundle comes with a stand, or you can get the kit and make your own enclosure like I did.

Adafruit NeoTrellis M4

Adafruit’s NeoTrellis M4 is a delightful device with satisfyingly squishy buttons and many uses, but I most often reach for mine when I’m making music. It comes with a tranche of excellent resources and materials, including several example projects with step-by-step instructions. The device comes fully-assembled so you don’t need to break out your soldering iron or find your collection of jumper cables to get started. 

Powered by the SAMD51, the NeoTrellis M4 has enough flash and SRAM to run CircuitPython, plus an 8MB flash chip for files and audio samples. You can also use Arduino with Adafruit’s fork of PJRC’s Teensy Audio Library (more on that below) for super speedy audio with a ton of useful functionality. NeoTrellis M4 also works with MakeCode’s block-based GUI, giving you several different options for programming your sounds.

Bela Music

If you’re looking to level up your embedded instrument making, I would highly recommend checking out the range of boards made by Bela music. Bela is a high-performance audio and sensor system. Their latest devices, Bela Gem Stereo and Multi, boast flexible I/O, ultra-low latency and excellent compatibility: make music using C++, Pure Data, SuperCollider, FAUST, Max RNBO, or Csound.

Capacitive touch is a staple technology of many instrument inventors, many of whom use the trusty MPR121 or one of many cap touch libraries. My favorite way to work with cap touch is Trill Craft, an I2C sensor board made by Bela with great resolution and 30 channels (chainable up to 270) of capacitive touch to play with. Trill Craft works with Bela, Arduino, Teensy, Raspberry Pi, or any other board that supports I2C.

Note: I work for Crowd Supply/Mouser Electronics, who partner with Bela to crowdfund and distribute their devices. I’ve been an enthusiastic Bela user for way longer than I’ve worked at CS, and this relationship has no bearing on the inclusion of Bela in this guide.

Teensy 4.0 + Audio Shield

The teeny tiny Teensy has long been a board beloved by embedded audio enthusiasts. It’s blisteringly fast, super low power, and has an excellent toolkit for building audio projects: Teensy Audio Library. This impressive library can handle polyphonic playback, MIDI, recording, synthesis, effects, and much more. Teensy is also a classic choice for capacitive touch projects. 

Most Teensy projects use Arduino with Teensyduino extensions, or C language, but there are many other user-contributed options, including Rust, Python, Max MSP and PureData. There are lots of example projects and learning materials for Teensy, as well as an active forum with frequent contributions from Teensy’s creator, Paul Stoffregen. The Teensy 4.0 and Audio Shield are now made and sold by the folks at Sparkfun. 

EMF Explorer Badge

The EMF Explorer Badge is an electromagnetic frequency sensing circuit that lets you listen to the world of hidden electromagnetic frequencies around you, designed by Portland-based audio hacker Darcy Neal. The EMF Explorer Badge is a beginner-friendly soldering kit with a beautiful PCB and a lanyard so you can illuminate yourself at night, ready to sniff out hidden EMF signals with the use of headphones or external speaker. 

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This article appeared in Make: Volume. 95.