February 3, 2026
Chord chaos, tiny device drama
GitHub – BenjaminPoilve/minichord: A pocket-sized musical instrument
Tiny strummer triggers Omnichord nostalgia and button-click rage
TLDR: Minichord is a tiny instrument with open docs, build files, and firmware, plus pre-order teasers. Comments swing between Omnichord nostalgia, demands for clickable audio demos, and title nitpicks, highlighting a friendly, tactile gadget that could make music-making feel easy for everyone.
Meet the Minichord: a pocket-sized, strummable instrument with build files, firmware, and documentation that has commenters clutching their pearls and their headphones. The crowd instantly split into camps. One side swooned over the throwback vibes, calling it an homage to the classic Omnichord and flooding the thread with retro-love and “grandma’s living room jam” jokes. Another faction went full UX vigilante: “Why don’t the homepage buttons play sounds?” demanded a top comment, begging for embedded YouTube demos and instant audio gratification.
Then came the title police. A meta-sized squabble erupted when a commenter insisted the headline should be cleaned up, sparking rename memes and “who did this?” energy. Meanwhile, a quieter but powerful thread cheered the Minichord as a tactile, headphone-friendly stim device—“a fidget that makes chords”—drawing in folks who don’t consider themselves musical but want something that feels good to touch and play.
On the practical side, makers were thrilled: the repo ships circuit board files, a shopping list (BOM), 3D case models, and software under BSD for code and CC BY‑NC for hardware—translation: remix freely, but don’t sell. With a Hainbach review in the mix, user videos promised, and a pre-order teased in update #3, the vibe is clear: tiny instrument, big feelings. The only “disagreement”? Whether it’s tribute or trend-riding—and everyone’s strumming that debate like a chorus.
Key Points
- •The repository hosts Minichord’s source files and documentation, with six project updates and a newsletter for ongoing information.
- •Documentation is available on the Minichord website, including a user manual and assembly guide, built using mkdocs.
- •Hardware resources include PCB manufacturing files, BOM, 3D enclosure files, and keycap routing files under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license.
- •Firmware resources include Hex firmware, a full PlatformIO project, and the minicontrol software under a 3-clause BSD License.
- •Media materials include technical and review content, plus contact information at info@minichord.com.