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Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Haxophone

I built this during Covid. When I released it, some of the parts went out of stock or skyrocketed in price, no longer making this an economic DIY project. Now that things are getting back to almost normal, I thought I'd share it here and request feedback. This is a very niche project for people who like the same things I do: saxophones, Rust, mechanical keyboards and the Raspberry Pi.

Haxophone is a DIY saxophone project built on Raspberry Pi, combining mechanical keyboard controls with Rust software. Designed for hobbyists interested in musical instruments, embedded systems, and programming, it… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Prices are shown for the 3 we have checked on their own sites, 2 of them free or with a free tier. Haxophone launched in 2022; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

  1. 1IB

    Originally started as a project to restore patterns from now defunct website 808.pixll.de just for myself, but eventually i decided to share it with others. I've seen this website mentioned a couple of times on HN:) Currently it only supports Roland TR-808, but there will be more.

    2025 · drumpatterns.onether.com · its alternatives →

  2. 2

    Hey HN! A few years ago, I left my cushy big tech job to make hardware. And made the device I always wanted - an automatic piano recorder! I usually play piano improvisationally, and manually hitting record never meshed well with that. But there are always moments I wish I recorded, and now they are! Hopefully it scratches a similar itch for some of you as well! A few of the tech details: * built on an esp32-s3 * custom injection molded enclosure * BLE comms, sd card storage, DS1302 RTC * android & ios apps with Flutter * Shadertoy vfx support for video sharing - Chip

    2024 · jamcorder.com · its alternatives →

  3. 3IU

    Hi Hacker News, This is definitely out of my comfort zone. I just wanted to show you guys because I'm super proud of it. It's a 100% faithful recreation based off of the schematics, patents, and ROMs that were found online. So please watch the video and tell me what you think https://youtu.be/auOlZXI1VxA The reason why I think this is relevant is because I've been a programmer for 25 years and AI scares the shit out of me. I'm not a programmer anymore. I'm something else now. I don't know what it is but it's multi-disciplinary, and it doesn't involve writing code myself--for…

    Jan 2026 · its alternatives →

  4. 4

    I’ve recently released my solo project Audiocube I wanted to make a 3D DAW, where spatial audio, physics, and virtual acoustics are all directly integrated into the engine. This makes it easy to create music in 3D, and experiment with new techniques which aren’t possible in traditional DAWs and plugins. I’d love to get any feedback on this software (Mac/Windows) to make it better. You can download it for free through the website. Thanks, Noah

    2025 · audiocube.app · its alternatives →

  5. 5
    I built a synthesizer based on 3D physicsfree tier, from $99/mo▲512

    I've been working on the Anukari 3D Physics Synthesizer for a little over two years now. It's one of the earliest virtual instruments to rely on the GPU for audio processing, which has been incredibly challenging and fun. In the end, predictably, the GUI for manipulating the 3D system actually ended up being a lot more work than the physics simulation. So far I am only selling it direct on my website, which seems to be working well. I hope to turn it into a sustainable business, and ideally I'd have enough revenue to hire folks to help with it. So far it's been 99% a solo project, with…

    2025 · anukari.com · its alternatives →

  6. 6
  7. 7

    Draw.Audio is a free online music maker. Draw notes on a grid and hear them play back instantly — a browser-based synthesizer, sequencer, and visual instrument.

    2024 · draw.audio · its alternatives →

  8. 8

    Hello all! I've been an avid fan of Pocket Operators by Teenage Engineering since I found out about them. I even own an EP-133 K.O. II today, which I love. A couple of months ago, Reddit user andiam03 shared a Google Sheet with some drum patterns [1]. I thought it was a very cool way to share and understand beats. During the weekend I coded a basic version of this app I am sharing today. I iterated over it in my free time, and yesterday I felt like I had a pretty good version to share with y'all. It's not meant to be a sequencer but rather a way to experiment with beats and basic sounds,…

    Jan 2026 · beats.lasagna.pizza · its alternatives →

  9. 9

    After two years of development, I'm super excited to release Beat Maker! This is my take on what I hope is the best free, web-based drum machine. My goal was to build something that was not only fun and easy to use for beginners but also powerful enough for serious producers. I did extensive research on existing drum machines, analyzed their UX, and tried to build something that adds something new. It's a nearly 100% client-side app, written in ClojureScript, and is a PWA so you can install it to your home screen for an app-like experience. Besides the standard grid editor, Beat Maker has…

    2025 · dopeloop.ai · its alternatives →

  10. 10

    This is an web audio experiment I've been wanting to do for a long time. Basically an ambient music composition, but all the sound elements are laid out in space, and that musical space can be explored freely. It's definitely inspired by in-world music that sometimes appears in games. I basically took that concept, keeping the music aspect, and dropping the entire "game" aspect. I also turned it into a more "traditional" non-interactive album, but since I started with code, why not program the whole thing? Had a blast making the entire album from code, the complete source for the album is…

    2024 · ambient.garden · its alternatives →

  11. 11

    A generative art/music machine

    2016 · robertvinluan.com · its alternatives →

  12. 12
    Pianolyze▲149

    Hey HN, I'm a pianist who's always been obsessed with understanding how great players think through harmony. What voicings are they using? How do they voice lead through changes? What's actually happening under their hands? Back in 2022, I built Harmonic Analyzer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNgSgvUmiOs) – a Mac app that used ML to transcribe polyphonic piano recordings. It got some traction, but I never quite finished it. Requiring users to download a Mac app felt like unnecessary friction, and I didn’t want to limit distribution to Mac users. I just shipped Pianolyze…

    Nov 2025 · pianolyze.com · its alternatives →

  13. 13

    Hello HN, not many will know what this tool is about, but it's launch day and I always dreamed of posting on HN. Let's start! This is a tool for people using eurorack gear. For synth people. What is cool about my tool is that I show the signal flow with a graph. Here's the official press text: After a decade of stagnation in this space we are excited to present patcher.xyz: the modern way to manage everything modular. It’s a tool for professionals, enthusiasts, and casual wigglers. Novadays artists must develop their own means of taking notes, often on paper, since there is no common format…

    2022 · patcher.xyz · its alternatives →

  14. 14IB

    Hey HN, I’m an ex-Google engineer trying to get back into music production. I needed a way to sequence my hardware synths using AI contexts without constantly switching windows, so I built this. It runs entirely in the browser using WebMIDI. No login required. It connects to your local MIDI devices (if you're on Chrome/Edge) and lets you generate patterns. Tech stack: [React / WebMIDI API / etc]. Link: www.simplychris.ai/droplets Code is a bit messy, but it works. Feedback welcome.

    Dec 2025 · simplychris.ai · its alternatives →

  15. 15

    10 years ago I began working on Muki, a web-based MIDI and chiptune player which I eventually announced here on HN[0]. It was a fun weekend project. Over the years I received numerous requests from people that wanted more: more music, more features, more playable formats, you name it. Eventually I began working on a complete rewrite of the app (this time for real), and, realizing that each year another chiptune or MIDI website went offline, I decided to start archiving them for preservation. Today, 10 years after the first release, I think it's finally time for the new, nicer version to hit…

    2024 · pixeltune.org · its alternatives →

  16. 16
    MIDIpad▲59

    You gamepad is a musical instrument

    Sep 2026 · midipad.stevemitchell.music · its alternatives →

  17. 17
    Musikcube▲107

    A fully functional terminal-based music player

    2017 · musikcube.com · its alternatives →

  18. 18

    Open-source audio synthesis, processing & analysis platform.

    2014 · audiokit.io · its alternatives →

  19. 19

    Contribute to Mylab6/PiTheremin development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2021 · github.com · its alternatives →

  20. 20MM
  21. 21

    This is part of my journey on pybind11. I wrote a tiny FM Synthesis library in C++ and a Python wrapper for that using pybind11. There is a command-line piano app in the examples directory if you want to play with it. Here is the link: https://github.com/charstorm/koelsynth/tree/main/examples/si... My next target is to attach this to some kind of physics simulation - like a bunch of balls moving around in a box with some internal walls. When the ball hits certain trigger points, it produces the sound.

    2023 · github.com · its alternatives →

  22. 22

    Ever since childhood I've wanted to play around with modular synthesis, so now I'm building an application to do just that!

    2023 · github.com · its alternatives →

  23. 23

    Xem đá gà trực tiếp Thomo Campuchia đầy đủ các bồ CPC1, CPC2, CPC3, CPC4 C5 hôm nay tại trang web Đá Gà C4 với BLV dí dỏm mang đến trải nghiệm tuyệt vời.

    2020 · theknob.co · its alternatives →

  24. 24

    A synth piano synth that generates all of its audio files dynamically using JavaScript and data URIs. Choose from a variety of sounds styles and play with the looper, visual waveforms, and more.

    2012 · mrcoles.com · its alternatives →

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →