alt.hn

1/28/2026 at 1:56:56 PM

Minichord: A pocket-sized musical instrument

 https://github.com/BenjaminPoilve/minichord

by surprisetalk

2/3/2026 at 8:29:59 AM

Context: this seems to be an hommage to, or inspired by, the Omnichord. [0]

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnichord

by Hackbraten

2/3/2026 at 8:49:08 AM

I can confirm that it is :)

Though I never had one (they are rare in France), it became sort of a pop culture icon. For me it was through the work of Rebecca Sugar on Adventure Time. I always liked to play silly made up songs, so I made a silly instrument to go along with it!

If you want to listen to a true musician using it, I recommand Hijaq's work on YouTube[1]. He uses many other pocket instruments if that is an interest of yours!

[1]:https://www.youtube.com/@hijaqmusic/videos

by BeniBoy

2/3/2026 at 1:20:29 PM

Very interesting! It seems to be a great way to combine chords with scales within chords, something no traditional instrument can do. I see the key positions on the left is similar to a computer keyboard, perhaps it could be directly mapped onto a keyboard? That way it could be played even when without that hardware.

by tianqi

2/3/2026 at 9:08:38 AM

Wow, this seem great. I know pretty much nothing about making music, but I've wanted something that I can stim with that's nice and tactile, but also makes sound depending on how it's touched. I looked at Glo, The Polyphonic Whale, but never got one. I have an Otamatone, but don't like how I can't do more than one note at the same time (no chording).

This plus headphones seems like a fun time!

by ApertureAndroid

2/3/2026 at 9:16:13 AM

Meta: This is a very messy title, it should just be "The minichord: a pocket-sized musical instrument" or something like that. We have the github info in the auto-generated blurb right after the title, after all. Thanks.

by unwind

2/3/2026 at 8:56:33 AM

Super cool! I wanted to click on the device buttons on the landing page and expected to get video or sounds. Maybe include the youtube video there?

by tom2948329494

2/3/2026 at 9:43:22 AM

Beautiful project. I will definitely add that to my collection! Congrats

by dgellow