Vibe coding is turning the music gear world upside down

<figure> <img alt="The Elektron Model:Cycles and Model:Samples grooveboxes on a shelf in front of books, a cassette player, and other random nonseense." data-caption="They’re far more powerful and fun than their bargain price suggests. | Photo: Terrence O’Brien / The Verge" data-portal-copyright="Photo: Terrence O’Brien / The Verge" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/08/elektron-model-cycles-model-samples-8.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption> They’re far more powerful and fun than their bargain price suggests. | Photo: Terrence O’Brien / The Verge </figcaption> </figure> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">If you spend any time on <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/synthesizers/s/qfWhHlVu8R">r/synthesizers</a> or watch a lot of synth videos on YouTube, you've probably noticed the explosion of custom firmware for <a href="https://github.com/Lapin/awesome-music-gear-firmware">hardware synthesizers, samplers, and grooveboxes</a>. What unites almost all of them is that they were made possible by increasingly sophisticated vibe coding tools.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">These sorts of custom firmware were exceedingly rare in the pre-LLM days, and required both deep expertise and an incredible investment of time. It could take weeks or months to add a simple feature like velocity sensitivity to a <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/volcas/comments/dj7f7v/volca_fm_firmware_108_unofficial_velocity_on_note/">Korg Volca</a>. Now, hobbyist hackers are able to turn Temu synths into full-fledged grooveboxes in a matter of days …</p> <p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/1013493/vibe-coding-ai-music-gear-hacking-custom-firmware">Read the full story at The Verge.</a></p>