HDD Synth

Making hard disk drives loud again!

Most retro PCs are retrofitted with a solid-state hard drive these days, due to the rarity, unreliability and inconveniences of using a traditional mechanical spinning drive.

However, that means when using a retro PC you miss out on the full nostalgic experience of hearing the HDD:

Spin up when you power the system on
Click and whir as your favourite games load
Spin down after powering off

The HDD Synth is an flexible module that recreates the sound of a mechanical hard drive for your retro computer

Features

Sample based recreation of mechanical hard disk drives operating sounds
- Spin up when PC is turned on
- Idle hum whilst standing by
- Access clicks and crackcles
- Spin down when PC is turned off
SD card to hold multiple HDD sample packs, to recreate the sound of different mechanical hard disk drives
Volume control to make it very loud or silent
Balance to alter the amount of idle to access sounds
HDD detection via HDD LED
Headless mode allows settings through JSON config file
Optional control headers for physical controls
OLED display but only if you want it
RGB LED customisable to output different statuses
USB C for power with optional aux power input