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Cheerful Electronic

848 orders since Jun 02, 2017

Helmond, NB, Netherlands

Ships from Netherlands.

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Overall Rating:

Review Breakdown

5
48 4
21 3
0 2
2 1
0

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Average Ratings

Product: (4.94)

Documentation: (4.65)

Shipping: (4.76)

Communication: (4.79)

All Reviews

Ke’Alii | April 25, 2025

Great Job

For OPL Studio

There is a ton of creativity stored in this compact device from the graphics to the user interface to the music itself. I'm even more impressed by how practical the OPL Studio is in my music production workflow. Playing it reminds me of Adventure Time's BMO or the Nintendo DS, yet it has so much more depth and musical technicality that it shapes its own identity in the best way. I feel very fortunate to have stumbled across Cheerful Electronics, and I am keeping an eye out for whatever is next.

Jason | Jan. 4, 2025

Amazing

For OPL Studio

Really great! Cooler than anything else out there. It does crash a fair amount, but thankfully saves to the sd card constantly so not a big deal. Hope there's a discord or something for further dev plans. With 2 opl3's there is a lot of potential. 36 operators each in multiple play routines. That's a potential of 32 tracks of 2-op synthesis or 16 4-op. And with drumkit play routines it could be 15 4ops with 2 drum kit tracks. Surprised the drum kit mode was not utilized. Also, could use frequency curves for drums, maybe some lfo routines. Did drop a few notes when I had external cv sync from my volca. Also, the clock sync was very weird. Not really 1:1. Small bugs, cool device. Also, if there's any way to expand instument extension compatibility that would be awesome. I don't think .sbi has 4-op stuff. Very cool that it sticks to a GM bank that you can swap stuff. Could use maybe some bank switching for user patches on top of GM instead of having to swap out GM instruments.
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Response from Cheerful Electronic | Jan. 5, 2025
Thanks for your feedback! Stability issues is something that has top priority for me so I need to look into why it's carshing so much for you. Right now there is no Discord or anything. I try to post on a regular basis to the Hackaday project page https://hackaday.io/project/177668-opl-studio-opl2-opl3-midi-synthesizer but something to look in to in order to better gather and communicate about upcoming features and requests

Nicola | Dec. 12, 2024

Great quality thermometer, fast shipping

For Indoor & Outdoor Thermometer Kit

Great quality kit, fast shipping, great seller.
Works very well, i only wish there was a suitable case for it to be protected a bit better.

Joao | July 27, 2024

Wow, just wow!

For OPL Studio

This is an unbelievable piece of love! First of all, if you're looking for a dual-OPL3 enabled desktop synth then you really get what you're after. I went for the ready-made and assembled kit. The construction is very pleasing to the eye and of an excellent quality. The resistive LCD screen is bright enough and with good viewing angles. The assembled kit comes with a plastic stylus that can be stored on the case. The software in its current version (2.1.0 at the time of writing) is very powerful with its tools. You can pretty much achieve anything musically that you may be looking for, from sequencing drums or melodies, to assembling compositions all right there on the device. Everything can be saved on a uSD card formatted to FAT32. It will also play a number of common OPL related tunes that may be stored on the card. Please consider adding support for editing and playing D00 format files. All in all, just what I was looking for, at a relatively affordable price. Well done Maarten.
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Response from Cheerful Electronic | July 31, 2024
Thanks for your review, I'm glad to hear you happy with OPL Studio! Support for *.D00 and other tracker formats is something I'm definitely considering, though it might require installing an additional RAM chip on the bottom of the Teensy to make it all fit in memory.

Paul | July 13, 2024

A dream come true!

For OPL Studio

This is just what I have been looking for, OPL in a box, It doesn't get any better than this!
Maarten has gone above and beyond with the OPL Studio and I'm looking forward to further updates and projects.

David | May 8, 2024

Great kit and super nice seller

For OPL Studio (DIY Kit)

Was looking for a cheap and flexible fm synth more than a nostalgic retro gaming sound chip when I stumbled upon but have been absolutely loving the sound of this so far. It's got a lot of digital noise from the lofi fm chip which sounds really great. Especially for midrange, woody sounds as well as bright bells and whistles. This thing nails percussive sounds and organs too.

Omg and the drums sounds are super soft and plucky just as I like.

This is all talking bout the chip though. The touchscreen and software on this are pretty straight forward and interesting with cool design. The OS is being updated (next version is in the works) and will bring CC control over many parameters. I am mostly using the midi mixer and look forward to more CC control. The synth edit menu is pretty nice as well though and I got everything instantly.

The build was fine. I messed up a bit and got really really nice support by Maarten over the course of a few weeks while I trial and errors my way out. He has been absolutely helpful and kind to offer so much answers to me!

Very happy with my purchase so far:)

Brian | Feb. 27, 2023

What a joy!

For OPL3 Duo!

The OPL3 Duo works exactly as advertised and the examples are very easy to get working. The Arduino library seamlessly gives access to all voices so you don’t have to track and manage which chip is playing.

Marten | Feb. 16, 2023

Excellent OPL midi studio

For OPL Studio (DIY Kit)

I received the assembled kit in just a few days after ordering it and communication with the seller was very cordial.

A while ago, I bought the OPL3 midi board from the same seller - it was a nice little board but difficult to work with and I didn't have a fitting enclosure. With this OPL Studio I do have a nice enclosure for it and a MIDI controller unit that gives a ton of options. The little screen is workable (with the provided plastic pen) and everything is very nicely made - with a sturdy but functional build quality.

There is a 44-page manual available which goes over all the main options. I look forward to experimenting with this device!

Jonathan | May 12, 2022

Awesome kit!

For Indoor & Outdoor Thermometer Kit

A blast to put together, clear and concise instructions and fun to see the animations! There's a very slight flicker on the two smaller displays (min-max), but it's not distracting enough to be a bother. The animations are amazing - I find myself just watching and waiting for the next one to happen. Everything about this kit is well thought out and I couldn't be happier with it!!

Ross | Oct. 10, 2021

Fantastic little board

For OPL2 Audio Board

The board is easy to solder. It's well documented and designed. Lot's of potential uses, definitely recommended.

Ryan | Aug. 2, 2021

nice layout and sounds great!

For OPL2 Audio Board

I bought this board for my Opera Rotas drum machine kit, great clear instructions and well layed out board.
works great and sounds awesome!
Shipping was slow but there is a warning on the page due to covid restrictions.
Thank you!

Vsevolod | July 27, 2021

Awesome board!

For OPL3 Duo!

My plan is to make a diy version of Akemie's Castle, an FM synthesizer using YMF262 chips. While researching the chips, I discovered this product, and ordered it. It came within 1-2 weeks to the US, and I am amazed it survived international shipping. All the examples work perfectly out of the box! Together with the awesome library of examples from DhrBaksteen's Github page, I think my project will be very feasible. Great product and great value, brought to the Arduino ecosystem!

Rachel | July 14, 2021

Love it!

For OPL2 Audio Board

This little board has been so much fun. Great library and sample code made it easy to get up and running.

Cyril | July 12, 2021

Perfect, thx.

For OPL2 Audio Board

Easy to assemble, well documented, this is a good product, good quality, it works very well, i recommend it

Robert | April 1, 2021

Super nice kit

For OPL2 Audio Board

OPL2 was the first computer generated music I made when I was younger. So nice to have this as a module now. Works perfect.

Jason | Feb. 27, 2021

Works Great!

For OPL3 Duo!

It works as advertised and the documentation is really well put together. Integration was easy and the sound is great!

Shipping time was less than 3 weeks from order to arrival.

Jason | Feb. 27, 2021

Works Great!

For OPL2 Audio Board

I was a little disappointed the YM3812 was sanded and repainted; most are nowadays but I had hopes. The device and documentation are spot on. I have no complaints and it fits my needs perfectly! Didn't have a need to communicate with seller since documentation was well put together. I'm happy with the purchase!

Shipping was less than 3 weeks from order to arrival.

Alex | Jan. 26, 2021

It's great!

For OPL3 Duo!

Works as advertised, good library + demos on github. Seller is responsive to pull requests + issues on github as well.

Tim | Jan. 22, 2021

double the fun!

For OPL3 Duo!

I admittedly haven't really had too much of a chance to play with this board beyond example sketches to just verify it works, but side-by-siding the demo song against the opl2 audio board, i imagine it must be what it felt like to upgrade a sound blaster 2.0 to an awe32 or adlib gold.

Tim | Jan. 22, 2021

impossibly delightful

For OPL2 Audio Board

This brought me right back to my sound blaster 2.0, precisely as i had hoped. instant nostalgia. very simple to get up and running on an arduino. shipping was unexpectedly fast, precisely 20 days from order to delivery in USA. can't truly rate communication because i've had none with the genius who creates these, but given the quality of everything else i can't imagine it'd be less than stellar, so i extrapolated based on the github repo readme and issue tracker.

Minsung | Jan. 14, 2021

Easy, works perfectly!

For OPL3 Duo!

It's a great product.
I want to thank the creators.
Excellent sound quality, easy assembly, and functionality.

Jacob | Sept. 23, 2020

Great board

For OPL2 Audio Board

Beautiful and easy to assemble all-through-hole PCB. Great example code available through the Arduino app and on GitHub. It’s especially nice that a second set of chips is optionally available.

Vaclav | Sept. 9, 2020

Easy to build, works perfectly!

For OPL2 Audio Board

Great little kit, comes with nicely done documentation. Easy to build, since all components are THT. The kit I built worked out of the box, the examples and library listed at GitHub page worked with my Arduino Nano Every without problems...
In less than two hours since opening the package with the parts I've been playing my favorite VGM tunes from SD card, that's a success I think! (Again, via an example provided by the library.) Thank you!

Erik | Aug. 31, 2020

This is a pretty cool project and was fun to build

For OPL2 Audio Board

It's a pretty straight forward layout and worked with my Arduino IDE with the Arduino UNO board. The only critique would be to add a second set of power (5V and ground) pins along with a second Data and Shift pins (MOSI and SCK respectively) for hooking up a microSD card breakout board for the UNO, but even without it, it was still easy to hook that up as well. Loving the old Ultima 6 tunes!

Romain | Aug. 17, 2020

Simply perfect !!!

For OPL2 Audio Board

Thanks for the fast shipping !! Perfect product for synth or drum machine... very efficient !! Easy built !

Philip | Aug. 13, 2020

Fantastic!

For OPL2 Audio Board

Shipped fast, extremely well-documented, easy to assemble, and worked immediately. Very cool gadget!

Greg | Aug. 12, 2020

Awesome board, easy to assemble. Great documentation.

For OPL2 Audio Board

Very well designed and easy to assemble board. Worked first go. Special thanks for using IC sockets, this made it less stressful for a kid to assemble.

Documentation, Libraries and examples are first rate and extremely helpful.

Many thanks for designing and making this kit available.

Considering the current shipping conditions, it arrived from NL -> AUS quite quickly.

Justin | Aug. 5, 2020

Exactly as advertised, and got here quicker than I expected!

For OPL2 Audio Board

Everything in the box that I ordered and a really nice PCB with great instructions. I am excited to mount this on another project I'm working on that will hopefully arrive soon. Also shipping was a bit quicker than I expected given everything going on.

Seyed Poorya | May 26, 2020

great product; extremely easy to build

For OPL2 Audio Board

There is a reason this board has became reference for enthusiasts. assembly guide; parts were perfect. the best part is software library and endless possibilities that come with it.

Marc | April 13, 2020

Amazing product!

For OPL2 Audio Board

It's quite amazing to hear some of that old game music playing with such clarity through modern speakers. Wish I had, had this setup back in the day. Great product and great communication from a seller that clearly cares about the product they have produced. Now to make a fun project with the board. Thanks

Boyko | April 3, 2020

Recommended

For OPL2 Audio Board

Excellent product! The documentation is quite clear, easy to assemble, easy to test with the example, fast shipping!

Thomas | March 15, 2020

Very useful board

For OPL2 Audio Board

Board is easy to build. The example software is a good guide to devolopements of your own. Really nice!

Snorre | March 3, 2020

Great board!

For OPL2 Audio Board

This was a great evening project. Everything was included, the instructions were concise, the code samples readable and everything worked on the first try,

Anthony | Feb. 15, 2020

Love it

For OPL2 Audio Board

Arrived very fast, I'm very thankful for this fully assembled kit, saved me so much time. Assembled easy, but the pinout instructions on the printed info (included with the kit) for the Teensy++ 2.0 was A0-> C6 and I got no sound, whereas this page (https://github.com/DhrBaksteen/ArduinoOPL2/wiki/Connecting) has the A0 connecting to E1 and Voila I had Sound !!! I'm aware these settings can be changed in software but this is for people ( like me ) who aren't very familiar with Teensy programming. I had no luck with the OSX version of the Opl3 bank Editor program, but I tried it on a PC running XP. I needed to install the Teensy Usb driver found here: https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/serial_install.exe. got the OPl3 bank editor running, it recognizes my new Com port, I load Instruments.. and every instrument had a slight distortion ( a fizzy/hissing sound) most obvious with quieter instruments. I tried adjusting the volume pot on the board but it's present at any volume.

UPDATE:
Maarten contacted me with info on how to test the LM386 amplifier chip which appears to be damaged making that noise. Now I can hear a beautiful clean signal produced by that fantastic YM3812, I'm so happy now. Thank you Mr. Janssen you are a genius.
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Response from Cheerful Electronic | Feb. 16, 2020
Hi, can you please contact me directly to see how we can troubleshoot the issue you're having with the hissing?
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