Pisound reviews

An essential Hat to get a pro result. Really amazed by this small and so efficient thing ! So efficient that i bouht a second Pisound and a Midihub that perfectly works too.

My only pb (but maybe it’s only my lack of knowledge) is the very fast increasing level on the audio input : only a few millimeters up on the gain knob and my guitars are too loud and light the red led.

The second pb is that Modep midi learning only react to my CC midi messages (great for volume and effects pedals) and not the static ones (Program changes, notes on-off, …) so that it is impossible for me to change patches and more important to activate a looper.

I use my Pisound MidiHub software to check if messages goes in and out and it sees them racting. So this is probably Modep that has a problem.

Giedrius, does any of your users gets the same strange limitation ?

Thank you

Secret Saucey Sonic Sorcery.

I use it for guitar effects and to create custom effects patches aka experimental signal manipulating using Pure Data (which comes packaged with PatchOS). Avoided having to buy a Stomp or one of those Zoom CDR pedals after discovering this product! I found some inexpensive, used MIDI controllers online to compliment it. No latency issues so far, even with a modest-sized virtual pedalboard, and it’s been rock-solid reliable. Also, you can use a stereo Y-splitter to split effects chains into front of a amp and then into effects loop of your amp, so it can integrate well with your physical rig if not doing straight-up modeling.

Works perfectly, fast delivery. Great possibilities with this. The case is also nice!

Really great device and exactly what I needed, with stereo input/output as well as midi support.
Keep it up!

I, too, find Pisound works very well, but I will not add any more positive reviews regarding Pisound or Patchbox; you can read enough on this page. I want to make a very positive judgment about the support that Blokas offers, I am talking about Giedrius: a patient and competent person who makes it possible for even inexperienced users to be able to use Pisound at its best. Thank you !

pisound is the best 2×2 dedicated RPi soundcard on market. If you are building your own portable stereo musical instrument or (guitar) audio multi effect processor, Pisound is the most reasonable option.

I am using the Pisound with Rpi 5 and Modep. I have never used such a versatile and high quality ‘pedlaboard’. It is really amazing. Great sound, easy to use and also controllable through midi. I am using a Behringer FCB1010 with a Uno chip. It works great after some tweaking and understanding how things work with switching pedalboards over midi (Web UI can not be running or been running). With amp modelling it sounds really good for my use case. I can create any ‘sound’ I need.

So far it’s working well enough, but the app is not working.

Purchased Pisound end of 2023, especially due to the combination of standard midi in/out and 2-channel audio in/out.
My goal was to have a very portable Hammond B3 clone module by using setBfree on Raspberry Pi headless.
With Pisound it has the right audio quality to compete with commercial clonewheels.
As a newcomer on linux it took me a while to get around with the system. But now it works perfectly. The Modep pedalboard concept, which can also be used with setBfree, is awesome. I can control setBfree with my smartphone and/or with my midi controllers.

Amazing device that revolutionized my audio setup! I’m using it headless with SuperCollider, some MIDI controllers and Open Stage Control server, and I must say I am truly blessed. Just wish there was a 64bit Patchbox OS version (with RT kernel) with full support (and a case) for the Raspberry Pi5 (but I guess this is all coming soon), and that would be the most awesome device in the universe!

Awesome device and team behind it!

Very impressed by the quick response to my questions by BLOKAS customer support via the Forum. I see that people are beginning to explore running with RPi5. Will keep following to see when that makes it out of beta for us newbies.

Very practical to have a setup running SuperCollider patches as installations or for performances with good audio quality 🙂

Using it as standalone with Pianoteq, it is a pleasure with it

I’ve been using Pure Data and SuperCollider in my music projects and am migrating to a headless setup. The documentation on the website is complete and the OS comes loaded with examples. The power to auto-launch your patches from such a small piece of equipment is incredibely satisfying. Sound quality is great!

My first attempt to go headless with Raspberry Pi for Music. First of all the Button is a genius concept to make things easy. Furthermore it comes with excellent sound quality. I also got me the case which makes things super smooth. An additional bonus is that my CME Widi bluetooth adapters are working with Pisound. Now I’m experimenting with Orac. Life is good.

Pisound opened up a whole new world of audio effects coding and creation. It has worked flawlessly, and is ridiculously powerful when combined with the patchbox os which is a joy to use. Once you pop you can’t stop!

I am using pisound together with the translucent case and it is just great. I also installed reaper on it and it works flawlessly. I just love it.

I’m a very happy user of Pisound. My current guitar pedalboard is a combination of my favorite overdrive/gain pedals and Pisound with MODEP. The sound quality is great and PatchboxOS makes Pisound the best audio hat for Pi. The only thing I’m missing is separated L/R jacks for the stereo input and output.

Excellent sound quality combined with open source audio platform opens huge creative possibilities. From soundfont sample player (pianos, percussion, etc), to hosting neural amp modeler for my guitar rig, this transforms pi4 into low priced music marvel tool. Especially when combined to preferable MIDI controller and/or foot switch. Latency is very low.

Awesome device. Excellent audio quality. Low latency. And coupled with the Patchbox OS really easy and versatile in its use.

My only feedback would be about the rigid geometry and placement of the inputs, outputs and pots. I would love if there would be a bare-bones model, where you could solder your own 40 pins GPIO connection to. (So you can choose whether to connect it as HAT shield directly, or via a 40 pins flat cable). Same for the inputs, outputs and pots. I rather solder JST connections to the board and then wire these to a separate interface panel.

It’s a fantastic product that does exactly what it promises. I attached it to a Raspberry Pi 4, and I installed Cockos Reaper for use in my solo live shows. It is capable of running multiple lv2 effects and playing backing tracks while recording in full stereo, at 96kHz/24 bits, with about 2 or 3ms latency. There have been no pops or cracks, no dropouts, no trouble with any kind. And the preamps sound better than my PC USB audio interface (Komplete Audio 6). You can hear the end result on my YouTube channel, waruta69.

Ah sure shipping was quick, product is a one of a kind plug and play. Staff are helpful. The only possible downside could be the lack of raspberry pi’s available and thats well out of their control

Used for a virtual pipe organ software, and this was the best money I have spent on this entire project. I originally tried a USB to MIDI adapter, but the latency was significant, throughput was shit. I bought the pisound hat, and there is little to no latency, and no other errors resulting in a high quality, functional setup. Well worth the money.

Buying another. Favorite RPi audio hat by miles. Shipping speed to US is shockingly fast. So versatile and audio quality is excellent.

the Pisound is such a crucial component to any Pi-based setup. the ease of configuration with Patchbox OS and the massive boost to sound quality are so welcome! thank you for building this approachable lil’ workhorse!!

Awesome little thing.
Made a build with a raspberry pi 4, now its my go to box when playing or recording some ideas.
Very good sound quality and super low latency. Also customer support is very fast and friendly.

Tout est super fonctionnel avec patch os. L’os windows 10 pour arm peut-il être stable avec le pisound et raspb pi 4 4go?

Awesome piece of gear. I have had a blast with it. Lead me to go buy a MODDUO. I just rebuilt it on a Pi 4 and will use for midi instrument. LOVE IT.

Really great hardware. I have been using it for personal software development projects for about a year now. Will probably buy another Pisound in the future.

Great hardware and sound, software is ok but could be better. Modep for exemple is under the real modduo software. Cool to use with Pianoteq and some synths.

Setting up my first little home recording studio, I found Pisound easy to handle. It has a very good sound quality and I enjoy using it very much.

Excellent sound quality and latency !
Great to have jacks and not RCA
Balanced output would have been perfect

superb quality, almost zero latency audio board for raspberry pi, very well supported by blokas people. highly recommended for any audio raspberry pi project

I like a lot my pisound. I was intending to use it for music and effects but now it is for volumio. Anyway the sound quality is very good. A detail that you could fix is that the acrilic feet have little adherence to any surface.

Excellent HAT soundcard for the Raspberry Pi. I use with the Jambox OS to plug in my instruments and run Jamulus for online live music playing. Setting it up was easy, the sound quality is excellent, the latency is very low, and everything fits in a neat box. My only suggestion for improvement is the box itself, which is a little hard to build, and the hole for the power supply cable is too small to fit the standard RPi plug

Pisound is the best audio card for Raspberry Pi. Period. Pair it with Patchbox OS and you have a dead simple setup that can be a host for MidiHub, a multi-effects unit for guitar, a synth – and that’s just the stuff that’s easy to set up!

Awesome device I own 2. I couldn’t get enough so I had to buy another. Modep (creators of the Modduo), on one and Orac (Mark Harris is amazing) on the other. You can’t beat it with a stick. Sounds are amazing either what you put in, process, or what comes out through exploration. Thank you for all the hard work very much appreciated.:) AAA++++

One of the best Raspberry Pi audio interfaces for low latency and high quality i/o.

I have barely scratched the surface of what it can do. But overall sound quality and latency performance is great.

I’m very happy with the Pisound. That being said, it could use more physical buttons and/or better Android interaction.

Pisound is great. I used to build an augmented glove that controls voices from a microphone. I easly programmed it with Pure Data. Super easy, super fun!

Ive a couple of PiSounds , excellent way to add decent audio and midi to your Pi.
Another important aspect of PiSound is that Blokas provide a ready to go OS (patchbox) and a proper support channel.
This is in stark contrast to the ‘common’ diy rPI situation where you are left to scour the internet for solutions to try to work out how to get you soundcard working optimally with raspbian etc

Fantastic device. Clean and elegant way of getting audio into a Pi without running USB cables etc, with superb latency and sound quality.
I’d love to see an XLR version!

Pisound allowed me to prototype my HW Audio device idea really easily.

I have two piSound equipped Raspberry Pis with 7″ touch screens and PianoTek software that I use as the sound engine for 88-key MIDI keyboards. I push one button to power up and launch the application. Great grand piano sound. It took a little trial and error to get everything working together but worth the effort. I got a Pi 3 working and then built another unit with a Pi 4.

Discovery Modep was awesome and adding the PiSound made the experience even better! PiSound is well built and the installation instructions are very clear. I’m using Pisound to replace an aging pedal board for my live bass rig. Do yourself a favor and order the acrylic case as well. If you have a RPi 4 I also suggest getting a Pimorini fan shim. Extremely pleased with my purchase!