Building Open Source Synthesizers in Sri Lanka | Arunoda Susiripala

He wanted to make music. The instruments he needed didn't exist in Sri Lanka — too expensive to import, taxed at 50% on every component, impossible to hear or touch before buying. So Arunoda Susiripala built one from scratch. No electronics engineering background. Just the internet, AI, and a decision to stop waiting.

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In this episode:

- Why Arunoda got into modular synthesizers and what made existing tools feel wrong to him
- How he taught himself electronics with no formal engineering background
- What it actually takes to build and ship a hardware product from Sri Lanka — the logistics, the import tax, the manufacturing realities
- Why he open sources everything: designs, components, manuals — all of it
- The "fail fast" system he uses to move quickly and know when to stop
- His take on the "no opportunity in Sri Lanka" conversation — and why he thinks it's the wrong frame entirely
- How community finds you when you build something worth finding
- His advice for anyone who keeps waiting for the right time to start

Arunoda Susiripala is a game developer, researcher, and founder of Bread Modular — an open source modular synthesizer built for affordability and accessibility. He's based in Sri Lanka and currently builds tools for 3D artists and game developers through his company GDi4K.

Find Arunoda:
Instagram: instagram.com/arunoda
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/arunoda
Substack: storiesfromsrilanka.substack.com

Bread Modular:
Instagram: instagram.com/breadmodular
Website: breadmodular.com

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Buzzsprout: thecreativeodysseypodcast.buzzsprout.com
✉️ Email: thecreativeodysseypodcast@gmail.com

Hosted by Sheran Ranasinghe. Produced by Odyssey House Media. Recorded at Hatch.lk, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

So then I want to like make music with the computers. The computers you can use Ableton and Erabels and you can make music. But then it's not interesting to me. Like you have computers, you can drag here and there. But I did like it. So then I want to make my own instrument. So then I get into modular synthesizers, euro rack kind of thing. Those are very expensive. So even you can afford it in Sri Lanka, so you need to pick it down from other places. I started okay. Let's may not try to make something my own. Electronic engineering a little bit of things, but I'm not an electronics engineer. So with the internet and AI stuff, so I learned a little bit. So now we have a product, like a whole setup, so you can play a live gig with it. And also we open source everything. So I want to break those barriers. So basically, one thing is I want to make it affordable. Like make modular more affordable and let everyone use it. I mean, that's no barrier kind of thing. If you want to do something and it's right now is the correct time. I mean, like it doesn't matter, like you are old, you are young, and you are not rich.

SPEAKER_03 1:06

If you want to do something, just start doing it and then you'll.lk, one of the leading startup hubs in Sri Lanka. Because my goal was to be able to tell stories of unique creatives here who are crazy enough to think that they can actually solve problems. To be here at Hatch and be inspired in what I'm doing, and to be able to tell these stories and have this uh studio and opportunity. I'm super grateful to Hatch. I feel affirmed in my mission to highlight creatives, and when I saw individuals from startups like inviting their own friends to be on here, so I can highlight their stories in their unique way of thinking, every single one of them has so much uh insight to provide to anybody who's watching who's anybody who's thinking that they're not good enough to do what they're doing. Seeing stories from doctors who have changed uh careers into running startups to journalists to doing these kinds of things, like it gives me so much hope to be able to share this to others to say that, like, wherever you are at, if you're not passionate about what you're doing and you're stuck in your own uh bubble or whatever, find communities like Hatch because it is gonna be the best thing that you do for yourself because the community is absolutely amazing. Hatch, thank you so much for the support you provided. I can't wait to show you the amazing stories and the insights your own people are going to share with the world.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

Hi, welcome to Podis Podcast. My name is Sharon, and today we're recording at Hatchworks in Sri Lanka, one of the startup hubs where they're helping startups um connect creativity and technology to help solve uh problems, real problems. And uh today um I have one of those cool people here, Arunoda, um, who has an interesting story uh and how he had kind of taken it to a whole nother direction. So, Arunoda, thank you for being here. I appreciate you.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

Thank you, thank you for inviting.

SPEAKER_02 3:15

Yeah, so um let me see here. You are creating a product right now, but the story behind it is very interesting, and it's interesting how you wanted to be creative, and that's how all this whole thing started. So tell us kind of a brief uh understanding of what happened, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:34

So some so my main focus is uh I was in the IT industry for a while, so maybe 10 years. So then uh so even from the beginning, so in my early life, like I want to play a musical instrument, so I learn different ways to write uh so I can play a piano a little bit with the keyboard, and uh so I can a little bit finger drum, so but I'm really not like a I'm not a master pro, so I want to like uh improve that. So then uh that's not a way that so I can't play anything, so it's it's I'm not proud at it. So then I want to like uh to make music with the computers. So this is a long, it's not like a one year thing that I was doing for a long time with the with the work. So when uh computers you can use Ableton and ERWs and you can make music, but then uh I didn't find any interest in the interest, it's not interesting to me. Like you have computers, you can drag here and there, but uh I didn't like it. So then I want to make my own instrument. So then I get into modular synthesizers, uh Euro rack kind of thing. So then uh so those are expensive. So even you can afford it uh in Sri Lanka, so you you need to take it down from other places, then you can't hear it, you can see how it works. So then I started okay, let's why not trying to make something my own. So I had little uh engineering electronic engineering, little bit of things, but I'm not an electronics engineer. So the internet and AI stuff, so I learned a little bit. So I started one module, one module, and from time to time I improved everything. So now we have a product, like a whole setup. So you can play a live gig with it, and yeah, that's that's the story. And also we uh open source everything, so also you sell the product, but uh everything is open source, even the components. So you even if you want to like delete from scratch, you can see all the manuals and everything you can set up. So that's my story, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

Very cool. So, real quick, I want to understand um who young I don't know the was like. Um, and tell me, like, uh, what was your background like growing up?

SPEAKER_01 5:41

And uh so this is like you know, like preschool, I mean like at school over or like whenever you want to start. Well, from the very beginning, I'm a quite uh nerdy guy, you can say, like tech. I don't know if you're a nerd or a geek, so I I don't know how to differentiate that, right? So some more into that kind of thing. So I was I'm real good at tech stuff. So even with the remote controls and everything from the very early days. So I remember like uh quite young, uh we had like a like a boom box, like it's like an electronics version of it. So then I so I can have the remote controller, so I can like me everything, I can like like click everything, so I can figure things out. So I thought like from the very beginning, I'm quite a techy, nerdy guy. So eventually with this uh the school years, I learned like a coding stuff. Then I eventually moved into IT. So I was doing startups and so I joined some companies like so for funny stories. I never work in Sri Lankan company. Oh wow, Ria, even though I've stayed here for maybe 10. I was I was CR for a long time. I mean, yeah, every time. Yeah, yes, I work with the IT industry, and then I yeah, now I don't work with the IT industry anymore. So yeah, that's uh I want to do something else.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Yeah, that's that's why I'm we're so excited to share with you all the episodes that we filmed in Sri Lanka. We know a lot of you have been waiting, but we wanted to make sure that we did this really meaningfully because it really was an exciting time. When Tron first came to me and said he was gonna take the podcast to Sri Lanka, I honestly thought he was crazy.

SPEAKER_03 7:15

And so did I. I was like, is there any possibility we can fit this in? I want to try to bring the podcast in, get to know people, and interview people.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

So we expected to have just a few conversations, maybe a little sparks of inspiration here and there, but what happened was so much deeper than that. We met so many people that not only we you got to interview, but that also like came alongside us to help make these conversations happen.

SPEAKER_03 7:41

The crazy thing was this daring idea of going to a country, even though I'm from Sri Lanka. I hadn't been back for like seven years, and all I knew was some people from school that I went to and some social media that I've been following, but didn't really have a concrete plan to make it happen. And some days we had six, seven episodes back-to-back recorded because people were waiting and you were kind of facilitating that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

Yeah, so it felt really significant because not only was it that we were having like these raw and authentic conversations, but a lot of their stories resonated with Tron's, and so it just was really fascinating to see them speaking the same language and to see like just this commonality of creativity and identity and purpose coming out as the themes of these conversations.

SPEAKER_03 8:28

You must be wondering when this trip happened. It happened in September, and uh the goal was to get these episodes out by December. Well, a lot of things happened, and I didn't want to diminish the work we put in and again the amazing gifts that we've had. So we decided to do something really cool, and we're gonna post however many we can a week.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

So, LinkedIn, every single episode, you'll find a free PDF. It's actually a magazine that we developed. You can kind of think of it like if you go to a concert and you get like the souvenir of what happened behind the scenes and just about the different artists and all those things. We wanted to share with you not only about Trump's journey, but then help you connect with some of the guests that we interview in Sri Lanka, and then invite you on your own creative odyssey.

SPEAKER_03 9:10

Yes, there's so much more that goes into or that fills this podcast, which is this this mission to inspire people to create so that they can get to know themselves and connect with their each other. So to see that we could bring that story out of Sri Lankan creatives out. I was raised of creatives, it was definitely a highlight.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

Our hope is that whether you're living in the States, you're living in Sri Lanka, or somewhere else around the world, you'll connect with someone's story within Sri Lanka and it might inspire you to continue on your own creative process.

SPEAKER_03 9:45

The link to the PDF for the magazine is in the description, and please check it out. They're doing really cool things that I really think you should be checking out to see their journeys. So without further ado, let's get to the episode.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

So um at any point did you feel like, oh my gosh, I'm way over my head, like I should be doing any of these things and get a normal job?

SPEAKER_01 10:09

I mean, like uh the normal job, I don't know. Like uh, I mean, like it's quite normal to me, like the IT thing. Uh I think it's fun. I don't say it's like when you get into that, uh, you can do creative stuff with it. Like so people say it is like you know, like the coding and stuff. It's not like that, like uh even though with the web designing, you know, art like 3D graphics kind of things, you can you use huge setup, like uh you can master like so because I I try everything. I start with the web, then I go to the the the back end stuff. So recently I work with the Unreal Engine, the gaming side. So I touch everything. So I mean, even it's it's creative, like even with that, you can be creative, like there's nothing uh stopping you that like that. So, but I mean to like get into the music scene, you know, or something. That's why I ended up doing it right now. I'm curious why I mean I don't know, like you you don't have answers for everything in the world, right? Like uh so I guess yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

So talk me through how the process of you getting into this startup and like um how did the whole thing, you know, especially right were you connected with Hatch or somewhere else? So right.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

So Hatch, I I don't have like uh the partnership, anything like that, but I worked with them, so they helped me to like uh have my stuff here. So they do workshop here at Hatch. So it's like a it's like an informal partnership kind of thing. So actually I really want to thank Hatch for giving me the opportunity to put in their spaces, and that's really nice. That's my store with Hatch. So I didn't want to start a company with this, so still it's not a real company kind of thing, it's an NTTI, I said, like uh so we make so eventually I want to make instruments for me. So, but now we have uh complete setup, so we sell them. So we have some customers, so that's that's how it is going. And uh I know so I don't want to work with Sri Lankan artists and and people, we have been students, uh, so that's that's yeah, that's I really like uh teaching and sharing my things experience. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:08

What were some of the challenges you faced um as you're on this journey?

SPEAKER_01 12:13

In here, like I think with the technical and knowledge side, I don't think there's a like there's a merry in there with the with the AI stuff. Um with the AI and ChatGPT kind of thing, so so even if you're anywhere else, so you can learn anything. That's the like uh you don't have to ask ChatGB to build a synthesizer, you don't know to do that. So I mean you can't. So basically, but you once you have something, you can dig into that, find problems, and so basically you have an expert uh like a expert team with you. The other thing, uh technical cyber is no issue, but the the logistics that's hard. Uh talk me through that.

SPEAKER_02 12:48

Talk me through the barriers in logic.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Logistics to my situation, like uh so if I'm in Sri Lanka, being in Sri Lanka, uh it's really hard to make electronics here. So you can do all the prototype and design, that's fine. But if you want to manufacture something for uh really good standards, so you need to uh use Chinese companies or some some else, so you need to outsource that. So getting them from there to here, it's takes time, that's okay, but then you need to pay taxes and uh so basically in a product product, uh 90% of the things are imported. So basically, even though we say affordable, but we are paying uh 50% for everything that we import, all the components. So if you manufacture this in some house, it's like at least 50% cheaper. So that's the thing that we we work with. So I mean that's that's the sort of logistic problem that we have. We might so now we're in the design stage. I'm not saying like we are in a production run, so we figure things out. Like that's that's it.

SPEAKER_02 13:46

Yeah, that's how long have you been on this uh right.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Uh for this one, we we launch it this now uh this March, but uh I was working with it uh from uh last uh October. Last October, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

So it's been pretty quick.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Quick, yeah, that's uh that's my thing. Uh so so we want to do something, I want to do it quickly. Like otherwise, I won't do it. Like that's that was uh like so. If I want to like get trying to do something, I want to like be focused on 100%, or maybe at least 90% on that that product. So that's how I work.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

Uh I don't know, like uh so so do you do this by yourself right now? Okay, yeah. And so what's the vision behind this?

SPEAKER_01 14:27

Right, uh so my vision is basically uh this module, or like uh it's like a custom, like kind of like a custom instrument for you. So there's no right way to use it. Uh you can configure as you wish. So right now it's a little bit like uh it's expensive, so it's like uh expensive hobby, like collecting which is because so the real musicians are uh it's really offensive to say real musicians. Like uh the people who make music doesn't really use uh this this uh modular thing. It's basic one thing is expensive, other thing is huge, and you can't take things here and there. So so I want to break those barriers. So basically, one thing is I want to make it affordable. So if someone making a music, uh so they can have a module setup like next to their computer, so like laptop, you can click things and do different things like that. And uh so even if think about the electronics side, all the like uh electronic components are not that expensive. All the so we can make it affordable, that's my goal. And also like let everyone use it. And I don't know, I'll try to remix so that that's my thing, like make uh modular more affordable and let everyone to use it. So I'm making it open source and you know, like it's I'm sharing, like, yeah, that's the thing. It's not like a expensive hobby anymore.

SPEAKER_02 15:45

That's what I mean. Right, right. So I'm very curious about how you think and how you look at creativity and and and approaching things. Uh are you a person that kind of go deep into that kind of process? Do you know like how you function? Like how what kind of challenges you face personally when you're into a project like this?

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Like, right. Okay, uh, yeah. Um let's see. Let me let me think. Uh right. The my thing is like so so we want to do something. So we have an end goal. So let's say uh I need to have a quick clear mind like what I want to build. It's not like uh let's say if I want to build something, it's not like uh let's um like uh breaking down into little small pieces. So then I so I need to do something, but I don't know how to go from here to there. So then I I spend uh research and talk to people and then so eventually I want to find out the path, how to go there. So let's say I you've I work for uh let's say for example, I work for this for uh 10 days. There is just a number, 10 days, uh, but I couldn't get it done. So then I completely abandon the whole project. Oh wow or the whole thing. So I start from a different like uh approach, maybe completely abandon abandon that one. So that's my approach, like so so I think uh like do something. So I think I learned from G1 from Hatch, he mentioned like uh when you're doing something, you need to chill fast. So you've been doing something, you need to like uh if you if you can't do that, you need to stop that, and then you need to find some other way to do it.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Yep. Right. Because the thing is, I ask you this because I I talk to many people as I'm like in in in Sri Lanka, and I get two sides. One side is like, oh, we're in Sri Lanka, we don't have a lot of opportunity, and like, I oh, we don't have this and we don't have that, and all of those things. And then I come here to hatch, and it's like all I see is people just like putting their heads down and like draining and and planning and creative solving. So like what what is going on here in your opinion?

SPEAKER_01 17:55

I think like it's so wrong to say like there's no opportunity, right? It's so I think uh so I I have a startup mindset. Uh like uh what is the startup mindset? So it's it's not a startup mindset, just like uh curiosity. Like it's a basically like so when you want to do something, uh you need to find a way. Like uh it doesn't matter, like uh so there's no opportunity. So if you want to do something, so you need to find a like you need to make opportunity. So I think uh I mean that's uh that's like uh so if you think like there's no opportunity, that means uh you are you're trying to go away with that. Like uh so then uh no one is gonna give you opportunity, like that's nothing like that. Like um so in the world, like uh you need to find a way, like so. Even if you if you get into a job, like uh if you don't do that well, you get you'll get fired, right? It's really like that.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

Right, right. And it seems like that like finding the right community is that was the main thing.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and I mean like uh my thing is like I didn't know Hatch earlier. I'm like, I know Hatch, but I didn't work with the people here. So I think if you build something right, so then then uh if if you like talk to talk to people, then eventually you will you will be to a community. You need you don't need to build a community from uh from scratch, kind of thing. You do something good, then eventually people will reach you. So were you actively looking for a community? I mean like uh I mean like so you need to do something well, I really think we need to have a community. Like so up from the very beginning, even my IT background, so I really work with open source software. So basically, you you uh I work with people, so even though I'm I'm talking to them personally, like one-to-one. So I believe like if you want to build something really good, you need to have a team community. The people you try it out, give feedback. I think that's essential. So you can't do anything creative or anything without uh without working with the team. But it doesn't matter you talk to them in person, but somehow like you need to have I mean that's the thing, right?

SPEAKER_02 19:56

So finally, I want to ask you like my audience is a pretty diverse audience. I have people in the US, I have people in Sri Lanka, and also a very like wide range, from really young to like a very old too. So um if they feel like they are too old or young to try out some kind of an idea or whatever, what is your advice for them?

SPEAKER_01 20:23

I mean, like that's yeah, I mean that's no bad way kind of thing. If you're gonna do something and it's uh right now is the correct time. Like that's I mean, like it doesn't matter, like uh you are old, you are young, and uh you are not rich. I mean, like you are so rich and uh there's no such thing, right?

SPEAKER_02 20:40

If you want to do something, just start doing it and then you'll yeah, that's I also noticed you you share a lot on social media and stuff like that. You use it really well to connect with your audience.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

Yeah, I mean I don't know whether I'm using it properly, but I I try to, but you're trying. Yeah, I'm trying, right?

SPEAKER_02 20:56

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much. That is so great. Cool that I got a chance to highlight uh uh what you're doing. Um I have to say, I when I saw you first and what you're doing, I was like, this guy's pretty cool. And I especially like uh the idea that you have to uh connect it with Sri Lankan uh artists. I think that's like really cool. I think if you guys are watching artists, reach out to this guy. He has some really cool stuff. Um, anyways, uh thank you so much for being on the podcast. Um all I gotta say is keep creating, keep dreaming, keep going on your own creative Odyssey. Till next time, see you later. Bye.