Linux Creator AI ‘Vibe Codes’ AudioNoise Hardware Effects Pedal - January 11, 2026

The creator of the Linux operating system, Linus Torvalds, has released a new open source hobby project, AudioNoise, a digital guitar effects pedal.

Torvalds started making effects pedals from kits recently as a holiday project, and as a way to learn analog electronics. He describes building effects pedals as, “LEGO for grown-ups with a soldering iron.”

Here’s what he has to say about AudioNoise:

“These are — like the analog circuits that started my journey — toy effects that you shouldn’t take seriously. The main design goal has been to learn about digital audio processing basics. Exactly like the guitar pedal was about learning about the hardware side.”

What has surprised many is that Torvalds says that he used vibe coding in developing the pedal.

‘Vibe coding’ is a new approach to coding that essentially delegates programming details to AI. It’s done using large language model (LLM) systems, which generate a result to match the user’s prompt. The idea is that the developer can focus on the ‘vibe’ of a project – the high-level vision and requirements – and AI acts as a dedicated junior developer.

Torvalds does not tout his project as a great effect, but more as a fun way to learn about coding and digital signal processing. The project may be less significant on its own than as a sign of where things are heading with AI-augmented development.

You can get a sense of the project from the video embedded above, by SavvyNik, and check out Torvalds’ repo at Github.

Source: www.synthtopia.com/content/2026/01/11/linux-creator-ai-vibe-codes-audionoise-hardware-effects-pedal/