USB Audio Interface

The TBD-16 hardware supports operating as a USB Audio Interface, allowing your computer to send and receive audio directly to and from the device over USB.

USB Audio Interface mode is not included in the main firmware shipped with TBD-16. The ESP32-P4 hardware is capable of acting as a USB Audio Class device, but this feature requires a separate or custom firmware build. It is listed here because the hardware supports it and it may be offered as an option in the future.

What This Means

When running USB Audio Interface firmware, the TBD-16 acts as a class-compliant USB audio device:

  • Your computer (macOS, Windows, Linux) sees TBD-16 as a standard sound card

  • Audio is streamed over USB with low latency

  • You can use your DAW to route audio through the TBD-16’s DSP engine

  • No additional drivers are required on macOS and Linux (class-compliant)

Potential Use Cases

  • Hardware insert effect — Route a track from your DAW through the TBD-16, apply one of the 50+ effects, and capture the processed audio back.

  • External synthesizer — Use the TBD-16 as a sound source in your DAW, triggered via MIDI.

  • Low-latency monitoring — Direct monitoring through the TBD-16’s audio outputs while recording.

Current Status

The ESP32-P4 includes USB peripheral hardware (USB-OTG) capable of implementing USB Audio Class 1.0 or 2.0. The main TBD firmware currently uses USB for serial communication and firmware flashing, not audio streaming.

If you are interested in developing or testing USB Audio Interface firmware, the reference implementation is available at tbd-uac-device — an ESP-IDF project that turns the TBD-16 into a stereo USB Audio Class 2.0 sound card. It builds on Espressif’s USB Device UAC component.

See Building & Flashing for help compiling ESP-IDF firmware.