Released in late 2013 after a design process of around nine months, the kit features 12 small modules (called "bits") that can be connected to form larger circuits.

Following its release, schematic files of the bits included in the Synth Kit were uploaded to a GitHub repository under the CERN Open Hardware License.

The Synth Kit was produced in a collaboration between the Japanese music technology company Korg, the American electronics startup littleBits and the comedian Reggie Watts.

[a][2] The collaboration began in early 2012, when littleBits' founder Ayah Bdeir and Watts met at a TED conference.

When representatives of the companies met in January 2013, they had the idea to make a modular synthesiser out of littleBits modules (known as "bits").

[7] These modules allow the Synth Kit to interface with external devices, such as MIDI keyboards, computers and other modular synthesisers.

[8][9] In April 2015, Korg asked the public to participate in a vote on their bitLab website, which they used to incubate new additions to the Synth Kit.

[11] The Synth Kit is made up of 12 small modules called "bits",[2] which join together with magnets to form larger circuits.

[14] Some bits are similar to circuits used in Korg's Monotron series, but altered to fit the different voltage requirements of the Synth Kit.

[14][16] Gino Robair of Electronic Musician also found that other bits were needed; he "highly recommend[ed]" purchasing mounting boards for the kit to add stability to constructions.

[18] The Synth Kit was frequently compared to Lego due to the similarities between building circuits and connecting bricks.

[11][20] Following littleBits' open source ideology, both EAGLE files and schematic diagrams (as PDF) for all of the Synth Kit bits were uploaded to a GitHub repository.

[4] Lincoln used the Synth Kit as background audio to his piece The Stroboscope (for Paul Sharits), which was exhibited at the 2015 International Symposium on Electronic Art in Vancouver.

[20] In June 2014, some Synth Kit bits were used at the Chelsea-based Dark Circuits festival, which describes itself as an event for "contemporary electronic music practices such as circuit bending, no-input mixers, laptops, turntablism, analogue circuitry, network sniffers, live coding and soldering, plus other instruments we may have never heard of yet".