Hello there !
I wanted to let you know about a project that could be of interest for some of you.
We are a small group of people from the London Music Hackspace, doing audio programming and music electronics, and recently launched a project of open-source audio effects pedal.
Completely open-source design in both hardware and software, the pedal allows developers to design effects patches in C++ for use in a dedicated device. Using a simple drag and drop interface, different patches can be easily uploaded to the pedal - whether these are from the potentially unlimited online patch library or from code of your own design the possibilities are endless.
Based around an ARM Cortex M4, the pedal is capable of handling more than 3000 instructions per sample at 48kHz, has integrated DSP, FPU and DMA (Direct Memory Access).
With the OWL Sim, you can test your code along the way as a VST plugin in a host of your choosing (like Audacity for instance 
, fine tuning your patch until you want to take it out to a gig. All of the embedded stuff is taken care of and there is no requirement for specialist hardware knowledge.
The entire tool chain is also open-source, negating issues like vendor lock-in and dependence on proprietary tools. This makes the OWL a unique platform for C++ audio developers.
You will find more information on http://hoxtonowl.com.
we are currently running a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, and also organizing a small audio patch contest.
Feel free to ask me more questions if you are interested!
We are looking to build a nice community of audio developers around the project, and I think this is a good project if you want to code audio hardware with a very simple approach.
Cheers from London!