DSEG is a font project by the GitHub user keshikan that includes three typefaces emulating segmented LCD or LED displays, as one might see in an ancient or low-cost calculator.

The DSEG seven-segment typeface was brought to my attention because of its similarity to the famously obtuse displays on Roland music devices, a tradition that the company proudly continues to this day. The attached image, taken while I was following a YouTube tutorial, shows my T-8 beat machine trying to say “Bass waveform” on its four-character, seven-segment display.

DSEG doesn’t map perfectly to Roland’s seven-segment abuses; my T-8 cheerfully mixes up “I” and “1” or “5” and “S”, for example, and its implementation of “U” versus “V” are reversed from how DSEG does it. Regardless, all the shapes are there, including that audacious “W” solution seen in my photo.