A modular system including a set of functionality tiles and a control tile storing a storage structure, an initialization file, and operation instructions. The method for operating a custom device made using the modular system includes: sending operation settings for each tile to the respective tile upon device initialization; operating each tile based on the operation settings; writing the output from each tile to the storage structure; monitoring data streams within the storage structure for a trigger event; reading data off the storage structure in response to occurrence of the trigger event; and processing the read data according to a processing function specified by the operation instructions.