<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">This would be a good time for a trip down memory lane...<div class=""><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Apr 24, 1999, at 11:20 PM, Paul Schreiber <<a href="mailto:synth1@airmail.net" class="">synth1@airmail.net</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">Paul S. designed the Radio Shack Moog! I'll be damned.<br class=""></blockquote><br class="">++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<br class=""><br class=""><br class="">Since this pops up every now and then, and I'm taking a break bagging up<br class="">7,620 resistors, here is the "story".<br class=""><br class="">Radio Shack has no engineering. Rather, that falls (er...'fell') under TSD<br class="">(Tandy Systems Design).<br class="">Also, twice a year Radio Shack holds a private version of COMDEX/CES, just<br class="">for them! Vendors<br class="">line up 50 deep and present their wares. Back then (early '80s) about 40% of<br class="">gear in a Radio Shack<br class="">was bought 'outside'. Most electronics was made in a Korean factory that<br class="">Tandy owned a majority share<br class="">called EnCal (EnCal made all of Pioneer's and Alpine's car stereos there).<br class=""><br class="">So, during one of these mini-trade shows who is on the presentation list<br class="">(which TSD got in advance) but<br class="">a one 'Dr. D. Luce'. Well, when I saw Mr. PolyMoog on the list I had to see<br class="">this.<br class="">So sure enough here he wanders in with a hand-made small synth. He demos it.<br class="">Bernie Appel, the<br class="">#1 decision maker (er...the *ONLY* decision maker of what went in the store<br class="">or not) had this type<br class="">of conversation (I am giving not exact, but the general idea. It was 16-17<br class="">years ago!)<br class=""><br class="">BA: What the fuck is that piece of shit? (BA enjoyed treating all new<br class="">vendors this way. This was his equivalent of "Hello.")<br class="">DDL: It's a music synthesizer prototype. [Proceeds on a 3 minute demo. You<br class="">had 5 minutes to present. Period!!]<br class="">BA: (interested, but certainly not going to show it to the Yankee geek) How<br class="">the hell do you plug it in?<br class="">DDL points out the 1/4" jack.<br class="">BA: Where in the holy hell, in my store (they were always referred to as "my<br class="">stores") does that thing go? Up my ass?<br class=""><br class="">See, RS had not a single piece of gear that had 1/4" jacks! All RCA. BA knew<br class="">this.<br class=""><br class="">DDL at this point looks like he's gonna puke. He's quivering & sweating like<br class="">a whore in church (sorry, that's another BA expression!)<br class=""><br class="">BA: Play me a tune.<br class="">DDL one-fingers a classical thingy.<br class=""><br class="">BA: That damn thing busted? What's with this 1 finger shit?<br class="">DDL explains about monophonic blah blah blah.<br class=""><br class="">BA turns to me.<br class=""><br class="">BA: You know what the hell he's talking about?<br class="">Me: (thinking this is a trick question) Err...yeah.<br class="">BA to DDL: We'll look at it. NEXT!!!!<br class=""><br class="">So began the Luce/Schreiber effort. What he had was the boards out of a<br class="">Minimoog, no A440 osc, no noise, in a box. So, I got handed that,<br class="">designed the MG-1 version (added the organ stuff BECAUSE BA was convinced<br class="">that typical RS customers wanted more than<br class="">1 note). Added RCA jacks, ring mod do-dad. Then, had to specify parts that<br class="">Moog never had to use: cheapo pots. I'll admit it: CHEAPO.<br class="">They were ALPS and I think we paid (back then) about 23 cents apiece.<br class=""><br class="">That is because the RS gross profit margin was an unheard of 63% (the<br class="">average of ALL the Forture 500 is like 8%) and lastly,<br class="">I spent about 3 weeks on just the panel layout and color scheme & wrote the<br class="">Owner's Manual along with, oddly enough, Steve<br class="">Leininger who designed the TRS-80. He played a Vox in a jazz band and BA<br class="">wanted his opinion as well.<br class=""><br class="">Luce and I went back & forth about 5 months until they delivered the<br class="">"pre-production" units. Moog made them, Tandy supplied<br class="">most of the parts (we had a company in Japan that bought parts and resold<br class="">them to Tandy. One day I'll tell my funny modem capacitor<br class="">story.)<br class=""><br class="">So, the story was:<br class=""><br class="">a) Moog presented the original idea to RS<br class="">b) They dumped it on me. I had to make it "Radio Shack compliant". Which<br class="">meant a re-design. Used the 3046 + Tel Labs tempco<br class="">for the VCO. More Electronotes than Moog! Moog ladder filter, 3080 VCA.<br class="">Prototype had mod wheel; *PUNT!*. Cost like $3. Get real.<br class="">c) Moog built it.<br class="">d) Tandy had 18 months exclusive. Moog then made the Rogue which is my<br class="">design without the organ/ring mod, wheels back on.<br class="">e) No, I didn't get a free MG-1 or a Rogue.<br class="">f) No, I didn't get alot of money. At that time I was making about<br class="">$21,500/yr.<br class=""><br class="">Final note: NO!!! I DID NOT pick that stupid black felt that lays over the<br class="">sliders, then turns to tar. That was Luce's deal.<br class="">But, I DID get Luce to send me *every* piece of Moog literature at the time:<br class="">still have it!<br class=""><br class="">Paul Schreiber<br class="">Synthesis Technology<br class=""></div></blockquote></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">And:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">From: "Paul Schreiber" <<a href="mailto:synth1@airmail.net" class="">synth1@airmail.net</a>><br class="">Subject: [sdiy] Tandy modem cap tale (longish)<br class=""><br class="">Speaking about modems, did you ever tell your "funny modem capacitor story" as<br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">mentioned in the old concertmate post?<br class=""></blockquote><br class="">If not.....<br class=""><br class="">My first real design job at Tandy was to design a "direct connect" 300 baud <br class="">modem. 95% of modems used acoustic couplers, where you crammed the handpiece <br class="">into 2 rubber "cups". The only real consumer (not AT&T) direct connect modem at <br class="">the time was a S-100 buss version from Hayes (old farts nod head in <br class="">remembrance), but it was $399 (gulp!). Mine was to be $99 retail at RadioShack.<br class=""><br class="">Once I designed the DAA (transformer-based circuitry that couples to the <br class="">telephone line) I wrote a BASIC program in a TRS-80 Model I that was a filter <br class="">optimization for the receive & transmit filters (modem tones are in the 1000 to <br class="">2000H range). I wanted to use all the same cap values (there were 6 in the <br class="">receive and 4 in the transmit) so the program stepped through standard cap <br class="">values and calculated the resistors. I then manually looked for the "best fit" <br class="">that didn't give too wacky resistors (like 5 ohms or 800K). The best fit was <br class="">4700pf.<br class=""><br class="">At my previous job at Data General I was working on CRT circuits. The vertical <br class="">deflection amplifier had a clever, patented circuit that used a ringing bandpass <br class="">filter to "warp" the sweep to compensate for the curvature of the CRT glass. It <br class="">used 2 polypropylene film caps from a company called ElectroCube. They were <br class="">about 1" long and big around as a pencil. We used 2% @250V and paid around $1ea <br class="">at 25,000.<br class=""><br class="">So they were the first company I called. I asked for a quote for 250,000 4700pf <br class="">1% 50V "in your smallest case size". They were VERY skeptical because of the <br class="">large quantity but after a week or so quoted 89 cents. Well, that meant $8.90 of <br class="">caps and my entire budget was $25. Not good.<br class=""><br class="">I then got out the EDN Gold Book directory (more old fart nodding) which was <br class="">like a "Yellow Pages" for the electronics component industry. There were about <br class="">15 vendors listed for Capacitors - Film - Precision so I called every one. Over <br class="">*half* of them did not even BELIEVE ME because their *annual production* was < <br class="">50K. Not one person was able to beat $1, much less 89 cents.<br class=""><br class="">I started to panic a bit. I then pulled out the Japanese equivalent book, a <br class="">massive *28 pound* hard-bound book (over 4,000 pages) called the EIAJ Sourcing <br class="">Guide. In there I saw an ad from Panasonic about their "new, lower cost film <br class="">caps". So I sent them a Telex (Google that you young turks).<br class=""><br class="">A few days later I got a Telex back. The quote was for 18 *cents*.<br class=""><br class="">Well, I figured THAT was wrong, they probably quoted +-10% not +-1%. So I sent <br class="">the quote again, spelling out these were *ONE PER CENT* tolerance. The next day, <br class="">here comes another Telex:<br class=""><br class="">"Please accept utmost humble apology for incorrect previous quote. Corrected <br class="">price is $0.16".<br class=""><br class="">Well, I laughed and more as a "get lost you idiots" gesture asked for 100 <br class="">samples, sent Fed-Ex with FULL test data on EVERY CAP in the sample lot.<br class=""><br class="">1 week later, here came the package: a 120 page *hand typed* report (1 cap per <br class="">page!), 100 samples, each with a *tiny* serial number. And the caps were about <br class="">1/4th the size of the ElectroCube. So I bought 1.7 million of them over 4 years.<br class=""><br class="">Epilogue: When the ElectroCube sales guy called looking for the order, I told <br class="">him I found another source "under 25 cents each". HE didn't believe me, he had <br class="">the president and chief engineer of ElectroCube call me. THEY didn't believe me, <br class="">either. After the design was in the stores, they went and bought one. They <br class="">called me up asking if Tandy would consider *reselling* them the caps!!! I <br class="">LOL'd.<br class=""><br class="">Paul S.<br class=""></blockquote><br class=""></div><div class="">There are more in the archive.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">
<div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Terry Bowman, KA4HJH<br class="">"The Mac Doctor"<br class=""><br class=""></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><a href="https://www.astarcloseup.com" class="">https://www.astarcloseup.com</a></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">"I’ve seen things you <span style="font-style: normal;" class="">people</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near Tannhäuser Gate. </div><div style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">"All those moments will be lost in time like tears in the rain."— Roy Batty, <i class="">Blade Runner</i></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>