I've had a Circuit Board made....

[gstopp at fibermux.com]

     Mathias, I hope you don't mind if I respond to your email to the DIY 
     list...
     
     The circuit board has all the inputs and outputs for each module 
     brought out separately to PC pads, and not inter-connected to each 
     other in any way (except power and ground). Therefore as it is it's 
     "modular" to begin with. You can bring everything out to panel jacks 
     as you wish, or create a little pre-patched sound module like the 
     Oberheim SEM.
     
     The input and output pads are along all four edges, so it's not really 
     suited to card cage mounting, unless you piggy-back it on a larger 
     plate of some kind.
     
     As for experience level required, I plan on providing a schematic and 
     some documentation on what components to use, what someone could get 
     away with changing things slightly, etc. Keep in mind that a circuit 
     board is only about half the battle - the panel and everything else is 
     just as complicated. The thing that I won't provide is the panel and a 
     step-by-step assembly checklist. So PAIA has me beat there, and if 
     you've never assembled a PCB (printed circuit board) before, I'd 
     probably advise a FatMan first.
     
     I haven't tallied up the components costs yet, and that really depends 
     on your access to electronics components. I'd expect about $50 
     additional if you buy everything over the counter at a big expensive 
     electronics store. This is where experience comes in handy, frankly. 
     I'm afraid I can't commit to supplying any parts, at this time...
     
     - Gene
     gstopp at fibermux.com


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: I've had a Circuit Board made....
Author:  mathias at cstone.net at ccrelayout
Date:    4/17/96 12:12 PM


Sounds like a very nice machine indeed. Very tempting to build one. 
But here's the problem: I barely have any electronics experience at 
all. Would it be possible for me to build a synth like that with just 
a circuitboard and basic instructions, or should I get realistic and 
start with something simpler? Like a small Paia kit?
   Just to give you an idea how new I am at this, I've been thinking 
of getting one of those Radio Shack electronics boxes ("Build 200 
electronic projects") just to get a feel of the basic components. 
How's that for a start?
   Luckily, electronics are the only thing about this that I'm new at, 
I know quite a bit about synthesis and sound (I am a recording 
engineer), and I do know how to solder. I've read the mailing list for 
about a week, and things are very slowly starting to make more sense. 
So, is there any hope for me?
   About the synthesizer project I replied about, do you plan to make 
it totally patchable or semi-normalled Arp 2600-style? All the 
different ins and outs, would it be possible to bring them to the 
front panel and patch them with banana-plugs, like on the Serge(with 
stackable ins and outs)? How do you plan to bring the different signal 
components together, would you build a separate mixer circuit? And 
apart from the curcuitboard, about how much could one expect to pay 
for the components? Am I asking too many stupid questions? (Yes)
     
Mathias Tornqvist