more MetalPhoto info

[gstopp at fibermux.com]

     Hi list,
     
     I've been watching this thread (in its various incarnations) for a 
     while, with great interest! I really *do* plan to build some ASM-1 
     project soon, honest. One good thing about letting it slide for so 
     long is that I tend to think about it a lot and new ideas crop up now 
     and then.
     
     Okay listen I designed the thing back in, heck, March or something and 
     I have 3 working stuffed circuit boards, but no synthesizers yet! What 
     the hell is wrong with me. Well my wife had a baby in March and then 
     we sold our (undersized) house and bought a new (oversized) house in 
     June so now I'm just starting to get back to projects. Yeah yeah 
     excuses excuses.... anyway here's my input to this thread:
     
     If a cheap cool-looking panel were available I'd like to be in on the 
     design (if I may) and I'd also want a bunch for myself. I've been 
     holding off on making any commitment for anything that would cost more 
     than $10-30 per. What's the price for this thin-aluminum glue-it-on 
     sheet idea? It seems like I'm zeroing in on this laser-printed 
     cardboard thing simply out of sheer cost-effectiveness plus ease. I do 
     not want any chemical or paint messes - somebody else can do that if 
     they want. I do want to use a PC, if I make my own. No more freehand 
     for me, I'm past that stage. And if somebody else can do it, I would 
     be very happy indeed as that would free up some time for the building 
     process itself!
     
     These are my synthesizer thoughts:
     
     1. Big panel, all fully patchable, semi-modular design (a 
     "semi-modular" has separate sections on the panel for independent 
     modules but you can't move them around like on a Moog). No corners 
     cut, all possible jacks and pots, banana or 1/4" jacks.
     
     2. Small panel, normalled connections, for "expander module" type 
     synthsizers, like the OB SEM.
     
     3. Medium panel, normalled connection, one set of controls for a group 
     of ASM-1's plus some minor individual controls (like individual VCO 
     fine tune tweaks, etc.). Of course now the cabinet behind would have 
     to be bigger to hold all those PCB's....
     
     The first would be good for small modulars. One more ambitious idea is 
     to make this design, times four or eight, to get a big patchable poly 
     monster (drool drool) with lots of patchcords.
     
     The second would be more portable.
     
     The third requires a little modification to the ASM's so that their 
     ADSR controls and VCF resonance etc. are ganged together for voltage 
     control. I've discovered a cool way to VC the EG time constants 
     cheaply but it does require some added mess.
     
     As far as panel layout goes - I have a design done in Microsoft 
     Paintbrush (I know - yuk, so I did it at work okay?) for 
     laser-printing that has what I think is a good compromise between 
     simplicity and completeness. It's like #1 above, fully patchable, and 
     fits on a plate 16.5" X 12.75", which would rack-mount easily across 
     the 16.5" dimension. That plate happens to be one that we use here at 
     work for a lid to one of our products, so I can get scratched ones 
     from the production floor for free, so that's where my design size 
     came from. I figured that two of these, one above the other, in a wood 
     case about 9" deep, would be about the same physical dimension as a 
     Moog System 15, so I envision making three or four cabinets and 
     setting them side-by-side for a cool n-voice modular setup.
     
     Anyway if we can make it cheap, and if it's easy to apply, and it's 
     durable, and it's very, very cool looking, I want to be involved!
     
     - Gene
     gstopp at fibermux.com 


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: more MetalPhoto info
Author:  Christopher_List at Sonymusic.Com at ccrelayout
Date:    10/23/96 7:21 AM
     
  > This seems like a great material for front panels.
     
  Yes, absolutely. It's funny, after searching through Yahoo and whatnot 
  for quite sometime yesturday under "printing" "engraving" "Screen 
  printing" "metal fabrication" "maufacturing" etc, I couldn't find this. 
  Whodda thought the keyword is "Metalphoto". I really like the fact that 
  you can get shops to do this for you - especially when you consider the 
  fact that many of them must be used to really small runs for awards and 
  signs and stuff.
     
  This looks like the prime method of doing the faceplates for the ASM-1. 
  This way we can do them in one size and people can fix them to whatever 
  size panel theyt want and add the extra features in the blank space... Or 
  make one bigger size and people who don't want the extra features can 
  just cut that part off!
     
  Questions for Stew:
  1. What's a recommended thickness? You don't want it too thick if you're 
  sticking it onto 1/8" plates because the threads for the pots won't go 
  through.
     
  2. What's a recommended color - I think black lettering on silver would 
  be best, but maybe reversed would look cooler? Which is more durable - or 
  are they both tough?
     
  Thanks,
  - CList