Favorite designs

[Josh Brandt]

> another.  They are the classic 'Ideal' vs 'Economical'.
> Also, one advantage to using the discrete designs is that
> they allow one to learn a bit more about what's going on.
> It depends a lot on what one is after.
[...]
> It would be useful for a person to rate their favorite
> design based upon these criteria.  A table could even
> be compiled later, e.g.:
> 
>               _Cost___Performance___Tutorial_Value_
> VCF Design 1 |  2   |     4       |      1         |
> VCF Design 2 |  3   |     3       |      2         |
> VC0 Design 1 |  5   |     3       |      2         |
> VCA Design 1 |  1   |     5       |      1         |
> VCA Design 2 |__2___|_____1_______|______5_________|
>                       (etc...)

If people want to send me ratings of various modules (and how to locate the
schematics, if they're available, or on the web somewhere, I'd be more than
happy to whip this up into a web page and make it available.

Basic guidelines:

Cost:
Should include components and PC board, but not materials used in the
manufacture, like drill bits or etchant. It also shouldn't include the front
panel (or whatever it's mounted in) or knobs, but it should include
potentiometers-- assume reasonably good pots, and that using all top-quality
stuff would knock it into the next price-range.

This is a rough guideline-- if someone wants to suggest a different scale of
ranges, feel free.

I suggest:
1= $10-30 (a Penfold oscillator)
2= $30-60 
3= $60-90 (A few CEM chips)
4= $90-120
5= $120-up (obscenely expensive!)

Performance:
Should include CV tracking, staying in tune, and things like that. Should
not include sound quality.

1= rock-solid tracking. Laboratory quality.
2
3= tracks well, but has to be retuned if it gets hot out.
4
5= goes out of tune if you look at it funny, doesn't track well at all.

Sound:
This is more subjective... 

1= sooopahPHAT (or otherwise pleasant), noise-free
2
3= not too bad... A bit of noise.
4
5= thin and nasty, or really noisy

Complexity:
Including number of parts, if the included PCB trace layouts are all really
tiny and thin and hard to etch accurately, if there are hundreds of pots
that need to be perfectly preset, and things like that.

1= Nice and easy. Weeknight project. (Again, a Penfold module)
2=
3= weekend project
4=
5= Don't make any plans. 

Tutorial Value:
Are there good notes included? Do they go into lots of detail on what's
going on with the module? Are the ideas behind the module obvious to someone
who's putting it together to learn more about synth design, or is it really
weird and obtuse? 

1= Good notes. Lots of detail, and a good module to give you a start at
figuring out synth design and the like. A good beginner's module.
2
3
4
5= Hope it works first time, 'cause otherwise you'll never figure it out...


Other comments and notes are always welcome.

Any more suggestions? If people want to write up their favorite modules, I
will put together a web page with ratings, comments, and links to the
referenced modules and circuits.

Josh