My evil modular plans -- patch cords

[Dan Slater]

gstopp at fibermux.com wrote:
> 
>      Okay if you make a modular synthesizer out of modules that are digital
>      inside, do you bring out all the patchpoints to panel jacks so that
>      you can use patchcords to connect them to other modules, analog or
>      digital? If you do, then this means A/D and D/A and the subsequent
>      potentially cumulative conversion errors.
> 
	Why not bring out both digital and analog to a single patch connector ?
For example, if you are using 1/4" phone plugs run the analog to the tip
and digital to the ring. If you use a standard mono patch cord you would
route analog to another module or external device. If you use a patch
cord (stereo for example) that contains the ring, you would instead
route the digital. You could even use a Y cord and split off analog and
digital. There could be some issues of possible interference due to the
close proximity of the digital and analog but I think this could be
taken care of with some careful design.

Dan Slater (dslater at ix.netcom.com)