Digisound re-issue panel issues

[Paul Schreiber]

Thanks to all who responded for suggestions (sorry I mixed up Digisound with X-16 in the same post and confused
even me).

Many people asked if panels could be an option. First let me explain what is was PLANNING to do. But, I'm not
buying any! Hopefully, YOU are. So......

My past building experience, plus woking on my "somebody spilled Coke in my Minimoog" problems all week
has reminded me that it's no fun wiring up all those pots on a panel. What I planned to do was design the pc boards
like Mackie mixers: all of the pots are soldered to the pc board, and the circuitry is arranged around them.
For the Digisound modules, the pc board is parallel to the front panel. The pots all solder on the pc board, and the
remaining components are on the "back side" ie the solder side.

The jacks are hand soldered, because I feel pc mount 3.5mm are not rugged enough, and if you want to use banana you can drill the holes bigger! 1/4" is just too big for 3" wide panels., IMHO, but you can try!

Now, if you want to make up your own panels, then you can either:

a) mount the pcb on say, 1 1/2" standoffs and solder individual wires to the pc board
b) mount the pcb on "L" brackets (perpendicular to the front panel) and solder away.

A last alternative (rejected my me) was a "L" bracket mount with right angle pots. The problem there is you only
get 1 column.

FYI: most performing musicians require matte black panels with white letters so they can be seen in stage 
lighting. Even though other panels look better (a la Serge black on white panels) they are a nightmare in
low light or overheads colored lighting.

So: I am at the point where a decision needs to be made. Please let me know if my idea of "solder to the pcb"
pots is OK. Note this is NOT how the original was done, but I'm trying to reduce both:

1) work on your part
2) errors on your part resulting in nasty email to me

Please let me know by the 15th so I can get rolling.

Lastly:

I can't call them Digisound, so a free CEM chip (no, NOT a 3340!) to the winner of "rename that modular"!!

Paul Schreiber
Synthesis Technology