In Tom's defense. :)

[tomg]

It's not going away is it?

>Well the kicker here is that Tom created that expectation himself by writing 
>such things as "I keep looking for the perfect VCO. The VCO-3B almost fits 
>bill", "This is a GREAT VCO!", "This is worlds most dangerous VCF ".

I did say almost.

>It's fine to publish simpler circuits, that are easier and cheaper to build,
>as 
>long as you clearly declare what they are and not pretend they are world
>class. 
>I'm sure he has put a lot of effort into this, but think about how much time 
>DIYers around the world might waste if they build the circuits in the belief 
>that they really are the best you can find? 

I did say almost.

>There is definitely a place for simplified circuits too, as long as they are 
>labeled as such.
>I'm all for using cheap easy to get components and I think Tom's initiative
is

>a very good one. It's just the prose on his web site that bothers me a bit.

I did say almost. Have I got the meaning of almost right?

>And 
>I think suppliers of high quality kits like Paul Schreiber must be even more 
>bothered. 

Paul seems to like them..

>To build stable and reliable analog circuitry is not trivial. Even the pros 
>like Moog had problems with that. Beginners deserve to know what the pitfalls

>are before they waste too much of their time.

Did Moog or anybody else ever build a drift proof synth? News to me.

>I don't have all the answers myself but I listen to the other people on this 
>list and try to avoid making the mistakes that they have done. I also think I

>should warn the others not to make the mistakes that I have done. 
>I like to check with the other people on the list what their opinion on a 
>circuit is, before I try to build it. Why waste time if somebody else already

>has found out that the circuit has problems? Or that a better one exists,
that

>is just as simple to build?

If you don't like the way it looks don't build it. But don't slam it
until you've built it yourself (this means YOU, no second/third hand
crap). Make sure if you have a problem it's not builder error.

-tg