another (US) Schaeffer-Apparatebau report

[Andrew Schrock]

I Just thought I would share my experience with Schaeffer-Apparatebau
KG... my panels arrived today. I had almost given up on them getting here
(it has been 3 weeks since they sent it; they said it would take a week,
and over 5 weeks since I made my order) and actually ordered an
alternative panel yesterday, since I only have until the end of August to
finish this project.. luckily it was cancellable. I guess the moral of the
story is to make sure you have adequate time to get essentials shipped
from another continent. They provice TOP RATE service, and this deal was
done 100% over email, saving me the cost of calling Germany. 

The total cost wasn't bad at all compared to the trouble I would go
through to actually get them engraved myself. The black background looks
great.. a very smooth matte finish. The lettering is quite sharp and VERY
readable, even from far away. (see JH's synthi clone for an example) The
engraving was extremely accurate.. all the mistakes on the panel were my
own fault. ("Sub" instead of "FM" in one spot is the main one.. doh) Mine
is 3mm thick aluminum... quite sturdy. It doesn't flex or bend at all with
jack insertion, and the aluminum seems to be harder/stiffer than other
cheaper panels I've worked with. I can't wait to get going and fill my
modular front panel up with pots and knobs. I'll put some pictures on my
web page after I drop a few modules in. (finished are the dual VCO and
dual VCA units, still to go: basically everything else: assembling my
motm-100, 3xADSR, 2xVCF, ringmod, c/v+audio mixer...) 

I also got a smaller panel made up for a prepatched mini-synth I'm putting
together. Both units use (ferociously expensive) small square e-switch
5500 series switches for various functions. I still have yet to design the
digital switching for this.. been putting it off. (see my previous lament
to the list) Why am I using expensive, square switches? Cuz, dammit, they
look and feel so nice. I guess I'm just unable to resist the temptation.
Look at the layout of the access virus to see what I mean. 

Andrew

| Andrew Schrock							|
| Network Programmer, Synthesizer and electronic music enthusiast	|
| aschrock at cs.brandeis.edu						|