Analog rack backplane idea?

[Stopp,Gene]

Having worked in the datacomm business for, heck, 20 years, I've had to
deal with card-cage backplane form factors the whole time. Many is the
time that I've looked at a backplane and thought of how it would be a
nice format for a modular synthesizer. I mean, a Moog modular is "truly"
modular - not like a 2600, or an EML101, or MS20, but truly modular. You
can swap modules around anywhere you want. But a cardcage/backplane
would take this one step further - none of this "unscrew it with a
screwdriver and pull it out and yank off the connector harness", but
rather "unscrew the thumbscrews and pull it out and plug it in somewhere
else". The backplane can provide power (a bunch of different voltages,
with each module taking only what it needs), plus console CV's and
gates. Additionally you can provide some other busses like final mixer
inputs, or normalled patch point busses, or whatever you can dream up.
Great food for thought.

However such a system would involve quite a dedicated design phase, from
backplane pinouts to sheet metal to edge connectors on the circuit
board. I mean, I could do it, but I don't see the effort being justified
by the demand. It would just be nice to see somebody do it....

 - Gene

 ----------
From: John Speth
To: Synth-DIY List (E-mail)
Subject: Analog rack backplane idea?
Date: Thursday, June 04, 1998 2:44PM

Has anybody out there ever thought out, analyzed, or even built an
analog synth using a backplane rack?  By this I mean bussing a bunch
analog function cards into something like the form factor of the old
S-100 bus for a semi-custom loading of an instrument.  I realize it is
an inefficient use of backplane conductors.  But does anybody have any
thoughts or experiences about why this could be a bad idea.  It would
make for real clean wiring.

John Speth
Object Engineering, Inc.
johns at oei.com