QUIT the Sampling vs. Synth war, Tempcos, etc.

[Stopp,Gene]

Sean Costello wrote:

>
>Because this is Synth-DIY.  Not "I-like-synths" or "let's make music"
or
>"Analogue Heaven."  This list is about making devices to make your own
>sounds. It is not the place for a general discussion of Analog vs.
>Digital.
>

You're right - AH is the place for this stuff. I was subbed there for a
while, and when the ineveitable accidental un-sub happened (as does with
most lists, machine-based as they are) I simply neglected to re-sub and
decided to save on in-box space. It was fun while it lasted, and I do
lurk the archives just to keep humored (if you can call reading archives
"lurking"...). Synth-DIY is a much quieter list simply because it's
pretty hard to get all steamed up about math and physics.

I think it's good to get the occaisional "let's perk things up a bit"
post, because it usually results in a re-statement of the lists's
charter - kind of a "re-synchronization" effect that reminds us all what
we're here for. I liked the monodirectional speaker cable comments, and
Chris' "Thinks of Machines", especially. So let's think about machines
some more....

Even in this day and age probably the most practical way to home-build a
wide-range precision pitched excitation source is to go with an
exponential analog VCO design. There, I said it. All these years, and
still a VCO design from the early '70's (made with currently available
parts) is hard to beat. Well, easy to beat if you have two. Ooops, sorry
for the pun. Anyway, by far the easiest front-end, both parts-wise and
performance-wise, is an input summer-transistor pair-tempco resistor.
The input summer is a no-brainer, the transistor pair can be a pricey
matched-pair but can also be a pair of easy-to-get standard transistors,
which leaves the tempco. At this point in time I don't see tempcos
completely going away, because as long as we have transistor junctions
we will have tempcos for them. We just need to sort out the availability
issues. We had the same problem in the '70's - they were about as hard
to get back then as they are now. The thing is, they are worth the
effort because a nice temp-compensated VCO is a beautiful thing to work
with. Alternate converter schemes such as heaters just aren't as
elegant. They do work fine, don't get me wrong, but still I think the
tempco's are worth the effort.

Regarding tempco's - if somebody wants to purchase a batch, I'd like to
chime in and say that I'd certainly want to pitch in. I'm about to
deplete my current quantity when I put together my Shepard Generator VCO
bank, and I'm sure I'll want more after that, at least a dozen. Also, I
do have a stack of blank ASM-1's waiting to be sold (or used by me if
the mood strikes) and I would heartily recommend to any ASM-1 builders
to use tempco's, at least in the VCO's. So if MOTM-meister Paul became a
source, not only would I become a customer but I would try my darndest
to point ASM-1 builders his way as a source for tempco's.

 - Gene