PAIA & kits - ametuer

[List, Christopher]

I would tend to agree with Matt here. I started soldering in electronics
shop back in Junior Highschool, and built a Heathkit AM radio when I was
about 14, so I've pretty much always been comfortable with the tools -
but lets face it, it takes some practice and a light touch to get nice
clean joints - especially on ICs. Ruining (or just getting fed up with)
a big kit like the Fatman through impatience and lack of experience is
pretty easy.

I would say, if you've never used a soldering iron before, start with
something a little less involved. Don't get me wrong, the FatMan's a
great kit - I had my order placed as soon as I got the issue of
Electronic Musician describing it - before they were even shipping. I
built it back when I didn't have clue what a single one of the chips
did, or even how a voltage divider worked! (Having at that point erased
all memory of Junior High electronics during my "experimental" High
School years) OTOH, I had done plenty of soldering, and I'm really
patient with stuff like that, and mine happened to work right the first
time I turned it on. I love it.

The flip side to this arguement is that if you are comfy w/ an iron, or
you've always been quick to grok manual-dexterity craft kind of stuff,
or you're just a really careful patient guy in general - then hey, go
for it. I wouldn't let *just* a lack of electronics theory stop you.
You'll learn plenty of that when you start building stuff 100% from
scratch (or just a schem) - as it won't work 50% of the time :)

- CList


> -----Original Message-----
> From:	matt wilson [SMTP:sebsi23 at hooked.net]
> Sent:	Wednesday, November 04, 1998 6:12 PM
> To:	jamos at technotoys.com; synth-diy at mailhost.bpa.nl
> Subject:	Re: PAIA & kits - ametuer
> 
> At 06:40 AM 11/4/98 -0800, you wrote:
> 
> >I would advise anyone interested in getting into synth-DIY to start
> with a
> >Fatman; it's not too expensive, and very easy to build.
> 
> i would disagree, from a purely subjective POV. i found the fatman to
> be
> a very difficult undertaking as my first DIY project: i didn't have
> the
> skills to:
> 1. solder well enough
> 2. allocate my time efficiently
> 3. UNDERSTAND what i was doing
>  
> etc. because i'd never done anything like it before.
> 
> i'd recommend a simple function generator kit, like the one available
> from datak (.com, i think...) or blacet's micro lfo. these are both
> small pcbs, with no more that 15 components, and will run off 9 volt
> batteries, and will give you easy indications whether you built them
> correctly. no midi to muck with, just very simple analog boards. the
> fg is about $8 and john's kit is about $12. the fatman will run
> upwards
> of $75 or so. you can build and operate the fg in about 30 minutes
> and have it up and making tones. add a simple jack and resistor and
> you've
> got a control voltage input. build the lfo, feed it into the cv input
> and you're modulating your first diy modular synth. very satisfying,
> i'd think....
> 
> again, this is just my take on the issue. after building two
> oscillators,
> anderton's dual filter, two blacet lfos, paia midi-cv and fatman,
> novamod
> 101, and other stuff, i consider myself intermediate. i just wish i
> had
> saved the fatman for later so i didn't have to muck with it for so
> long,
> building and troubleshooting. 
> 
> good luck. 
> 
> 
> Matt Wilson, Odyssey Studios
>                on the web: www.wenet.net/~sebsi23
>                           on the phone: 415 675-4886
>                                     on the email: sebsi23 at hooked.net
> 
>