PAIA & kits - ametuer

[Adrian Corston]

matt wilson types:
>>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
[...]

For another perspective, here is my experience.

I started building stuff about 6 months ago, and my first plan was to
build the ETI 4600 modular from designs I found in a local library. The
first thing I built was the power supply (which took ages, because it's
a terribly old design and uses far more components than is necessary by
current-day standards.)

Then I found synth-diy and designs on the Internet.

I have built nearly a dozen of TomG's Maxx boards now, and I have found
them to be quite a good starting point. I now feel I can take nearly
almost any schematic from the net, design a PCB and build it, although
I am staying away from the more complex ones for a little while yet. In
terms of debugging I'm still getting there - TomG's designs aren't
always 100% perfect, so I got to learn some debugging as well.

Back in the 80s as a young teenager I used to play around with
electronics a bit (one of those 200-in-1 electronic kits :-), and I
have done PCBs before, so I must acknowledge a little fore-knowledge
about what to do, but the big difference between my early experiences
to the last 6 months has been understanding what I'm doing (well,
mostly understanding ;-)

So I recommend the TomG designs to people who already have some
limited experience in electronics. Start with the simple boards and
work your way up. Expect to put in a lot of hours' work. My social
life has suffered significantly (but it is worth it!)

Cheers,

-- 
Adrian Corston
Internet Engineer
Internode Professional Access