Memorymoog

[Don Tillman]

   Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 10:01:44 -0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)
   From: Barry L Klein <Barry.L.Klein at wdc.com>

   I think the design of the Memorymoog is beautiful, the
   implementation could've been better.  It does need gold plated
   contacts in the IC sockets and connectors.  And different types of
   connectors would be better.  But to do what this unit does with the
   state of technology of the time - its as good as you could hope
   for.  

Compare the physical design of the MemoryMoog with the Rhodes Chroma. 

On the Chroma adjusting and swapping out voice boards is trivially
easy, there's no heat buildup spots, you don't need a padded surface
area three times the footprint of the instrument just to open it up,
there are fewer sharp metal edges to injure yourself on, there are
fewer connections failing due to mechanical stress and vibration, no
boards require removing other boards to get at them, no boards require
removing literally dozens of screws to get to.  And it doesn't need a
fan.

Let's try a concrete example: You're at a gig, there's a solder joint
at the output volume control that opened up due to the some stress on
the unprotected knob (and the fact that the pot is mechanically
secured by the pc board) and your synth isn't useable.  Fix it; you
have 15 minutes.  :-)  

(For folks who haven't done anything like this, I think it involves
removing and replacing 50-something screws, removing and replacing
three pc boards, removing and replacing all the knobs and pushbuttons,
and some very precarious maneuvers that must be performed with a lot
of care.)

  -- Don