[RE: Memorymoog] and gold IC sockets

[Harry Bissell]

Harry Bissell writes: Gold plated ribbon connectors are a vey good idea,
because there is very low insertion force, and they are mostly "dry" circuits
where the power is so low that there is never any "arcing" to clear corrosion.

Dip sockets are another matter: I use AMP Diplomate sockets, which pinch the
IC leads between a flat metal platen and a single leaf spring, with good
wiping action, and enough force to cause a Gas Tight connection which stands
up favorably even in an industrial environment. Never had an IC fall out or
lose connection. Even good for high pin count IC's. Not for places where you
want to disconnect a million times, though.... :-) Harry



Barry L Klein <Barry.L.Klein at wdc.com> wrote:
----------
From: 	WeAreAs1 at aol.com[SMTP:WeAreAs1 at aol.com]
Sent: 	Sunday, April 25, 1999 1:29 PM
To: 	synth-diy at mailhost.bpa.nl
Subject: 	Memorymoog





I was a factory-authorized Moog service technician in the Mid-1980's, during 
the heyday of the Memorymoog.  I was also an authorized service technician 
for every other major brand at the time.  Memorymoogs were the absolute worst 
synthesizers that any service person would ever have to work on.  Go ahead, 
ask any tech who was active at the time, "What synth was the worst to work 
on?", and "Which synth was the most unreliable?".  Both answers will ALWAYS 
be "Memorymoog", without fail, and without hesitation.


I am working on one right now.  It is the first Memorymoog I have ever seen
yet alone
opened up and worked on.  I do not work on synths as an income source - just a
hobby -
when I see one for sale not working but cheap, I buy it and spend my evening
hours working
on it.  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.  Say
you put
everything on one pcb and eliminated the cables and connectors - the board
would be HUGE!

So.... if you have any of these (or P5's) acting as doorstops, let  me know. 
I want
another one to work on after this one's working.

If you work on these for a living you want to be paid for the work you do at a
minimum -
by the hour.  So far on this one I'd imagine
I've got 30 hours into it!!  Next one I'll know a lot more starting off and be
better at
it.  Still, I wouldn't want to pressure of working on someone else's synth. 
If its mine I
can take my time.  Professionally, I'd suggest someone make a diagnostic box
that plugs in
where the Z80 goes.  Then you could run routines to check the various
peripheral hardware
- switches latches etc.  It'd be much faster then to go through it and find
bad
parts/connections.  Then you're left with tuning the thing and that - looks to
be time
consuming, period.


Barry


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