PCB layout, Art or Craft?

[jorgen.bergfors at idg.se]

> >> 4. I can have beautiful full color parts placement diagrams. My parts
> symbols look
> >> almost exactly like the real parts.
> >>>You make PCB or painting for art gallery?
> > I'm only in it for the art. Music is art and I want my synthesizer
 to be a piece of art too. I have seen too many homebuilt synths that look like piles of junk. >> /Jorgen
> I'm sure you want your synth to look good,who doesn't,yet the very
>nature of a modular synth is that it can Never be said to be finished..... >You will probably want to modify most of your PCB's and add extra holes to >front panels for add-on pots/switches six months after finishing the final >module as various mods/improvements come to mind through using the synth.I >find this happens to me with most of the modules i've built,
>  So i guess that at some stage you will have to choose between having a cool >looking synth that you consider Art [personally i think that any homebuilt >synth that works is Art],or a sprawling monster of a slowly evolving/mutating >mess that sounds exactly as you want it to....the latter is probably quite an >accurate description of my modular/Monster synth.

>i wish you well in your synth-building activities
>Paul H

I do rather extensive research before I build a module. That's one of the activities I enjoy the most with this hobby. First I decide what features and functions I want. Then I design the front panel. After that I try to find or design the circuits. Then I build a prototype of the circuits that I am not familiar with. Only after that I build the actual module.
So  there is seldom a need for changes after the module is completed. And anyway there is usually no room on the front panel for additional knobs, switches or jacks. If I'm not satisfied, I'd rather build a brand new module than change an existing one. You can never get too many modules, so the old one is still useful. Isn't this the beauty with the modular concept?

/Jorgen