Questions

[Drew Smith]

	Heya, folks,

	I've decided that I'm kidding myself thinking that I've got enough
electronics experience to sit down and build a circuit from a schematic
alone.  I'm trying to bring my skills up some, but I'm afraid I'm at a
loss.

	I'd like to build a project, hopefully to develop some more
understanding of what's happening, but short of going back to school,
I'm not entirely sure where to begin.  I do have basic understanding of
logic and a good capacity to pick up new concepts, but I'm on my own and
at a bit of a loss as to where to begin.

	Ideally, I'd like to build a small filter project - I've got many
analogue synths with which I play daily and perform occasionally.  I've
looked into some of the filter schematics I've seen on various sites,
but getting from paper to product is a bit difficult in my books.

	Can anyone suggest a good starting-point for all this?  A book, or a
kit, or a tutorial, or something?  I've built the Paia "drum tone board"
(with a complaint, actually, see below), but all I really got out of it
was a brushing-up of my soldering skills, unused since highschool.

	So - uh, I guess, help?  Anyone have any suggestions for me?

	Thanks in advance - I really do want to learn. :)

	Cheers,
	- Drew.

--
Drew Smith, UNIX Network Administrator
Pacific Corporate Trust Company, Vancouver

** Paia story:
	Well, it's not the fault of Paia, and a good person there did take a
look at the issue, but I'm still left with a well-soldered hunk of
circuitboard and out $50.  I bought the drum tone board on seeing it in
the Paia 1999 catalogue - it wasn't until I reached step 40 or so, "Now,
take out your Paia ThumbDrum board and connect it to J1", that I
realized that this kit is entirely useless on it's own.  I've been
experimenting a bit with it to see if I could possibly pull something
interesting out of the time spent, but my lack of knowledge is the main
obstacle.  I've got a voltage regulator sending the thing +5v to the pin
marked "+5v", ground to the ground pin - but there's a third pin marked
"Vcc" or something similar, which I have no idea what to do with.  I'm
certain it should be connected to something, but what voltage (or
whatever) is unknown - also the trigger inputs - have been experimenting
with +5v on a button-switch to see if I can trigger a noise of some
type, but still nothing.  Anyone have a solution?