[sdiy] Complete novice asks question...

[Scott Gravenhorst]

I have two of them.  I've personally not heard any horror stories,
except from one or two people who simply cannot solder or were 
completely lost with respect to correct part orientation.  (IMHO,
this is very well covered in the manual, however)  It does 
require *that* much skill.  Other than that, the instructions
are flawless and the company is more than generous with help
and free replacement of any parts delivered in bad or non-working
condition.

Advantages:
1)  Price.  You won't find more bang for the buck.
2)  All parts and instructions are included. (not the solder).
    I believe that PAiA is the ONLY company that provides an
    absolutely complete parts bag.  All the others require you
    search around for one thing or another.  Anyone who knows
    different should and will correct me here.  This is one
    aspect that makes it an excellent choice for those who
    are just starting out in this.
3)  MIDI capable, out of the box.
4)  2 versions: rack (no enclosure, but my favorite) and desktop 
    with enclosure.
5)  Very easy to modify.  I have many mods installed and most, if 
    not all, are published on my website (see link in sig).
    One thing though: the desktop box is already cramped, not good
    if you think you want to have a lot of mods which means more
    knobs, so panel space becomes an issue.
6)  The stock kit comes with enough 'stuff' to make cool sounds
    right away.
7)  In the event that you *cannot* make it work, PAiA will, for
    a small fee ($25 I think), fix it for you.  This is not true
    of most other kit companies, and I believe that PAiA may,
    in fact, be the only one.  Again, correction requested...
8)  It's well known and there are many people who can and will
    help you with problems.  Many of them are on this list.
    There is also a FatMan email list.
9)  The parts from which it is made are not rare and are still
    commonly available from electronics supply companies.  They
    are also still reasonably priced.
10) I don't know about others, but my two FatMan synths are 
    extremely pitch stable.  I've been known to leave it off
    for a few weeks, turn it on, only to find it in perfect
    tune with the digital synths I have.

Disadvantages:
1)  Not modular.  The configuration is set in a traditional two
    VCO to VCF to VCA setup.  However, this is how modulars are
    used quite often for tonal and melodic music.  Although it
    can do some of these, it doesn't do well for clicks, pops and
    many sounds normally used in non-tonal noise-scape work.  
    It is possible to add stuff to the FatMan to get it to make more 
    of these kinds of sounds.  It is also quite possible to modularize 
    the FatMan.
2)  Pitch CV is linear, not expo.  So it does not interface easily
    with most vintage modulars or vintage synths.  It is also true
    that most of the projects and module kits done by people on SDIY 
    are expo based, so these projects need to be modified to work with 
    a FatMan.  However, a pleasant side effect of linear CV is that 
    add-on VCOs are often easier and cheaper since there are no 
    transistors to match and no temperature compensation issues to deal 
    with.
3)  It is MIDI triggered.  That means it won't work with a keyboard
    that outputs only a control voltage unless you modify it (possibly
    extensively) to do so.  However, I think these days, a MIDI studio 
    is quite popular anyway.  
4)  Odd power supply voltages: +8/-12 (+5 for the uC).  This won't
    be a serious problem, since it's usually pretty easy to convert
    circuits.  All of my mods and all of the ones others have published
    that are specifically designed for the FatMan are already designed 
    for this, so it's not a big deal.
5)  The kit requires installing a lot of jumper wires and has a
    flying wire front panel.  This is really only a building issue
    and to some extent, an asthetics issue.

Did I miss anything?  As you can probably tell, I'm kind of a FatMan 
whore.  However I do not work for nor have any business connection with
PAiA other than being a very satisfied customer.

Mine took about 10 to 12 hours each to build.  I've heard that
some people do it faster, others slower.

One more thing, I didn't know a whole lot about analogue sound
generating and processing circuitry before building the FatMan
and joining this list.  There is a pretty good 'how it works'
section at the back of the manual.  I've also learned a whole 
lot from the guys on this list.  It was and continues to be a 
great learning experience for me.

John Goodall <jgoodall at rm.com> wrote:
>Hi people!
>
>I'd like to build an analog synth and was thinking about getting the Paia
>Fatman kit. Has anyone had any bad experiences with this/will this be a
>piece of cake to put together..?


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-- Scott Gravenhorst | LegoManiac / Lego Trains / RIS 1.5
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