[sdiy] Starting my ASM-1

[Ingo Debus]

Rob Mantel wrote:
> 
> I built the formant keyboard years ago, and to be honest, I would never do
> it again. A lot of those keyboards, like the formant one, use double
> contacts for each key (one for the cv, one for the gate), its a pain to keep
> those contacts work reliable and trigger both at exactly the same time over
> the years.

Isn't it sufficient when the cv contact closes before the gate contact?

> I also doubt if you include all costs to build your own keyboard, casing,
> the keyboard itself, hardware, electronic parts, connectors, cables, front
> plate etc etc, if you would end up spending less money than when you would
> buy a cheap midi keyboard and a midi-cv converter.

I share your doubts here. Some MIDI keyboards are dirt cheap, and one
could still DIY the MIDI-cv converter.
Every few week the question how to build a cv keyboard pops up here, I
always wonder why. Going MIDI has so many benefits, like velocity,
stacking with commercial synths, using computer sequencers or
non-keyboard controllers, no trouble finding stand-alone keyboard
mechanics etc. etc.

Ingo