[sdiy] Question:

[thescum at surfree.com]

> What would you say is a harder task to build
> from the ground up, assuming all skills needed
> are posessed, and money is not an issue:
> 
> A digital synth like a Virus
> or
> An analog synth like a Pro-one

If you have all the skills needed, then they're both similarly easy.  A lot of parts of both projects would be similar.  They both need power supplies, a case, and a control panel.  They'll both be filled with circuit boards and electronic components.

The theoretical design of analog oscillators and filters is reasonably similar to the design of digital oscillators and filters.  They both also have some tricky aspects: numeric accuracy & precision in DSP schemes, temperature compensation in analog circuits.

The analog synth will probably contain more components overall, which require more mechanical and hardware design attention & debugging.  It's also easier to interface panel controls with analog circuits.  A DSP synth may only contain a few ICs, and have simple hardware, but the software will be considerably more complex, and hooking panel controls to the "modules" is more roundabout.

This is assuming you'd use an off-the-shelf DSP...spinning your own would be substantially more intensive!

One thing to keep in mind, though not really a diffuculty issue: DSPs get faster every year.  If you started with a design for an n-voice polysynth, by the time you sinished the project, the next generation of faster DSPs would be out.  You might be able to double your polyphony with minimal redesign.  That might be a cool bonus for the project!

Byron Jacquot