[sdiy] "obsolete" 2N3906

[Paul Maddox]

Ruud,

>  this is where the musicians have a say as well as the techs..;-)

:-)

> i have always felt that one of the reasons old analogues sound better,
> fatter, more alive, etc is because of their big parts, so to speak. most
> seventies synths inside have big citcuit boards with thick traces, and
> enormous size parts compared to today. now technically this may sound
> rediculous, but i think there is a relationship between this and the sound
> of a synth. so making everything smaller in my view alters the sound, and
> generally not for the better.

possibly, but I beleive it has a lot more to do with component tolerances.
Older components arent aswell matched, so you get a 'character' from this.
With newer components being better matched you loose part of this
'character'.
It also helps that most older synths use SSM/CEM filters and most of the new
ones have DSPs, which do sound different.
DSPs have an advantage (or disadvantage depending on your point of view) in
that each box sounds indentical..
For example, Rick Wakeman has two minimoogs, and he can set the same patch
up on both, and play then and tell which is which from the sound, he can
listen to his back catalogue and tell you which Minimoog he used for a
certain part.
I can do this with Monowave's, each one I build sounds slightly different.
Something you cant do with DSPs...

What this leads to is a problem,
Analogue on one hand, you have synths with character, that sound unique,
which means if joe bloggs buys one he cant get the exact same sound as his
favourite pop idol, but he can get close.
DSP on the other hand, every one sounds the same, good for musicians as it
means if one dies they can buy another and create the exact same sound, Joe
bloggs CAN have the exact same sound as his favourite popidol, but you loose
the individuality of the each synth.
That said , modern analogue synths,  seem to have some sort of middle ground
between the two, they sound closer to each other, but have a small bit of
inviduality.

So you have to decide which way you want to go and which is right for you,
this is no wrong/right, just which you prefer!

Paul