[sdiy] Favorite (American) Parts Suppliers

[Scott Stites]

Hi Michael,

Actually your view of the golden age was what I was referring to.  Believe it or not, I have been, one way or another, interested in DIY since the late 70's (I murdered a PAiA Gnome in 1980, in fact, which is a fairly good indication of my skills back then).  The availability of parts and kits was exquisite, but information was certainly harder to come by unless one had the bux (which I didn't), and acquiring the parts required a bit more legwork.  That's if you knew which parts to get!

The current golden age is due mainly to the more or less free access to information, the quantity (and quality) of it (reference Jim, Ian, Rene, Ken, this list, et al, datasheets, manufacturer websites) and the easier access to a wider range of materials, both of which are due to the internet.  

What's missing is the ease of access to certain key components (the CEM's, SSM's) which can, to a certain extent, be displaced by the components still (knock on wood) available today.  Gone also are a some of the arrays of yore, and the UA726 type of stuff.  Nearly gone is the BBD (which at least one list member would argue is for the best), which can't really be replaced through analog methods.  This leads to the other facet of the current age - the digital side of things.  

So one golden age has been supplanted by another age, which is golden for different reasons.  If I had a choice between the two, I'd have to choose the latter (current) age, though it *would* be nice to order those SSM's and CEM's from PAiA while not in a dream state =0).

Cheers,
Scott

-----Original Message-----
From: WeAreAs1 at aol.com
Sent: Oct 8, 2004 5:01 PM
To: scottnoanh at peoplepc.com, synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
Subject: Re: [sdiy] Favorite (American) Parts Suppliers


In a message dated 10/8/04 10:03:48 AM, scottnoanh at peoplepc.com writes:

<< All very good points indeed!  It's been said before, but it can be said 
again, this *is* the golden age of Synth DIY.  >>

In some ways, you are correct.  This is the Golden Age of Synth DIY.  But 
certainly not because of specific part availability or because we have lots of 
good parts suppliers to deal with.  Anyone who thinks otherwise must certainly 
not have been doing DIY during the late 1970's through the 1980's (the true 
golden age of electronic DIY, at least where parts and kits were concerned).  No, 
that Golden Age really centered around 1982 or so.  If you need proof, go 
seek out an old Polyphony magazine or Paia, Mouser, or Jameco catalog from that 
era.

No, this is the Golden Age because of two things:  1. the existence of the 
internet, which allowed all of us freaks to find each other, and MOST 
importantly  2. the existence of this mailing list (Synth DIY), which has done more for 
proliferating and expanding the DIY phenomenon than anything that ever came 
before.  The Synth DIY list is truly what Bernie Hutchins was hoping that the 
Electronotes "community" would become.  As an aside, I think it's so sad that 
Bernie now doesn't really seem to give a rat's fart about us, other than just 
wanting to grab our money for work and research that, for the large part, he 
didn't really do himself (I would feel differently if Bernie would at least offer 
publishing royalties to his small group of original Electronotes 
contributors).  Thank goodness for stalwart and generous old-timers such as Jim Patchell 
and Barry Klein, who continue to participate and carry the torch!  Huge kudos 
to Rick Jansen, who started the Synth DIY list, and still continues to gently 
and very unselfishly nurture and guide it into this new century.

Anyway, if this really is the Golden Age, it is TOTALLY because of US.

Michael Bacich

(apologies to other great old-timers whose names I didn't mention - Thanks to 
all of you!)



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