[sdiy] Radfio Shack

[Richard Wentk]

At 06:13 21/10/2004 -0700, Scott Gravenhorst wrote:

> >Still, I'm disappointed that there isn't more interest in microcontrolled
> >and DSP based synth DIY. The perception that it *has* to be analogue, and
> >it also has to be an analogue copy of an existing module, is holding DIY
> >back significantly.
>
>It's a completely different way of thinking.

True, but so is RF vs audio and valves vs op-amps. I don't think that's 
enough to explain the lack of interest.

>With analog, you have a
>single design that performs a single function and interaction can usually be
>easily eliminated, whereas with digital, the temptation is to force
>multitasking to provide more functions than one from a single device - adding
>to the design complexity.

This is true. But the pay off is potentially you get a lot more bang for 
your buck. And a much richer feature set too.

>Many of the SDIY crowd were baptized in analog, it's
>concepts are hard to forget.  When I look at digital as a means to an end, I
>sigh heavily and say "perhaps not" since it requires things I either can't do
>or don't desire to do - such as either making or paying for a circuit board
>professionally etched.  If I need a VCO or a filter, I can cobble one up in a
>couple of hours on stripboard.  For digital, I need to do many hours of work
>before I can even think about the code problems I'm about to have.

I've breadboarded digital and it's worked fine. A PCB always helps, but 
it's never essential.

I'm reading what you're saying as 'I'm used to analogue and I don't have 
the interest in learning a new skill now.' Which I think is partly what I 
was saying.

>So then there's a digital SIDY crowd - where are the projects?  Why are there
>so few?

There are very few *hardware* projects because most of the people who are 
interested in music DSP code VST and Direct X plugins instead of building 
things with a soldering iron. One problem is there's a huge gap between the 
neat and tidy world of code and the hands-on world of solder flux, and 
there's no easy path between the two. PC and Mac architectures are both 
closed and trying to do something like making your own USB or Firewire 
peripherals is a *major* project.

I think if the architectures were more open, there would very possibly be a 
lot more interest.

>I would think that many SDIY people on this list would have developed
>many interesting things, and there are _some_, but certainly not the plethora
>that came from analog designs.  I don't believe that's because those people
>thought that it has to be analog or has to sound like analog.  And if it is, I
>suppose it's their own fault.  It may be that there's more of a sheep 
>mentality
>at work than we want to admit.  There is a good reason why so many synths have
>those "boring" presets that copy the sounds we've heard on the radio.  It may
>just be that it's less common to "think outside the box" than we might wish to
>believe.

That's pretty much where I am with it. (That and having the ideas but no 
resources to develop them.) For example - hybrid approaches make things 
like analogue control memories fantastically easy. I don't mean in the 
patch memory sense, but in the sense of providing 8 channels of control or 
audio voltage recording for playback or even editing later. (Like a BBD on 
steroids. :-) But without the noise or other limitations.)

There are whole classes of potential modules like that that no one seems to 
be interested in.

> >I can imagine in some future world exotic nano-technology giving everyone a
> >custom chip fab at home, but in the intervening century or so DIY is going
> >to have to deal with the problem that these parts just don't exist any more
>Nice fantasy, but I do have my doubts, after all, even digital methods are not
>being persued to the fullest extent of their usefulness and that stuff is
>available right here and now.

Possibly. I can imagine nano could make it possible to revive and reinvent 
electronic design in ways that aren't possible today. It would probably be 
more a case of building 'digital' models of your hardware and then letting 
the goo loose on the raw ingredients, rather than actually making 
individual components and hand soldering them together. Although - who 
knows? - some people might enjoy doing that as a hobby even when other 
approaches are available.

Richard