[sdiy] Polyevolver, AudioMidi Synth Guru talk last nite.

[Barry Klein]

Yeah, Tom was saying that to be successful you have to get in with Guitar
Center and then subsidize the advertising and spoofs etc.  I then said,
"Well, what about the internet - AudioMidi for example"  Then he had to
agree there still was some opportunity for exposure.  Tom needs a spark, I
think he is feeling (well, he said..) he is too old to start again.  At the
same time I talked with Bob about his ladder filter (I tried to ask in the
forum session but Roger Lyn couldn't see me or something (I was in the
middle front row!) - how he came up with it, pre-conceived/spec'd/growth of
some other product- what?  He said it just...evolved, from a single-ended
design to a differential one.  I said he should write an article on it - how
he designed it, and how it works.  He said "who would publish it??".  :-)
He said he would like to have HIS OWN website to put such stuff in.  I love
his energy and enthusiasm for life.  Tom was getting a little synical like
most of us get now and then.  My knob lettering example said it all.

Barry

-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Arnold [mailto:xyzzy at sysabend.org] 
Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2005 2:38 PM
To: Barry Klein
Cc: xyzzy at sysabend.org; Synth diy list
Subject: Re: [sdiy] Polyevolver, AudioMidi Synth Guru talk last nite.

On Wed, Apr 20, 2005 at 02:10:38PM -0700, Barry Klein wrote:
> Tom was being pressured to re-enter the music busines world with a synth
> remake of SEM's or whatever.  But he is pretty down on the music biz.
Says
> it isn't fun and it is really hard to be successful.  Kind of a bummer to
> hear.  To him, the business climate is much more of a problem than the
> declining availability of analog components.

I think the way Dave got back into the business is awesome.  All of the big
synth makers ( Moog, Oberheim, ARP, Sequential ) grew to a point where they
had to try and make products so big that the company was nuked.   The AES
talk was about that sorta, its now possible to design build distribute
something without anywhere near as much overhead.  A risky design that never
quite works out doesnt take down a full assembly line while kinks are worked
out.

I did specifically ask if the Marion chip might be available to interested
parties if it went back into production and Dave didnt say "no" but also
didnt act really interested.  I expect something could be worked out.  But
something I've considered.  Say you come up with a nifty synth design and
want to make it, sure, getting a custom chip simplifies things quite a bit
but with SMD and automation its no big deal for the kind of quantities a
small-run synth builder ( ie : Not roland, korg etc... ) to just build up
your filters and such discrete.  Im fact there's nothig stopping anyone on
this list ( besides time and motivation ) from making an SSM2040 work-alike
on a small module and getting it produced.  I figure in that example you
could wedge the whole thing on 3cm^2 pcb doublesided for edge mounting.

What was really cool at the meeting was actually seeing Dave and Roger Linn
*excited* about something again.  Maybe that will happen to Tom...  he cant
be pressured, that wont work, but I think he could easily if he decided to,
re-release the Marion stuff redesigned to use outsourced production like
Dave does...

-- 
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 - Tom Arnold -       When I was small, I was in love,                  - 
 - Sysabend   -       In love with everything.                          -
 - CareTaker  -       And now there's only you...                       - 
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