[sdiy] Hi everybody / starting out

[WeAreAs1 at aol.com]

In a message dated 8/20/05 9:54:25 PM, xyzzy at sysabend.org writes:

<< I'm gonna offer another suggestion.  The EFM Tomcat.  Theres a PDF on this
page: http://www.ele4music.com/kits.html

The small kit includes everything but panel, jacks, and pots so you'll have
to source those.  Its fairly cheap, you should be able to built it for
around $100 total if you make your own front panel.  Its also Volt/Octave
unlike the fatman, so you could easily patch it out if you wanted. cut a
couple traces, have some fun buffering and you've got a few "modules" from
your first kit.
 >>

Ouch!!  I would not recommend building EFM stuff as a first building 
excercise.  Almost everything EFM has offered has come complete with undocumented 
schematic drawing errors, parts list errors, and PCB trace errors.  Furthermore, 
the PC boards and kits usually include very little or ZERO instructions, 
circuit theory explanations, troubleshooting tips, or how-to documentation.  
Sometimes, the circuits don't even work as expected without modifications that the 
user must figure out on his own!  Yeah, it's all stuff that can be worked 
around, but it's definitely not for a first-timer.  You kind of need to already know 
what you're doing to make the stuff work.  Tom G. seems like a nice enough 
guy, and he provides a valuable service to a certain segment of the DIY world, 
but I find his laissez-faire, "what, me worry?" approach to DIY kits more than 
a bit unsettling --- and I've been building stuff for 25 years.  In sharp 
contrast is the intensely user-friendly, customer service-oriented, highly 
detailed, step-by-step, connect-the-dots approach found in kits and documentation 
from Paia, MOTM, and Blacet.  Their user manuals virtually read like: "Hey, let's 
build a synthesizer, let's get it right, and let's learn some really cool 
stuff while we're doing it!"  You pays your money, and you takes your choice.

MJB