[sdiy] Synth. Keyboards (was: Death of DIY?)

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> Getting this back to being more on-topic: how many people here who
> were interested in electronics as kids or college students ran into a
> roadblock called "where can I find an affordable bare keyboard to use
> with my synth?"

Me! Me! I wanted to build a synth in the 70s, but the cost of a keyboard
shot that down. I had played with radios in the sixties (dating myself.) I
gave up playing and went into the US Air Force to play with "real"
electronics. I bought a bass to cure the music itch and started to play with
computers.

I finally learned enough about computers to build one from scratch while in
Iceland (radios didn't work worth bothering with there - the aurora.) I
built the computer starting with an 1802 uP.

I got into synth DIY because most of the effects forums were how to build a
better distortion. I can patch any of the common effects together easily on
my system . . . but I still don't have a keyboard. So where can you buy a
reasonable keyboard with out having to haul a $100 organ from the Rescue
Mission and tear it apart?

Tim Daugard who . . .

lost his signature block with a hard drive replacement this weekend, lost a
tree with hurricane Dennis, and is losing his mind with a PROM programer, 10
or so modules for a sequencer/drum set, a tube amp, and bread boards with
circuits that I've forgot what I was trying to build on the work bench.