[sdiy] Selecting Components

[Sam Ecoff]

Hi... some newbie questions here...

How does one go about selecting components for SDIY projects?
Specifically, resistors and capacitors...

Looking at most of the modules I've built from kits or purchased pre
built, I think I see 1/4w resistors of the 5% tolerance variety (they
shouldn't be 1/8w, right?) but on a few items, I see precision metal
film resistors. How does one know when to use which type of resistor?
I have some appreciation that modules like envelope generators need
far less accuracy than something like a VCO or Analog Shift Register,
but beyond that, I haven't a clue.

Second question... Looking at the PCB layout for the MFOS envelope
generator, I can easily see that C4, C10, C15, and C16 need to be
radial electrolytics, C2, C3, C4 should be ceramic caps (figured this
out thanks to Ray's helpful "Capacitors 101" article and the fact
that he marked them "Bypass caps" on the schematic). Beyond that, I
don't understand how one goes about determining which type of cap to
use... Can someone point me to a resource?

Thanks for your tolerance!

Sam E.
_______________________________
Sam Ecoff
Secret Society Productions
5307 S. 92nd St. Suite 105
Hales Corners, WI 53130
(414) 427-0615
www.samecoff.com