[sdiy] Way OT - Survey - was Who's the oldest?

[Gene Stopp]

49 here...

My dad listened to classical music a lot, so that's etched in my brain.
My mom bought Switched On Bach when it came out, then the Well Tempered
Synthesizer, then Snowflakes Are Dancing. I ate it up. I always liked
rock music with organs in it - Paul Revere & the Raiders, the Animals,
the Doors, Deep Purple - I liked the "good parts" of songs. Like "here
comes the good part" and "this is the good part" and "there goes the
good part". Then AM radio started playing songs with synthesizers in it,
like PFM and ELP. That caught my ear. Then one night I was at a
sleepover at a friend's house, and we were lying in the living room in
sleeping bags, and "In Concert" came on the TV with the Mahavishnu
Orchestra playing Birds of Fire. At that moment I realized that there
was music out there that was *all* good parts.

Me and a friend used to ride our bikes to a music store in Northridge
and play with the synthesizers. They had a MiniKorg and a Synthacon.
That settled it - I needed one. Problem - no money! I still needed one.
A friend at school said he would lend me this newsletter called
"Electronotes". As soon as I saw that, I realized what I had to do -
learn electronics. I found out that CA3080s in the plastic DIP explode
and fling shrapnel all over the place if you hook them up wrong. I found
out that pots smoke if you connect the power supply voltages to the
wrong pins. I told my mom that her Hammond S6 chord organ was a basket
case and I needed to scavenge it for the keyboard. I learned about the
perils of drilling plexiglass, and that ferric chloride stains, and how
to use rub-on lettering. I could sit and listen to what a
sample-and-hold could do for hours. I built an ENS-73 and put it in a
case that looked vaguely like a Moog 35.

I built digital delays and spring reverbs and more little modulars. The
DX7 came out, but I didn't want one. I bought up a bunch of analog
synths from the Recycler for ridiculously low prices, along with Hammond
Organs and Mellotrons. Nobody wanted that stuff any more. I built some
more modulars. I met people in the music biz and made some friends. My
analog experience got exposed and I was a roadie for ELP, after helping
to restore the big Moog. I took a girl to one of the shows and ended up
marrying her. Kids came along. I did the ASM-1 project. My list of
keyboards is huge. Finally I found a Synthacon, completing the circle.

Will I build again, or cash out on eBay? I dunno...

- Gene
 
-----Original Message-----
From: synth-diy-bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl
[mailto:synth-diy-bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl] On Behalf Of Tim Daugard
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 7:31 AM
To: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
Subject: Re: [sdiy] Way OT - Survey - was Who's the oldest?

To make the results more meaningful. If I publish a survey of the ages,
the youngsters
need to chime in also.

So. To prevent the skew of ages from from the orginal question, If you
want to participate
you can send me your current age. I will compile the results maybe
Sunday. Fell free to
reply privately.

The public question was an attempt to determine the oldest age of people
on the list. I
was discussing with my mother new ways to contact people and create
friendships. It
appears that the baby boomers are the oldest generation on this list.

And I welcome all you yongsters to the list. Y'all keep us oldsters
thinking and sharp. I
would be replying more, but there are soooo many that beat me to the
answers of the good
questions.

Thanks all.

Tim