[sdiy] [OT] How did you start?

[harrybissell at wowway.com]

Just FYI, the song "Popcorn" was covered by "Hot Butter" but is
actually by Gershon Kingsley (of Perry-Kingsley fame) and the
"First Moog Quartet"

A really excellent group, cursed with opera singers from the Met...

H^) harry


On Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:52:39 -0400, John Mahoney wrote
> My father (RIP) did a lot of electrical work (and plumbing and 
> carpentry and masonry) around the house, so tinkering and soldering 
> were instilled at a young age. One day I got a Radio Shack 100-in-1 
> lab toy as a gift, spent hours putting projects together -- i.e. 
> clamping tinned wires into spring terminals -- but I was too young 
> to really learn much.
> 
> When I was a teenager, I subscribed to Guitar Player magazine at the 
> time that Craig Anderton started writing his columns. That led to 
> getting the PAiA catalog, Polyphony magazine (now EM, it featured 
> lots of DIY by Thomas Henry and others, including list members John 
> Blacet and Jim Patchell), and Craig's guitar electronics book. An 
> early Forrest Mims book was another influence. I didn't actually 
> build much, aside from a few guitar effects, and then I bought a 
> Korg Mono/Poly when they came out. Finally, my own synth! (I still 
> have it.)
> 
> I should mention that I was very interested in synths because of 
> what I heard from Carlos, Emerson, Tomita, and Wakeman, and, later,
>  from New Wave bands, especially The Cars and Gary Numan. I even 
> loved Hot Butter's "Popcorn" when it was a Top 40 hit, but I was too 
> young to know that a strange new instrument was what made it so cool.
> 
> Oh... a small influence was our Magnus chord organ (hi, Magnus!). 
> Sure, it was a toy, but it had me making music. I would flick the 
> power switch off and on to modulate the volume at the beginning and 
> end of songs -- cool trick for a 6 or 7 year old to think of, IMHO.
> 
> Almost 2 decades pass. I don't do much of anything synth related, 
> aside from messing with the Mo/Po once in a while, and Al Gore's 
> Internet becomes a part of our lives. One day I stumbled upon the 
> synth-DIY list, and here I am! I haven't built a *lot* of stuff, but 
> my output is slowly increasing, and my interest is still high.
> 
> In short, Dad and John Simonton* share most of the early "blame",
>  but this list is what really got me going. :-)
> 	
> John
> 
> * See http://paiafans.blogspot.com/ and be sure to check the comments.
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Synth-diy mailing list
> Synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
> http://dropmix.xs4all.nl/mailman/listinfo/synth-diy


Harry Bissell & Nora Abdullah 4eva