[sdiy] Design Process

[Magnus Danielson]

David G. Dixon wrote:
>>> Ask someone stupid.
>>
>> I've solved problems with this method many times.  I find that to be
>> able to ask someone stupid, I end up explaining the thing step by step
>> so that they understand what I'm trying to do, and in the explanation,
>> I realize where the problem is.
> 
> Absolutely (although, in fairness, there are no stupid people -- only
> uninformed people).
> 
> Another thing I find myself doing is going back to old designs and either
> improving them, or understanding why they are suddenly giving me unforeseen
> problems in new contexts, by steadily increasing my knowledge and
> understanding of electronics fundamentals.
> 
> Making mistakes and then correcting them is really the only valid way to
> learn anything important (and this is a professor talking!).

A friend of mine refers to me as being a theoretic, but not in the usual 
sense, but rather in a highly appreciated sense I just discovered. He 
enjoys the fact that I can just look at a circuit and only only tell how 
it works by why it works, why such and such circuit is there in the 
first place. I never saw that as "theoretic" (with my more academic 
upbringing and experience) but rather just "knowledge of the field". How 
did I get there? Well, just a lot of staring on schematics figuring our 
how they work, what makes them tick. Some simple stuff comes easy, but 
as once grasp the audio and synthesizer electronics more fully, it 
becomes trickier. I think the Buchla circuits can be very good exercise.

Cheers,
Magnus