[sdiy] PAiA Gnome repair

[Tim Parkhurst]

I recently found my old PAiA Gnome in a moving box and thought about
restoring it, maybe even adding a simple analog sequencer. It was the first
synth I ever owned, and I learned a lot about electronics and synths by
endlessly poring over the Gnome manual (and all the other manuals that
could be ordered very cheaply from PAiA at the time). Putting the Gnome
together also taught me how to solder. You can literally see the solder
joints go from kinda sketchy to reasonable as I progressed through the
build. I also remember that my Gnome had an odd quirk where, if I ran the
batteries down a bit, the EG when set to repeat could oscillate at audio
frequencies and bleed through enough to sound like a second VCO. I think it
even tracked the ribbon. This only happened when the battery voltage
dropped to a little below +/-8 volts (normally runs on two 9V cells).
I was pleasantly surprised when I fired it up and found that it still
basically works (though the EG is dead and there may be other problems).
Still, I hooked it up to some good powered speakers and gave it a listen.
Needless to say, I have now decided to place the Gnome in a decorative
“shadow box” and hang it on the wall as a piece of art and a tribute to the
beginning of my synth obsession. I love PAiA for what they do, and I love
the Gnome for what it taught me, but it sounds like a mosquito with asthma
after a 5K run. “Thin” doesn’t even begin to describe it. A used Monotron
is a much better sounding instrument if you really want a small, portable,
and super cheap synth. I love the Gnome, and it will always be a special
little box for me, but I just can’t bring myself to put any time into it
for musical use.


Tim (and not the De Havilland type of mosquito) Servo
---
"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein





On Thu, Aug 4, 2022 at 8:13 AM Benjamin Tremblay via Synth-diy <
synth-diy at synth-diy.org> wrote:

> Hello,
> I looked through the sdiy archives and found some old threads on the
> Gnome’s conductive strip.
> I was able to obtain a Gnome and want to restore it as a gift for my
> brother. Well actually I tore his Gnome apart (he thought he botched the
> assembly and it was junk) and as I tore it apart I discovered it was
> functional. So more of an atonement than a gift. The conductive strip is
> mostly gone on this one.
>
> Long story, anyway I happen to have some Adafruit conductive vinyl.
>
> I’m going to try some things out without doing any harm to the Gnome, but
> does anyone have any thoughts? I don’t mind adding an opamp to scale the
> ramp if it’s not the same as the original.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ben
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