[sdiy] PAiA Gnome Repair

[Benjamin Tremblay]

Some of videos I have seen of early PAiA products show devices with a Soviet-style aesthetic: Big flat-head screws holding down chunky switches rated for 600v. Banana jacks and RCA plugs used randomly. 
We live in a very different age when Juanito Moore can make advanced, high quality modules in tuna cans because Ali express can sell you all the parts you need for less than a pizza and some beers. Back in 1977 I was a ten year old boy who desperately wanted to build and control his own real, life-sized oscillator and generate “a variety of pleasing musical sound effects” and one transistor set me back. At that time a PAiA kit was a bulk discount on parts. But no, I could never afford to buy anything over $50.

Benjamin Tremblay

> On Aug 5, 2022, at 8:54 AM, Gordonjcp <gordonjcp at gjcp.net> wrote:
> 
> On Thu, Aug 04, 2022 at 05:39:55PM -0400, Michael E Caloroso via Synth-diy wrote:
>> PAiA products are not destined for long life.  None of my PAiA modules
>> exist because one by one they stopped working.  Due to priorities they
>> landed dead last on the workbench to-do list.  They finally got discarded
>> after floodwaters hit my rental house.
> 
> And yet none of them use any "exotic" components, and they all have full circuit diagrams.
> 
> I built quite a lot of Paia-alike stuff from photocopied diagrams in the 1980s when I was at school, because I couldn't afford to buy fancy components but could scavenge as many broken video recorders as I could haul away from the local TV shop's skip.
> 
> -- 
> Gordonjcp
> 
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