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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 6/5/18 7:12 PM, Adam Inglis wrote:<br>
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<div class="">On 6 Jun 2018, at 11:06 AM, Dave <<a
href="mailto:dlmanley@sonic.net" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">dlmanley@sonic.net</a>> wrote:</div>
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<div class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size:
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inline !important;" class="">I found an archive via the
wikipedia article on Synapse Magazine:</span><br
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<a href="https://monoskop.org/log/?p=5720"
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<div class="">Thanks Dave!</div>
<div class="">From perusing Synapse Vol 3 No 1 (the one with Eno
on the cover), it appears we have forgotton someone: Rick
Coupland, inventor of the incredible-looking Coupland Digital
Synthesiser Model One “where the next new sounds will come from”
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You're welcome! I'm amazed a few of my synapses are still firing
well enough to remember that magazine. I used to pick it up at a
news stand on the south side of Chicago. Thanks to whoever decided
it was worth the shelf space - I can't believe many copies were
sold.<br>
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A few comments about the importance of John Simonton: He knew how
to make things cheap, how to promote them, and this is important:
functional *enough*. Were the modules that PAiA made the best?
Did his VCO have an expo front-end, or was it temp compensated? Did
it track more than 3 octaves? Was his VCF 4-pole? Did his VCA meet
any of the specs of any of his competitors? Were his jacks high
quality? Was the silk screen printing on the face plates even? The
answer is: A RESOUNDING NO TO ALL OF THE ABOVE *BY DESIGN*. And
here's another key point: it was OK to his customers because his VCA
cost just $14.95, something even a pimple-faced teenager could
scrape together in a week. For $14.95 I got a PCB, parts,
faceplate, jacks, knobs, probably some solder, and useful
documentation. Even with all of his design limitations it allowed
anyone, of any means and some determination, to have a functional
synthesizer. Then as microprocessors became cheap he did the same,
and made his software open-source to boot.<br>
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So kudos to Bob Moog for understanding how a bipolar transistor BE
junction could be the heart of a voltage controlled filter, and to
Alan Pearlman for applying his background in precise discrete op-amp
design to synth design, but also to John Simonton for making it
available to anyone .<br>
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-Dave<br>
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