<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">There will always be a place in my heart for PAiA. I loved getting those weird catalogs back in the 1970s, so very different from the HeathKit catalogs. <div class=""><br class=""><div class="">When they got into CEM chips the work was really good. They showed us how to get mileage out of these generic chips.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">However, most of their modules and stand-alone synths were clearly the result of a strange design philosophy: </div><div class="">!) Design the very simplest proof-of-concept circuit. It’s done when it demonstrates the theory/concept of this synthesis feature.</div><div class="">2) Spend the rest of your time designing a kit from the cheapest sourced parts, streamlining the assembly/test procedures.</div><div class="">3) Write an article for one or more DIY magazines. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">A UJT VCO (yeah the Moog used a UJT). A 1-pole lowpass gate. A Twin-T Filter controlled by a single diode. An OTA-based state-variable filter with a switchable bank of capacitors to give it range. Really pretty good quality potentiometers and knobs. Good silkscreening. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">And, kits so cheap and weird you just had to buy one to see how they did it: The Hex VCA. The Gnome. The Wind Chimes (really cool and super-inexpensive).</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">But yeah. When you’re done learning, what do you with what you have learned? You learned a lot of theory reading through their literature. When it came to straightforward modules like a VCA or ring modulator, the learning was foundational. When it came to VCFs and VCOs, you would have to un-learn the PAiA way. It’s not just that it wasn’t 1V/octave, it’s that corners were cut in ways even the most lenient artist would notice. I’m not talking about nit-picky double-E things, I’m talking about the little things that wreck your mix.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I purchased a couple of their rack-mount mixer kits. They were okey, but always had a pretty high noise floor. The schematic showed me why: The pre-amp stage had a fixed (high) gain for each channel. All that noise was adding up.</div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I purchased a full set of the MCVI and MIDI Mux cards. It took me two years to figure out an extra capacitor on the board would make it stable enough to run. When I finally was able to start wiring up the Mux cards to external devices, it was a revolutionary moment in my learning: Golly, computers could control things, for real. <a href="http://www.benjamintremblay.com/retro/audio/moretracks/Love_In_Condominiums.mp3" class="">http://www.benjamintremblay.com/retro/audio/moretracks/Love_In_Condominiums.mp3</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><br class=""><div class="">
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">Benjamin Tremblay</div><div class=""><a href="mailto:btremblay@me.com" class="">btremblay@me.com</a></div><div class="">330 Fiske Street</div><div class="">Carlisle, MA 01741</div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial; line-height: 15.600000381469727px; white-space: nowrap; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">978-831-8315</span></div><div class=""><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/bentremblay" class="">http://www.linkedin.com/in/bentremblay</a></div></div></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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