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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 11/23/20 7:44 AM, Benjamin Tremblay
via Synth-diy wrote:<br>
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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.
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<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>
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<p>Ah yes. I've bought a CEM chips from PAiA when they were new. I
liked the exploration boards they made for them.</p>
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cite="mid:607C2B96-E570-4062-8AFC-A34E835A9B8E@me.com">
<div class="">
<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>
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</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>
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</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>
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<p>The Gnome was my introduction to Norton amplifiers :) <br>
</p>
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<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>
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<p>When Barry Klein's "Electronic Music Circuits" came out in 1983
(I bought my copy at a Heathkit store!) that introduced me to more
practical designs beyond the PAiA camp.</p>
<p>Woo-hoo, there is life beyond RC4136s, Volt/Hz and UJTs!<br>
</p>
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<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>
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<p>Yep - I have a 7710 mixer, 6710 vocoder, and a Hot Springs
reverb.</p>
<p>The 6710 was another fine example of PAiA minimalism.<br>
</p>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:607C2B96-E570-4062-8AFC-A34E835A9B8E@me.com">
<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="" moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.benjamintremblay.com/retro/audio/moretracks/Love_In_Condominiums.mp3</a></div>
</blockquote>
<p>I still have my MCVI which still works as a MIDI to CV. The
analog to digital chip on it for the CV to MIDI feature seems to
have died.</p>
<p>Fun quirky stuff PAiA was!<br>
</p>
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<div class="">Benjamin Tremblay</div>
<div class=""><a href="mailto:btremblay@me.com"
class="" moz-do-not-send="true">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="" moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.linkedin.com/in/bentremblay</a></div>
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