>>>>
Just how nuts would it be to DIY and build this
thing Dave? PCB's? Not that you would ever even be
willing, or offering, just curious ;)
<<<<
Reasonably nutty. It's dense enough that one or more pcbs would be
necessary. I suppose one could wire-wrap a one-off, but I have only
done a few wrap projects, and I never gained a taste for it. Wire
wrapping would offend the MOTM build aesthetic, that's for sure.
Density of build is one reason I never attempted it. You would need a
large sub-board whose sole purpose was to connect to all the switches
and pots, and multiplex them. Then a daughterboard for the clock and
shift register stuff.
Another reason is that for all its complexity, it is a fixed route
design, like a Minimoog. You get 16x2 or 8x4 topography, period. You
get clocked or CV control of stage selection, period. To expand it by
chaining to another identical unit requires summing the outputs in an
external mixer.
It is interesting how I came to switch my thinking to a modular
sequencing approach. I wanted to add one more feature - the ability
of the Serge TKB to clock the vertical position across rows as well
as horizontal position. The design I had simply couldn't accept
another feature - I had filled up a full rack width, and wasn't
willing to sacrifice anything else for this feature.
The more I looked at the E-MU modular design - separate clocking,
address generation, and cv generation modules - the more logical it
seemed. Yeah, it's a space hog compared to an all-in-one box, but a
single CV unit now has the room to utilize my nifty design of
simultaneous 8x4, 16x2, and 32x1 outputs. I do understand the allure
of the all-in-one box, however. It would be ungodly expensive just to
use good panel hardware, though!
17 pots @ $5.00
17 knobs @ 2.00
31 jax @ $1.20
22 switches @ $5.00
18 leds @ 1.00
1 panel @ 50.00
-----------------
Total $453.20 yikes!
Not to mention pcbs, parts, labor, etc. You would have to charge
$800 - $900 minimum to build one for somebody.
Moe