Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: MOTM

Well, I just finished building two MOTM-320s. I spent about 9 hours total
across 4 different days. So, for me 4 1/2 hours was the per-module time.
It is almost as difficult as the 300, but had fewer front panel stuff, so
that made the last part go a little quicker.

I must say that this is the absolutely coolest LFO I have ever seen. So,
my high expectations of MOTM are not denied. Both of mine worked perfectly
on first power up. This time I made certain not to stick any ICs in
backwards like I did on my 410. It's amazing how easy one can make such
silly, stupid mistakes.

The dual-colored LED is VERY, VERY, VERY cool. I think there should be
some other MOTM modules in the future with this feature. No, I don't want
one on every module, but where they can be a meaningful and valuable
addition, I hope Paul will consider using them again. when using the shape
controls at higher rates, the LED really reminds you if you have your wave
biased to the high or low side of zero by virtually staying the color of
majority. This is SUPER in my opinion. If I had a choice to leave this
out for a $ 6 savings, I would say, "NO WAY."

My conclusion was that selection of the sine wave for LED indication was
the most desirable. I will be interested to see what others think. I
applaud Paul for including the tri-wave in the selection since this is the
only one where shape will NOT effect the LED operation. I can see where
some might prefer that.

If I could change anything on the modules I can think of only one thing. I
would make the "SHAPE" silk screen scale +/- 5 with 0 at the mid point just
like the FM control since the mid point is where shape is not modified with
no CV inserted. The 0 - 10 scale tends to make me think it is attenuation
when the CV is applied, and it is not, it is "initial."

The only difficulty I had during the construction was the tempco. After I
pulled the tempco down to the board, I bent the two transistors over to
make contact. Since there is a bit of spring in the transistor leads, the
contact is not quite as solid as I would like to see. My conclusion is
that a better contact could be made if the transistors were bent over just
prior to soldering the tempco while it will still "give" over to one side
some. Then when the tempco is pulled to its center line by soldering it
down tight, the transistors contact will be more solid.

Congratulations Paul on another GREAT module. I'm glad I ordered two.

Larry (stooge) Hendry - surprised I am the first to report on MOTM-320
since I have been dubbed "slow" in the past with my construction.