MOTM

John Loffink wrote:

>I quizzed Paul on several pertinent engineering design questions 
before making selection for MOTM as my primary system in 2000. He 
passed with flying colors. As I have a BSEE and 20 years of hardware 
design experience including a year at Kurzweil (worked alongside Hal 
Chamberlin and Bob Chidlaw, among others), I feel that I'm fairly 
well qualified to judge the designs in the field.<

I feel I'm also qualified enough to make certain evaluations (that's 
been covered elsewhere, so I won't rehash it) and also did a lot of 
homework on MOTM. In fact (was it in 1999?), I was literally HOURS 
from making a sizable purchase from Synthtech when a certain person 
who shall remain nameless pointed me to Synthesizers.com. The rest is 
history, albeit minor history.

Keep in mind that I was impressed enough with MOTM that I was ready 
to send several thousand dollars to Texas.  But there were things 
that bugged me (at the time).  These were:

1.  A limited selection of modules.

My taste in modular synths is very "vanilla"--I HATE gimmicks.  I 
liked (and still like) the general "vanilla" aspect of MOTM. But the 
Synthtech line at that time just wasn't very big.

2.  No enclosure.

This was annoying in a major way.  Modules only a few inches deep 
shouldn't require racks that are 18-24" deep!  I searched rack 
company after rack company and finally found a compromise, but wasn't 
all that happy with having to do that. I wanted an *instrument*. Like 
a Moog. The rack solution seemed kind of kludgy to me.

3.  Price

Prices seemed a bit on the high side. I was somewhat uncomfortable 
having to pay for what I deemed to be engineering overkill (vide 
infra).

4.  Kit factor

Aside from having formal training, I used to design and build my own 
gear and have assembled countless kits.  I can solder with the best 
of 'em.  But at my tender advanced age, time is more precious and I'd 
rather not be building stuff, if it can be avoided. I had to deal 
with the cognitive dissonance of wanting factory modules, but at kit 
prices.

5.  Overkill.

OK, right now I'm looking at my beloved MOTM-120 Sub-Octave Mux (a 
factory unit).  The point about the pots, jacks and switches has 
already been made, but could somebody please tell me why 2.5" wires 
need to be shielded?  And let's look at the lugs on those switches 
and pots, shall we?  What's with the heat shrink tubing? It isn't 
like there is any danger of them shorting!  Such frills just add 
expense.

On the other hand...

It's all about marketing.  You see, Herr Schreiber is not as innocent 
as our good Dr. Moog was in such matters. The weight of the modules, 
the unnecessary heat shrink and the Lilliputian shielded cables 
create a certain effect that has less to do with electricity than it 
does with perception.  The modules are *decadent.*  They are meaty 
and weighty and fun to hold.  The switches (though less expensive 
ones would work every bit as well) make a satisfying "schip" sound 
when you flip them.  I could write a pamphlet on the marketing 
tactics of you-know-who, (and I'm not entirely convinced the recent 
price hike isn't among them...), but I don't see overkill for the 
sake of marketing as a bad thing. The decadence of the modules is 
part of their appeal.  I do love to fondle this module!  :-)


>I won't name names, but among the issues were PC board plated 
through holes that were misdrilled causing an eventual failure, loose 
conductive metal shavings within a module, knob inset falling off a 
cheap knob,<

Well, unless I'm mistaken, the knobs on a dotcom are the same ones 
Moog uses, so...

>and 16 Volt rated Electrolytics for decoupling on 15 Volt DC power, 
ignoring good derating practices.<

Hmmmm...  That can't be dotcom either, since I'm looking at the back 
of my dotcom FFB right now and it uses 50V 'lytics just like MOTM. 
That's plenty of headroom.

>Paul's module line is not over-engineered, it is engineered to work 
and to last, based upon his many years of analog hardware engineering 
experience.<

Indeed these modules WILL last.  But so will others...

All that aside, could somebody on the  MOTM crew please design a -24 
dB HPF before the price hike?   :-)

johnm