MOTM

Hi all:

So Pauly dropped a bomb.  And you know what I say?  Bomb the boats  
and feed the fish!  ;-)

Here is why I say this:

1.- It's a cool song title by the "Forgotten Rebels", the LEAST synth  
band, EVER.

2.- I have always wanted a high quality modular instrument.  If it's  
discrete transistors behind the panel or thorium flux ion transponder  
doohickeys, I could not care less. Since I use the Nostromo in live  
gigs, the subtleties of analog vs digital are often VERY difficult to  
tell.  But the difference between fiddling the Nostromo live vs.  
fiddling a laptop live is similar IMO to the difference between  
playing a Les Paul and  a MIDI guitar.  (Guitar players will know  
what I'm on aboot here.)

3.- DIY is NOT dead.  You cannot ever kill the DIY ethic.  Those that  
really got the bug, got it and you can't kill it off.  I mean, is  
building a MOTM kit really DIY anyways?  Richard Brewster's S/H  
conversion: now THAT's MOTM DIY!


Another issue: current module resale values are ..... unpredictable.   
I own 2 MOTM 101 S/H modules.  It occurs to me (continuing my glowing  
praise of Richie baby [ he's gonna kill me for that ]) that if I want  
more S/H (and I do) replacing the 101s with a zero-droop digital  
version would be the way to go.  I suspect many would agree.  Which  
means the second the digital module becomes available, the 101 market  
goes to hell.

Power supplies: I currently have 4 SKB cases and 3 run +/-15V and 1  
runs +/-15V and +5V.  I may need to add more +5V supplies.... which  
means the MOTM 990 power connector board essential kit.  NEVER disco  
this baby!

Here endeth the musings,  BFG
  ;-)

PS: This whole thing is a smart idea by MOTM and I am overwhelmingly  
happy (and a litttle surprised) to see how much support the idea has.

G

> 3.- DIY is NOT dead.  You cannot ever kill the DIY ethic.  Those that
> really got the bug, got it and you can't kill it off.  I mean, is
> building a MOTM kit really DIY anyways?  Richard Brewster's S/H
> conversion: now THAT's MOTM DIY!

(*climbs-up-on-soap-box*)

Well said Greg! I'd like to add to that...

Some people seem to have forgotten about the "Yourself" in "Do It Yourself" ;)
To them I say, go out and learn some new technology! There are vast and 
excellent (makezine.com) resources (instructables.com) online and in print 
(circuitcellar.com) these days, all devoted to the DIY ethos, and to doing 
it with todays tech. Things like surfacemount are not hard, they're just 
different. Anyone who tells you otherwise hasn't done it themselves. 
Accurate panel cutting can be done with a inkject printer, a centerpunch, 
and a drill.

There are great resources (sparkfun.com) for cheap board 
(silvercircuits.com) production, and you can still 
use photo etch (http://flickr.com/photos/ladyada/109988693/) on smt.

There is more available knowledge on how to make interesting audio tools 
today than there ever was before, so get out there and make something! And 
heck, if it's cool enough, someone might even buy it and then you'll 
*really* have something to complain about ;)

(*steps-down-from-soap-box*)

--mikes

> Some people seem to have forgotten about the "Yourself" in "Do It
Yourself" ;)
> To them I say, go out and learn some new technology!

Hear hear. 

> Things like surfacemount are not hard, they're just 
> different. Anyone who tells you otherwise hasn't done it themselves. 

Yup. Some SMT assembly is actually easier than through-hole assembly, in my
experience. By following the suggestions on the following website I was able
to successfully build a SMT-based microcontroller board (also obtained from
the same site), with no prior SMT experience: http://www.bdmicro.com/smt/

I found these things today which look great for prototyping with a mixture
of SMT and through-hole packages: http://onepasinc.com/bonnie/smt/smt.html
They're about US$10 each. I just ordered some for my next project, which is
a sort of output-buffer module which combines two small mixers with balanced
output drivers. 

> Accurate panel cutting can be done with a inkject printer, a centerpunch, 
> and a drill.

...Particularly if you use the stepped bits that I think have been mentioned
on this list in the past. I'm still a big fan of Front Panel Express,
personally, but I tried those stepped bits recently and they really do work
well.

--Adam

Actually what some of you may be forgetting, is that DIY can have much
more humble origins. It's great to high and lofty about what great
original modules you've designed, but for some of us, DIY is how we
can afford to get into these synths at all. I'd love to have a super
nice modular, but the only way I'm going to get the expense approved
by the powers that be ("the wife") is to go the cheapest route
available, hence kits. One of the factors that led me to make the
decision to go with motm format was because Paul seemed committed to
supplying kits. Now 3 years later, some 20 modules into it, some 3K+
invested, only some 8 modules more to go, and the plugs been pulled on
me. Not for what I was concerned about - that maybe something bad
would happen to Paul or whatever, but just because he was tired of
doing it. Rats, too bad. I've aready got most of the basic stuff, and
hopefully can swing most of the 8 motm modules I "want" by the end of
the year, but after that I  don't know if I'll be much of a customer
anymore, which is a shame. Everything I've bought from Paul so far has
been a kit. I wish there was some way he could rethink his big change
and leave some vestige of his kits available.

On 7/5/06, Adam Schabtach <adam@...> wrote:
>
>
>  > Some people seem to have forgotten about the "Yourself" in "Do It
>  Yourself" ;)
>  > To them I say, go out and learn some new technology!
>
>  Hear hear.
>
>
>  > Things like surfacemount are not hard, they're just
>  > different. Anyone who tells you otherwise hasn't done it themselves.
>
>  Yup. Some SMT assembly is actually easier than through-hole assembly, in my
>  experience. By following the suggestions on the following website I was
> able
>  to successfully build a SMT-based microcontroller board (also obtained from
>  the same site), with no prior SMT experience: http://www.bdmicro.com/smt/
>
>  I found these things today which look great for prototyping with a mixture
>  of SMT and through-hole packages: http://onepasinc.com/bonnie/smt/smt.html
>  They're about US$10 each. I just ordered some for my next project, which is
>  a sort of output-buffer module which combines two small mixers with
> balanced
>  output drivers.
>
>
>  > Accurate panel cutting can be done with a inkject printer, a centerpunch,
>  > and a drill.
>
>  ...Particularly if you use the stepped bits that I think have been
> mentioned
>  on this list in the past. I'm still a big fan of Front Panel Express,
>  personally, but I tried those stepped bits recently and they really do work
>  well.
>
>  --Adam

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen Drake
sduck409@...
makeme1witheverything@...