Wiardgroup

(sorry Professor, i just -had- to jump in on this)

--- In wiardgroup@yahoogroups.com, "Grant Richter" <grichter@...> wrote:

> 
> It is a practical idea, but the world is not yet ready for it.
> 

i'm ready
but i gave up on any hope of obtaining the 'world's' approbation
decades ago, so this position doesn't really cost me anything. 
This appeals to me on multiple levels:

It reinforces one of my pet peeves which is tremendous frustration
that no sooner had the internet revealed that what i'd assumed was an
anachronistic private obsession with analog circuits was in fact a
nearly global phenomenon. But, as with all aspects of adult life, the
other side of the sword was revealed almost immediately. i discovered
to my private horror that the most popular topic of discussion would
become the 'form factor'!!!
The panel was the part of the module that i normally stripped off my
purchases and threw away! You can imagine my incredulity when i
discovered whole cults devoted to types of sockets!
Oh well.... back to the fringe with me! In my minority opinion, the
panel is, at best, a secondary consideration.  Therefore i'm all for
minimizing it's economic impedance on the creation of new designs.

One of the pioneers of bang-to-buck ratio, Paia discovered early on
that the only way they could hold the line on cost was to do their
metalwork in-house. Nevertheless this represented a serious investment
of capital and human resources. This kind of investment is not an
option for a one-man show in today's economy.

Fiberglass shatters. Metal bends. Pig iron requires that you use your
lumbar vertebrae as a forklift.  All materials have an Achilles heel.
In the real-world applications of my experience**  i have hauled
fragile DIY electroniums to gigs with impunity. I haul factory synths
too. i treat them all like antique violins and the only serious field
failure i ever had was in an (unmodified) Oberheim Xpander which is
wrapped in formed steel.  IMHO a fiberglass panel poses no greater
risk of failure in the field than any of my other gear.

Fiberglass can be translucent. This affords creative, space-saving
opportunities for visual feedback with LEDs

In terms of electrical properties, i don't believe that a dozen or
two, square inches of aluminum affords enough of a shielding advantage
to justify it's cost relative to metal-traced fiberglass. There are
plenty of simple shielding schemes that afford much better results
than a small sheet of aluminum deployed in only one plane.

This will ignite colorful and amusing tempests in the AH/Internet
teapot about cheap plastic synthesizers vs 'real' metal ones....Tally Ho!
However With great respect, this subject forces me to lament the
untimely passing of 'konkuro' If only for the rhetorical
potential....MAN! could he have torn this subject apart! 


Make 'em plastic, Professor!
George Jetson would be proud! 
Zoom!
-doc

PS:
i remember the Evenfall too!

**(5% regional touring 30% local venues & the rest parked in a bedroom
studio)