Wiardgroup

--- In wiardgroup@y..., revtor@a... wrote:
> First of all, congrats on the new module.  Onceagain. pusing 
the analog limits, hats off to you Grant!

Thank you!

>    I was wondering why you would put Banana jacks on your 
new pet rock joystick?  Hmmm.  Wiard uses 1/8 jacks..  Pet rock 
= banana..  Hmmm.   plans on using bananas on your future 
modules or just want to give the serge/modcan/fenix crew a taste 
of wiard??  

The handheld Joystick controller was specifically designed for 
our many friends in the Serge community. (75% of Wiard owners 
also own Serge systems). The outputs are 5 volts in range, 
rather than the 10 volt outputs of the Frac-Rac version.

To the extent possible, each 1200 series module will be 
designed to fit either, 1/8", 1/4" or banana connectors. Although, 
unless it is a special issue such as the "Rock Block" Joysticks, 
only 1/8" are planned. But for say, $20 more we could fit banana 
connectors by custom order.

The Wiard was designed in 1996. At that time, the only modulars 
that used 1/4" jacks were the Moog 900 and Roland 700 
systems (considered rare). The only system that used banana 
connectors was the Serge system and little information was 
available about the number in the field.  The ARP 2500 and 
2600, Roland 100 and 100m, Aries 300, Digisound, Blacet, PAIA, 
Doepfer and Wiard all use 1/8"(3.5mm) connectors. This makes 
1/8"(3.5mm) connectors the defacto standard. 3.5mm 
connectors were purpose designed for compact shielded audio 
connectors in non-military applications.

Since then, a number of new designs have appeared that use 
non-standard connectors. The MOTM modules use 1/4" jacks. 
Modcan, Fenix and Cyndistries modules use banana 
connectors. These all appeared after the Wiard was designed.

Each connector type has advantages and disadvantages. There 
is no "wrong" connector if it does the job. If you are going to be 
using modulars, it is a good idea to just get used to tying 
different types together. It might seem like a big deal at first, but 
it's quite trivial when you get used to it.

>Are many of the jacks on the present modules switching things 
in and out? ie, would bananizing wiard modules be feasible??

All the jacks on a Wiard module are mounted to a thick printed 
circuit board. They form a complete sub-assembly which can be 
replaced in less than 15 minutes. (replacement jack boards are 
$20 each). H.F. Johnson does make a banana connector that fits 
into a 1/4" hole, and a few modules have banana connectors. 
But it is not recommended because of the difficulty in repair.

One of the problems with historical modulars is maintaining 
them, because they were not designed to be maintained. Each 
Blue faced Wiard module is designed from the ground up for 
long term maintenance.