Wiardgroup

--- In wiardgroup@y..., "Rick hake" <nigil@a...> wrote:
> 
> Hi everybody,  I'm new this group but I do own a Wiard.  I use it it 
live while playing a guitar! 

Hi Rick, welcome.
Grant remarked to me that he got no feedback about from his 
customers about how they used the wiard (much less if they LIKED it) 
I'm gald to see folks coming out of the woodwork and just dropping a 
note here in the group. I think that this will dispel some of the 
vacuum Grant feels.  

> This is the only modular 
> that I have.  I don't understand why anybody would want a Wiard to 
look like something else.  Its connections are 
> designed to be compatable with other modules.  

quite right, and I'm glad that folks realize this. 
(please forgive me for waxing loquacious on this but your post raises 
an issue that I think needs some exposure) 
I'm old, and in the "good/bad old days" (before LSI/DSP & MIDI) many 
of the top contenders (Arp, Moog, etc) had some actual electrical 
incompatibilities (i.e. "switch" triggers vs pulse triggers) that 
required some circuit knowledge to reconcile. Mercifully, nowadays 
most everone employs a basic set of (1v/octave, pulse trigger and a 
few others) nominal standards. Believe me, compared to the '70's we 
inhabit the elysian fields now! I think , however, that some new 
modular users are understandably confused and overly cautious about 
panel-jack types. They are concerned that they might damage their gear 
by connecting , for examble, a 1/8" output to a 1/4" input or a 1/8" 
CV point to a banana jack. The confusion is exacerbated by partisans 
who tout the superiority of one type of connector over another. (Which 
IMHO is at best, silly and at worst deliberately misleading.) This is 
unfortunate because the risk of damaging a modern commercially 
designed modular by connecting it to another companies gear is 
vitually null. Even in the old days the worst of it was that the 
connection didn't work. Nobody "got hurt!"
    I use gear from nearly every era from 9 manufacturers plus lots of 
homebrew gadgets in my modular rig. Everything in this tower of 
Babel runs from common DC power rails and every one is connectable to 
every other one. The New kids" (MOTM, Blacet, ST , Wiard, Doepfer, 
ModCan, Analogue Solutions and Synthesizer.com) are all electrically 
compatible right out-of-the box. A Radio Shack adapter cable is all 
that is necessary to resolve any of the shielded jack differences.    
(whew) (somebody had an axe to grind) 


>Its not a MOTM, a 
Blacet or anything else, Its a Wiard.  Personally, I 
> like the blue, I like the celtic pattern, and I especially like the 
>fact that it doesn't look like a Heart Moniter!!!  
>I have 
> never had a problem seeing it on stage even with the light off.  
Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't remember seeing any 
> Moog,Buchla,Aries,etc modules that looked the same or that were the 
same shape.   At least most of the newer formats 
> <including the Wiard> are rack mountable!  If Grant and the aliens 
can come up with another Wiard product line which 
> is easier and/or cheaper to produce in addition to the 300 series 
I'm all for it!! But I'd like to see the 300 series still be 
> around.  The Celtic pattern on my system seems to ward off evil even 
better then garlic!
>

 
Grant experimented with reduced feature models (the 1200 series) i 
have a couple of them, but the venture didn't pull it's weight in 
terms of business as I understand it. Compared with what modulars USED 
to cost. All this stuff is cheap now(!!!) Consider that an ARP 2600 
cost around $2600 in 1972 dollars! (tht'a at least $5000 adjusted for 
todays costs)  A full six-module rack of 300-series wiard has 
signitcantly more features for just a bit more money in 2001 dollars. 
It's all perspective. A hunderd bucks is too much money if you don't 
have it, but I saved for 3 years to get my first 2600 so things seem 
like ridiculous bargains to me now.
 Sorry for soapboxing this post to death but you raised some 
significant issues.. nice work on the first time in!!!
   good luck and cheerio,
-doc




							Rick