Building your own modular synth

[Onkel Dunkel]

Originally Posted by 3o3

I don't think so; i've heard some great stuff from paia - and there are people here in sweden that got it to work properly without doing any modifications to it

I didn?t mean that it wasn?t capable of sounding great but the curcuit could be underdimensioned (too much current in too small components) and then it gets too hot. It might work for some since there are differences in components even though they are rated the same value (that?s why the most commen resistors have a golden ring last that means +-5%). In this case the resistors with the lower values will draw more current than the ones with the higher values. The small resistors with 4 collored rings you usually see in most devices has a maximum of ? watts and they get real hot if more power is consumed by them.

Originally Posted by Juho L

Yup. Basic faul on televisions. Loads of dust -> slight increase in temperature -> fire. Actually that's quite dangerous situation. Many people have been killed by dusty TV's.

That and the high voltage (between 20 and 40 kilovolt i think) of the TV can make sparks jump if it has a conductor too close (in this case a lot of dust witch at the same time make a nice fire).

[dangerdroid]

A good friend of mine is building a modular synth, he's just about done actually(with the first incarnation). It has captured my interest and I have read up on it a bit. Most of the modules that you build are not very difficult to solder up (the kits). From what I have read I would stay away from paia stuff. There are several companies that sell new/cool modules and a few actually sell them in kit form so if you know how to solder you could save some money there. Here are some links that I have compiled in my research. You can pick up little bits and pieces of info from each site. Building a modular is expensive no matter if you kit/build each module or not. It would be awesome to have a giant modular wall like Vince Clarke or something. It is something fun to do slowly over time build a module every month or so and in a couple of years you could have a pretty gnarly system. Happy reading...


http://algoart.com
http://www.analoguesystems.co.uk
http://www.buchla.com
http://www.curetronic.de
http://www.cyndustries.com
http://www.doepfer.de
http://www.modcan.com/
http://www.modularsynth.com/
http://www.oakleysound.com/
http://www.synthtech.com/welcome.html
http://www.synthesizers.com/
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~concuss/
http://www.technosaurus.ch/
http://ucapps.de/
http://frontpanelexpress.com/
http://www.schaeffer-apparatebau.de/English/index.htm
http://www.mouser.com/