[Lab] Anybody interested in DIY modular synths?

[Tom Burns]

Thanks Jonathan!

I won't be able to make it tonight but plan on making it for the 16th.  I'm
very interested in seeing what other people are working on.

Simone, Alex:
Starting seems to first involve some degree of planning: how big of a synth
would you want to build.  That dictates how big of a case and power supply
you need to either build or purchase.

Then for each step after that you have the option to build it (with plans
for free and/or PCBs available for purchase from a lot of places online) or
buy it (the closest place I know of to Ottawa that sells modules or related
stuff is moog audio in either Montreal or Toronto).  It caters nicely to
people with a wide range of skill as for each part you can either buy it off
the shelf, buy it in kit form with all the components and PCB
printed&drilled, or go fully DIY and plate/drill your own PCB.  I think some
people on this list were talking about making their own PCBs before?  That's
definitely a skill I want to learn.  The freedom from hand-wiring circuits
is very exciting.

I should mention that building a modular synth (or most any DIY synth) is
not cheap, especially to start.  Even with cutting and gluing your own case
out of wood, you're probably looking at $200 before you are ready to put a
module in it, and probably another $500 to get a decent synthesizer going?
People who want to invest less in a synth project should check out the
musicfromouterspace.com weird sound generator, or the
musicfromouterspace.com soundlab mini-synth.

Cheers,
Tom


On Wed, Jun 2, 2010 at 3:20 PM, Jonathan Rudenberg <jonathan at titanous.com>wrote:

> We're having a meeting tonight at 7PM at ArtEngine, so feel free come.
> It's not about synths specifically, but we talk about and work on all
> types of hardware and software hacking projects.
>
> Jonathan
>
> On Wed, Jun 2, 2010 at 15:11, Simone Pfeiffer <pfeiffe.s at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I have no idea how i got on this list or really have any idea what y'all
> are
> > talking about at all... but now I am curious!
> >
> > So, how does one get started?
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Simone
>
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