[sdiy] Where is the DIY spirit? was: Filters

[Ken Stone]

>From a message by René:

>I'm asking myself if we can't offer better advice to novices as where to 
>buy the kits. I mean building a kit is mainly only improving your soldering
>skills. 
>IMO the challenge in DIY lies somewhere else. Its in understanding how these 
>circuits operate, and why they sound like they sound. That means to learn
>some electronics on your way. The fun when you have reached such a state, 
>is in being able to tailor your synth to your taste, rather then just being 
>able to pick from whats available off the shelf as a kit. 

The advantage in a beginner building a kit is that hopefully he will have a
greater chance of building himself something that works. When he has
achieved that, he has a good starting point for experimentation. He can
modify the kit, and try out new ideas, with a convenient place to back up to
if things stop working.

>I'm fearing that on the long run this community is starving, because the
>oldhanders merely sell kits and the newbees simply put them together,
>without learning how they work.

I try to present my ideas in a "construction kit" format, in other words, as
a starting point for several ways of building. There are no correct ways to
build my designs, and experimentation is encouraged. I guess I'm not really
supplying a kit either, just a PCB and instructions. I deliberately leave
out things such as panel wiring to encourage the builder to study the
circuit diagram and learn something from it. Certainly the Synthtech method
of construction is really a case of "join the dots" with limited room for
experimentation for newcomers. (I'm not criticizing Paul's wonderful kits -
just making an observation.) 

None the less, a first time builder has a greater chance of getting a
Synthtech kit to work than one of mine. When I was starting out at age 12, I
had more luck with kits than scratch built circuits. It wasn't for quite a
number of years before I reached the point where I could just grab a circuit
diagram, spot the mistakes (if any) and modify it to suit myself.

For example, we all know that the ground symbol is used pretty much to mean
0V or circuit common, and does not necessarily imply connection to an
external ground. Yet when I was 12 I puzzled for hours over these more
advanced designs that used all these connections to the ground, because my
one source of reference was a simple morse kit that physically (via an earth
stake) connected to terra firma.

Ken
_______________________________________________________________________
Ken Stone   sasami at blaze.net.au  
Modular Synth PCBs for sale <http://www.blaze.net.au/~sasami/synth/>
Australian Miniature Horses & Ponies <http://www.blaze.net.au/~sasami/>
Catgirl Paradise <http://www.anime.net/~kens/>