[sdiy] Death of DIY?

[Scott Bernardi]

I guess I'm in the "old fart" category.
I got started in DIY as a guitar player in high school.  My first electronics
project was a little UJT based oscillator. My first really successful DIY
project was a Craig Anderton phase shifter kit.  I took a high school
electronics class, then majored in electronics in college. Started cloning
PAIA 2700 modules from the schematics. My analog lab project was a VCO. I got
an A.
Then I graduated and started working as a engineer, and discovered
Electronotes. I built my first real synth between '79-'82.
Had a career change to computer programming in '82. Did some DIY in that area
too, writing some dBase and Clipper libraries and a real estate calculator.
My electronics kind of languished because I no longer had test equipment, but
software was my passion then. My synth fell into disrepair.
In '99 I took up electronics again - bought some a scope and some other test
equipment. It was interesting, because it was guitar stuff that got me in
again. I did a compressor / Tube Screamer clone that worked pretty good, and I
attempted a Voodoo Vibe clone that didn't. Then I discovered the synth-diy,
attempted to resurrect my old synth, but decided to gut it and build a new
better one.

Don Tillman wrote:

>    > Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 14:17:06 -0700
>    > From: greg montalbano <greg.montalbano at ucop.edu>
>    >
>    > Here in the US of A, we're all bred from birth by the corporations
>    > to be passive consumers;  if they do their job correctly, then we
>    > reach a stage where it wouldn't occur to us to even IMAGINE anything
>    > other than what they offer us.... they provide the products, they set
>    > the standards & fashions.
>
> I strongly disagree.  First off, these are mostly Japanese
> corporations, at least the ones making the majority of keyboard
> synths, hifi gear, radios, tvs, and that sort of thing.  And secondly,
> the way these corporations make money is to be really good at
> providing what the consumer wants.  It turns out that the consumer
> values lots of features for a minimal price and does not value
> modularity, repair, tweaking, or any meaningful interaction with the
> equipment.  The corporation simply reflects the market.
>
> For an example of a case where DIY wins, just check out the guitar
> players.  They're the ones hot-rodding their axes, swapping pickups,
> building instruments from parts or even from scratch, and building and
> tweaking stomp boxes.
>
>   -- Don
>
> --
> Don Tillman
> Palo Alto, California, USA
> don at till.com
> http://www.till.com

--
Scott Bernardi
sbernardi at attbi.com