[sdiy] How accurate?

[phillip m gallo]

Colin,

Good DACS can be had for less than $20.00.  I think Paul was indicating 1
piece pricing from a distributor known to let parts with 20-40% more margin
than a standard distributor (and incredible delivery).

You will spend this $20.00 one way or another if you buy a cheaper DAC
expect more time and effort (and how do you personally value this? i know i
begrudge time more than money) to achieve your expected result.

Also as many of the post's for this thread indicate, folks are having
acceptable results from a variety of techniques.  As i am not a
manufacturer, i try to design from commonly available parts assuming someday
someone might want to duplicate the device who doesn't have my ability to
get samples direct from distributors.

It's very cool that great 8,12,16 bit parts are now "generally" available,
it allows a great deal of circuitry reduction, better result, at lower
costs.  I've been driving VCO's with DAC's since for more than 20 years
recent offerings ease the implementation of what used to be "more
complicated" (integrated sample and hold for ADCs, Sigma Delta
architectures, dense multi-channel parts with acceptable response).

regards,
p


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
[mailto:owner-synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl]On Behalf Of Colin Fraser
Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2002 7:02 AM
To: Paul Schreiber; SD (E-mail)
Subject: Re: [sdiy] How accurate?


----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Schreiber" <synth1 at airmail.net>
To: "Chris Crosskey" <chris.crosskey at vicon.com>; "SD (E-mail)"
<synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2002 1:29 PM
Subject: [sdiy] How accurate?


> If you don't want to spend $20 to get the stable, accurate DAC that's
driving your VCO CV, it's
> time for a new hobby.

Maybe some people don't have $20 to spend on a DAC ?
I just hope synth-DIY newbies aren't put off by this sort of statement.
If you want tuning perfection, get a digital synth.
I don't build synths as an exercise in engineering. I do it to make nice
noises without paying vintaj prices.
I guess it depends on whether your hobby is building synths to make music,
or just building synths to win the admiration of spec-geeks.

Colin f


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