[sdiy] Holy price tags, Batman!

[Richard Wentk]

At 23:28 17/09/2003 -0400, john mahoney wrote:
> > Even if I was FSR (Filthy Stinking Rich), I *really* don't think I'd drop
> > 100 large on a synthesizer. ANY synthesizer. Maybe 25 or 50 on an original
> > Moog proto or Emerson's Monster Moog, but not for a Putney on steroids.
>
>Well, I inadvertently suggested that I lust after VCS synths. I don't, but I
>honestly know very little about them. I can't say where I've heard a VCS,
>for sure. <bows head in shame> But that *was* pristine (looking) and
>certainly an impressive beast. If cost were no object, it would look good in
>a studio.
>
>And, I've got to believe that it sounds monstrous! In a good way.

Actually they sound sort of tinkly. Great for sound effects and processing, 
but it's next to impossible to get the oscillators on a VCS3 to track for 
more than a couple of octaves if you're lucky. The main appeal is the fact 
you get lots of patching flexibility in a small size because of the patch 
panel. And they look cooler than most synths. :-)

>I don't see DIY circuits based on VCS, either.

See above.

The oscillators on the 100 are rumoured to be far more stable. But you're 
still not getting *that* much synth power in a very big and expensive box.

I've never seen the schematics for the 100 anywhere online. Are they 
available?

If not, is because these synths are (theoretically) still available from 
that place in Cornwall or wherever it is?

>Anyone have an explanation for the lack of VCS clones? Is there not a
>particular VCS sound?

There's also the fact they're not scaled to 1V/octave, so they're pretty 
much useless in a larger setup unless you build interfacing circuitry. Also 
it's very hard indeed to get signals into and out of the patchbay. So it's 
hard to plug them into other stuff. Which is of course the whole point of 
having a modular set-up.

Richard