Elektron Musical Instruments

I just got a used sidstation and I'm wondering whether the sometimes
extreme levels of noise are "normal" or whether this unit might be
defective.  I expected it to be noisy, but I don't see how anyone
could actually use some of these patches.  I was surprised to find the
level of noise varying dramatically from one patch to another -- is
that "normal"?

Given that Elektron themselves recognize the noise problem, and
recommend in the manual that you get a noise gate, why on earth
didn't they just build an optional noise gate into the thing in
the first place?  It can't cost more than a couple of extra dollars
in parts, and would be way cheaper and less hassle than adding an
external gate (which then needs its own power, connectors, cables,
etc.).

 - Roger

On Tue, Jul 03, 2001 at 04:03:38AM -0000, rogers@... wrote:

> Given that Elektron themselves recognize the noise problem, and
> recommend in the manual that you get a noise gate, why on earth didn't
> they just build an optional noise gate into the thing in the first
> place?

the elektron guys may have never thought of it as a problem -- just an
inherent property of the sid chip.  it's also possible they had no idea
it was going to be a problem until they had already received their first
batch of boards.

> It can't cost more than a couple of extra dollars in parts, and would
> be way cheaper and less hassle than adding an external gate (which
> then needs its own power, connectors, cables, etc.).

the parts may not cost much more, but designing and integrating them
into the initial design may have been cost or time prohibitive.  since
the sidstation is by definition a limited-run product, it probably
doesn't make much sense to redesign the main board.  also, from what
I've been able to gather from communications with elektron, one of their
goals for the sidstation was an attempt to closely duplicate the c64
audio path -- which meant no extra gadgets like noise gates or extra
static protection on the outputs.

in engineering there's always tradeoffs...

-- 
  Aaron J. Grier | "Not your ordinary poofy goof." | agrier@...