MOTM

Hi all,

My apologies for continuing this thread so late in the game....

Now I would not deny the complaints about bananas except those of
unreliability (assuming Pamona is used).  However, I think there's a
pro-banana point that hasn't been made (although granted, these points
are only relevant to a specific need).

I'm building my modular for real-time/live creation of abstract music. 
More often than not, I don't know what the next patch will be (during a
piece) until I make it.  And guaranteed, all currently patched modules
will be making sound that cannot be disturbed.  For this application, I
almost *had* to use banana for the following reason;

For example; Re-patching your VCO through a multiple (because you didn't
know you wanted another sawtooth output 5 minutes before) is out of the
question because you'd disturb an audible patch.  Stacking allows
splitting off an output without re-patching something that's already
running.

Bananas don't have a ground present on the jack:  In the above example,
say you'd had the foresight to pre-patch multiples (using 1/4" phone);
you still short out the entire node when you patch because for a moment
the tip touches sleeve as you insert the plug.  Again, the audible patch
is disturbed by additional patching.  Obviously, buffered multiples
solves this problem but I haven't yet seen a system that uses them.

Bananas allow separation of signal ground from chassis ground in a
rugged jack (unlike the Re'An style 1/4" nylon jacks whose mounting nut
pops off if you stare at it hard).  Those dangling, half-patched cables,
will not short out the node if they bounce against the chassis.

That all said, if I was building a studio machine, I'd use 1/4" phone
and I think anything but 1/4" (short of something balanced) would be
throwing away much of the precision and fantastic noise characteristics
of MOTM.  

Crappy picture of a Bananafied MOTM 420 on Schroff panel
(synth_close2.jpg) at: http://members.home.net/voltagecontrolled/
(Please note that I told Paul in advance that I was planning to modify
his art and received his permission to put "MOTM 420" on the panel.)

Buck (climbing off banana soapbox and back to reality)