Wiardgroup

----- Original Message -----

From: Grant Richter

To: wiardgroup@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 9:17 PM

Subject: [wiardgroup] Re: 300 series back in full production

If the public could change their perception of how a synthesizer module must be
constructed, we could have a renaisance unlike anything in the past.

The single most expensive component in a synthesizer is the aluminum faceplate.

There is only one source for turnkey faceplaces in the US and they are obscenely
expensive. I pay $70 each for 1200 series faceplates.

Your only other option involves using 4 different vendors. One to get the metal blanks,
one to put the holes in them, another to anodize them and another yet to silkscreen them.
Each step is a chance for errors to creep in. Also, there are 5 shipping charges to move
everything from place to place or lose the whole batch. Or drop the box...

The people who make printed circuit boards are used to doing most of these operations to
a higher degree of precision and more quickly and cheaply than machine shops. If the
buying public was willing to accept faceplates made from fiberglass instead of metal, it
would open the floodgates to new module designs.

You can hardly see the difference either, the fiberglass is painted and silkscreened just like
the metal. Plus fiberglass is lighter and stiffer.

I have heard this idea repeatedly from many people, but no one believes people will buy
modules with fiberglass faceplates. It is not historical.

There are also design advantages to PC material faceplates. The faceplate can become part
of the circuit. Touch switches for triggers or mode selects are essentially free. Things that
are expensive in metal, like slots for linear pots or perforated grills for speakers, now cost
a few pennies instead of a few dollars.

It is a practical idea, but the world is not yet ready for it.

--- In wiardgroup@yahoogroups.com, "> angelzero <" ..> wrote:
>
> (Long shot)--Given demand, is there any chance for new
> designs (in part or full) to emerge in frac format,
> despite the push back to the 300 series, or is frac
> being completely abandoned?
>

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