My first successful DIY

Bob Borries · Post by **Bob Borries** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 6:10 pm

I have DIYphobia, you see, in 1982 I bought a DIY Electronic reverb from Radio Shack, and was ecstatic to build a BBD for much less than buying a stomp pedal. Of course I didn't know what I was doing so I used, acid core solder and a 250w soldiering iron that contractors use. Needless to say with all the fried components and solder spillage, it never worked, a vowed to never do that again.

Then 35 years later, I have a synthesizers.com system and Mattson comes out with DIY modular cards, all the components are already on the PCB, all you do is solder the wires onto pots, switches and jacks. Plug in the wires into the board and your done, simple as that, well, not exactly...

I decided to have a panel made, it cost about $50 from Front Panel Express. I costs more to have the front panel text filled in with white, so I just had them drill it without the paint, and the text is still very readable.

Front Panel Express Software Download

A Mattson Quad ASR Generator Board $89.95

Quad ASR link

The Mattson wiring kit for the Quad ASR Generator Board $24.00

Mattson Wiring Kit link

Mattson MOTM style Power Cable $4.50

Power Cable link

8- 1meg Audio taper pots $1.75 each

Amplifiedparts.com pots link

8- High Quality Jacks $1.40 each ($70 for 50 bulk) & switches $2.00

Bridechamber Jacks in bulk link
Bridechamber Switches link

A Synthesizers.com to MOTM power adapter board $34.00 [EDIT] This is not needed since the Mattson Board already has a .com power connector!

Syntech.com Adapter board for .com to MOTM link

Hooked up all the wires like this

I plugged it in today and Vola! it works beautifully, much better than 1982! Snappy Too!

If anyone knows better places to buy quality parts for less or has any better suggestions on construction, please make a comment.

Luka · Post by **Luka** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 6:15 pm

bwhittington · Post by **bwhittington** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 6:31 pm

Nice, I just finished my Quad EG panel layout to submit. I just need to call and figure out how to send in customer supplied material, since I want it done on a Dotcom panel. I like your layout a lot, and its almost half the cost of mine.

How do you like the module in the Dotcom system?

I don't understand why you needed an adapter board, though. Mine has a Dotcom power header on it. Nice work!

Cheers,
Brian

appliancide · Post by **appliancide** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 6:42 pm

Bob Borries wrote: If anyone knows better places to buy quality parts for less or has any better suggestions on construction, please make a comment.

Maybe check out Small Bear Electronics for the pots. He has a huge variety of values and good prices.

That is a really nice first build! Mine is a Rat clone that is so ugly it has no right to work, but thankfully it does.

Bob Borries · Post by **Bob Borries** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 7:00 pm

bwhittington wrote:Nice, I just finished my Quad EG panel layout to submit. I just need to call and figure out how to send in customer supplied material, since I want it done on a Dotcom panel. I like your layout a lot, and its almost half the cost of mine. :doh:

How do you like the module in the Dotcom system?

I don't understand why you needed an adapter board, though. Mine has a Dotcom power header on it. Nice work!

Cheers,
Brian

Oh my Gosh! Your right, what was I thinking? You can even see it in the photo I posted. I must of got it for the Morphing Terrerium DIY.

kindredlost · Post by **kindredlost** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 7:57 pm

Nice job. Good build detail. Thanks for the linkage.

patchdub · Post by **patchdub** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 8:01 pm

the mattson boards are great!

i highly recommend the quad vca.

i am about to finish my quad/asr tonight!

bwhittington · Post by **bwhittington** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 8:02 pm

Oh, jeez, I didn't realize that the dip switches were in a socket until I saw your build. I might have desoldered the part before I realized it.

This looks even easier now. How did you secure the wires in the sockets?

And what kind of mounting bracket did you use to parallel mount the pcb?

Cheers,
Brian

pugix · Post by **pugix** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 8:31 pm

bwhittington wrote:Oh, jeez, I didn't realize that the dip switches were in a socket until I saw your build. I might have desoldered the part before I realized it. This looks even easier now. How did you secure the wires in the sockets?

And what kind of mounting bracket did you use to parallel mount the pcb?

Cheers,
Brian

He seems to have used an 8-pin header to hook up to the DIP socket. I did the same thing.

There's no mounting bracket. He used standoffs from the panel. The screws are visible on the front.

And a very nice job it is!

Here's my build, if you haven't seen it.

http://pugix.com/synth/mattson-quad-ada ... generator/

Bob Borries · Post by **Bob Borries** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 8:34 pm

bwhittington wrote:Oh, jeez, I didn't realize that the dip switches were in a socket until I saw your build. I might have desoldered the part before I realized it. :lol: This looks even easier now. How did you secure the wires in the sockets?

Well to tell you the truth Brian, I didn't secure them, I took out the jumpers and just stuck the wires in there. I don't recommend this, I should find a way to make it so they won't fall out and short out my hard work.

bwhittington · Post by **bwhittington** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 8:53 pm

Bob Borries wrote:Well to tell you the truth Brian, I didn't secure them, I took out the jumpers and just stuck the wires in there. I don't recommend this, I should find a way to make it so they won't fall out and short out my hard work.

Maybe you could clip the pins off the dip switches or some other component and lodge them in there to secure the wires.

pugix wrote:He seems to have used an 8-pin header to hook up to the DIP socket. I did the same thing. . . .

Here's my build, if you haven't seen it.

Do you mean a part that plugged into the socket and has a header on the other side? Sorry, this is my first project of this sort. That seems to be what your page suggests, too. I had assumed you desoldered the dip switches, so I was planning to do that. I'd much rather use a socketed part if it exists.

And of course I've seen your build page! I've salivated over most of your site, and your page gave me the idea to try one of these, too. I'm trying to add manual gates to my panel, too. We'll see how quickly I actually get the tinkering parts done.

Thanks for the info, guys!

Cheers,
Brian

pugix · Post by **pugix** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 9:02 pm

bwhittington wrote:
Bob Borries wrote:Well to tell you the truth Brian, I didn't secure them, I took out the jumpers and just stuck the wires in there. I don't recommend this, I should find a way to make it so they won't fall out and short out my hard work.
Maybe you could clip the pins off the dip switches or some other component and lodge them in there to secure the wires.

pugix wrote:He seems to have used an 8-pin header to hook up to the DIP socket. I did the same thing. . . .

Here's my build, if you haven't seen it.
Do you mean a part that plugged into the socket and has a header on the other side? Sorry, this is my first project of this sort. That seems to be what your page suggests, too. I had assumed you desoldered the dip switches, so I was planning to do that. I'd much rather use a socketed part if it exists.

And of course I've seen your build page! I've salivated over most of your site, and your page gave me the idea to try one of these, too. I'm trying to add manual gates to my panel, too. We'll see how quickly I actually get the tinkering parts done.

Thanks for the info, guys!

Cheers,
Brian

The header has pins for the socket on the bottom and tiny lugs to solder wires to on the top.

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Ari ... DMXg%3d%3d

The Mouser photo shows a cover, but you don't need it.

When I ordered I told George Mattson to put in a socket, rather than solder in the DIP switch, so I wouldn't have to unsolder it.

Bob Borries · Post by **Bob Borries** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 1:47 am

pugix wrote:
The header has pins for the socket on the bottom and tiny lugs to solder wires to on the top.

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Ari ... DMXg%3d%3d

The Mouser photo shows a cover, but you don't need it.

Thanks Richard, I would have never found this or had known it ever existed.

JohnLRice · Post by **JohnLRice** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 2:14 am

Great job, Bob! Tasty graphics and pictures too!

Synesthesia · Post by **Synesthesia** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 4:45 am

Waouw !!! this is cool !!!

Have to close my " x0xb0X diy " project before doing anything else ... but this is quite motivating !!!

negativspace · Post by **negativspace** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 5:21 am

Nice work! Love your wiring diagram.

emdot_ambient · Post by **emdot_ambient** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 2:27 am

pugix wrote:Here's my build, if you haven't seen it.

http://pugix.com/synth/mattson-quad-ada ... generator/

I love that design. Very space economical, neat and clean.

I like how you've used the switched pots instead of the DIP switches, too. I've just started incorporating those switched pots into my panel designs. Saves a lot of space and opens a lot of possibilities.

(Like I've added one to a CGS DC Mixer design with 4 channels, each normalized to mix one of an Oscillator's waveforms. Switched jack allow anything else to be jacked into the mixer, though, and I realized I would probably need to use an offset voltage sometimes to raise a bipolar wave up so that its full waveform could be used on some CV inputs that are 0-10V...turning a -5V to +5V triangle wave into a 0-10V triangle, for example....well, I've got no panel room to add the offset voltage, but by using a switched pot on one of the DC Mixer inputs, I can add that function easily. I also used one on 2 VCFs where I had not taken the Resonance CV input out to the front panel...switched pot on one of the 2 Freq CV inputs solves that issue...etc. Very handy, save on buying dedicated switches, too.)

Low-Gain · Post by **Low-Gain** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 2:31 am

Nice!!!

Great rendering too!!

MOD WIGGLER

MOD WIGGLER

My first successful DIY

My first successful DIY

Re: My first successful DIY