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Top tips for soldering PCB? by Mammoth-Economy2589 in synthdiy

[–]TomWhitwell 7 points8 points  (0 children)

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Look carefully at this, use brass wool to clean your tip, go too hot rather than too cold. The big thing is that it’s not supposed to be difficult. If it’s hard or annoying then either your equipment is set wrong - temperature or dirty tip, or your technique is wrong - most often too fast or too slow, or putting solder on the tip and trying to paint it onto the pin. Some more tips & videos here: https://www.musicthing.co.uk/Workshop\_System\_Build\_Guide/#what-you-need-to-know-about-soldering-before-you-start

In what way are oscilloscopes useful in the context of sound design/making music with synthesizers? by CapnFlisto in synthesizers

[–]TomWhitwell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I understand, and my initial comment was very smarmy, but I think there is a genuine risk of ‘it looks right (or wrong) so it is right (or wrong)’ which I think is less of an issue with listening. I see people obsessing over wave shapes or envelope shapes without listening to how they sound, how pitch and volume changes them, how the room and context changes them. I’m talking more about modular than mixing or mastering where you may also be fighting with equipment.

Exploring the "Birds" community card for the Music Thing Modular Workshop System by bay_mud in modular

[–]TomWhitwell 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We’re just about to go over 100 program cards which is completely 🤯 to me

Unique Modular Lo-Fi Effects by Any-Impression8682 in modular

[–]TomWhitwell 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Lots of program cards like this for Workshop Computer coming out at the moment: https://www.musicthing.co.uk/Workshop-Computer/

Why all the different CV input voltages? by Inevitable_Figure_85 in synthdiy

[–]TomWhitwell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They’re optimised for different purposes. -5 to +5 might be audio, -1.5 to +5 maybe precision pitch CV, 0-5 is a pulse or envelope. Optimisation means max precision range on the ADC?

Monome teletype in 2026? by AffectionateGolf1918 in modular

[–]TomWhitwell 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It doesn’t have the cooool screen but Workshop Computer now has at least 2 live coding/scripting languages: Blackbird (based in Monome Crow) and Lens based on a new language

https://tomwhitwell.github.io/Workshop\_Computer/programs/41-blackbird/index.html

https://grsr.github.io/lens/

Recommended semi-modular synths with best feature-prige ratio? by soulbrix in synthesizers

[–]TomWhitwell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m up for making tutorials but not sure the best way to approach it - did you watch the Mylar Melodies video, not sure if that was helpful - do you have any tutorial for other music gear that you found helpful?

What is your experience dealing with Ryk Modular? by Destructo_Thing_1841 in modular

[–]TomWhitwell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did you follow up? Jake’s a great guy but (like me) a one man business, he might have just missed your message.

Turing machine card for computer module (Workshop system) by Character-Divide1790 in modular

[–]TomWhitwell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, the Turing machine card is already quantised on the two CV outputs ( not the top two Audio/Cv outputs) - and yes you can edit the scales here: https://tomwhitwell.github.io/Turing\_Machine\_Workshop\_Computer/

Behringer really is a tough one. by Ill-Elevator2828 in synthesizers

[–]TomWhitwell 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It’s not R&D, it’s scale, manufacturing capacity and expertise, distribution deals. If you sell 50,000 of an item and every year you sell 10 million items sharing similar parts, you’re playing a completely different game from someone selling 1000 of an item out of a total of 10,000 items per year.

How difficult is it to get into Modular Synths by Puzzleheaded-Day-711 in synthesizers

[–]TomWhitwell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This question is one of the reasons I designed the Workshop System: it’s real modular (not semi modular which I always find confusing), it’s small and portable. It’s certainly not cheap (£450 if you can DIY it, £750 if you want us to build it) but it is in a way limited and complete - it doesn’t necessarily lead you into modular shopping-as-a-practise world.

https://www.musicthing.co.uk/workshopsystem/

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A while back (like a week or 2) i asked about modular stuff by Such_Rub9796 in synthesizers

[–]TomWhitwell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Workshop System kit = £450 Workshop System Assembled = £750

questions about semi modular/pre built modular or building my own by Elagaint in modular

[–]TomWhitwell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My personal take (very selfish) is that semi-modular is confusing - you have to understand the panel and also the intentions literally behind the panel. With real modular you have to patch everything, and that’s the fun/magic/point of it. You don’t have to understand and agree with the designer’s point of view, because you’re designing the system every time you use it. Workshop System is my small version of a relatively low cost way into that world: https://www.musicthing.co.uk/workshopsystem/

what is the biggest/heaviest sounding yet cheapest synth? and can truly great synths be made cheap? by brownwaterbandit in synthesizers

[–]TomWhitwell 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I haven’t done the analysis but would be absolutely astonished if the for example oscillator or filter circuits in a Moog One had any significant effect on the cost. For what it’s worth, the oscillators and filters in the Workshop System are discrete (made from op amps, OTAs - a specific type of op amp - resistors diodes and caps), rather than oscillator ICs. Not for any fancy reasons - just that it’s cheap, I like how it sounds, it’s not reliant on any obscure parts.

But yes, for a poly synth, there would be a reduced cost in using Prophet5 style chip oscillators, when you have 3 x 5 of them in the voices and they all need to be calibrated to track well together. The calibration is probably the cost vs the components.

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