E340 panels? kits? PCB?

EATyourGUITAR · Post by **EATyourGUITAR** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 11:15 am

ok so I found a blog about building a MOTM e340
http://modularsynthesis.com/motm/e340/e340.htm

I think he went overboard with all the pin headers and jack sockets but anyway. I downloaded the FPD file and loaded up the software for the first time. $87 for a panel

are there any other people making silk screened panels? I'm pretty sure front panel express just uses a CNC mill for the letters and they back-fill with paint. I prefer the silk screened look anyway. I see most DIY panels sell for about $25 to $45 when they do them in batches and sell them at bridechamber. where do you buy your panels? I saw a page where you could order custom silk screened MOTM panels but I lost the link

and whats up with the kits/PCB's. I remember I asked on here about a year ago and there was a short run of kits. are they all gone? can we expect a new batch anytime soon? if I have to pay $87 for a panel, I'm probably not going to build a e340 as my first MOTM VCO. I might just build the Oakley VCO since its cheap, simple, and in stock.

any other VCO kits I should be looking at? I dont want to tackle the MOTM ultra VCO right now for the cost and complexity. I dont even have a scope to calibrate but I do have a frequency counter on my meter.

e-grad · Post by **e-grad** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 11:27 am

You could save quite some money if you leave of the paint in FPD. Since the panel is black anodized the engraving will remove the anodized coating. Voila you'll end up with readable lettering. Works for me.

EATyourGUITAR · Post by **EATyourGUITAR** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 11:55 am

$87 ------> $63

sduck · Post by **sduck** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 12:23 pm

Yes, that's Dave Brown's page - he's a regular here, and will probably reply shortly. He does fantastic builds, and does a wonderful job documenting them. Yes, some of his methods are a bit "over the top" for some, but they work for him, and I've used a fair amount of his ideas with good results also.

Yes, FPE can be a bit expensive, but heed e-grads idea for one way to save, and there are several others - search the diy forum for some more. For one-off type things like this, FPE is about the only game in town unless you want to get into doing your own panels, which is almost always a good idea. Places that do silk screening would be cheaper if they were doing many panels, but the set up costs for just doing a few panels wipes out the overal savings.

Hopefully Paul will chime in about e340 kit availability. Reminds me that I want one too!

Yes, the motm 300 is kind of a bear to build, but they really do work well otherwise. Sure, get the oakley one instead - I've heard good things about them also.

e-grad · Post by **e-grad** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 12:24 pm

You could also save money if you don't insert single letterings (one for FM; another for Coarse etc) but group them (eg. FM, Coarse and Fine with at once). You have to use the spacebar etc. Hope you get the idea.

If my memory saves me Fonik has posted such FPD-wizardy some time ago.

EATyourGUITAR · Post by **EATyourGUITAR** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 1:38 pm

I would be down for the synth tech kit + panel. I will have plenty of DIY attenuators in separate modules anyway so I really dont need that huge panel that Dave Brown did.

and whats with all the kits still on the MOTM store? I thought it was all bridechamber now. do the MOTM kit orders get shipped from bridechamber or do they both sell kits? I'm confused by the announcement that says all MOTM DIY is @ bridechamber.

and while where talking panels, what happened to the universal MOTM panels that synth tech was selling that had knob printing and holes drilled but no lettering. are those still available anywhere? they would be great for attenuators. is it possible to just ask Paul for his drilled MOTM panels without any silkscreen at all?

iopop · Post by **iopop** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 1:38 pm

As e-grad say you save a few cents by merging several text objects into one. It usually easier to merge text columns, change the line spacing to 0.5 and use a lot of enters between each text. I figure you could save few dollars on this one by using the above method.

One day I'll reverse engineer the fpe file format and make my own cost optimizer, one day....

EATyourGUITAR · Post by **EATyourGUITAR** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 1:42 pm

iopop wrote:One day I'll reverse engineer the fpe file format and make my own cost optimizer, one day....

haha I was totally thinking of using a hex editor to remove the white infill on each object! it was taking forever to click each one. they should make it easy to remove infill when you go to order.

sduck · Post by **sduck** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 3:30 pm

I think that if there are still kits and panels and such still in the motm store thing it's because Paul hasn't had the time to remove them yet. In case you haven't noticed he's not that quick on updating his web site....

And a universal panel? I don't remember there ever being such a thing.

EATyourGUITAR · Post by **EATyourGUITAR** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 4:18 pm

well the e340 MOTM kits were posted and sold on muffwiggler right here in 5U but I cant find the thread with the search. during that time, they were not even posted in the MOTM store. thats why I dont trust the website. muffwiggler is where they hide the good stuff

Henfield · Post by **Henfield** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 4:48 pm

look in the DIY forum, Like in this thread:

viewtopic.php?t=40735

EATyourGUITAR · Post by **EATyourGUITAR** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 5:05 pm

yup that be it

paults Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 7:36 pm wrote: a) all kits sold, thanks

b) I wil have more in about 6 weeks. I am making another 200 of these modules, buying parts this weekend. Takes ~ 2 weeks for parts to arrive, 3-4 weeks for the assembler to SMT place & solder, 1 week for me to organize them.

I usually set 10ea aside from the 200 sets for the DIYers, rest are made into full modules.

The E340s took longer this first time, I had work/family issues and moved, got laid-off from RIM but hired yesterday by TI. What a world......

paults · Post by **paults** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 5:30 pm

a) I have both E340 and E350 DIY kits available. $250 US, $275 overseas. Paypal to: synth1@airmail.net and please specify MOTM or Euro power cable in Subject line (example: E340 + MOTM cable)

b) all the MOTM 2.0 stuff you need to get from Bridechamber. They are having a sale right now. I will be updating the site a LOT the next 3 days. Wife/daughter/grandbaby going to visit relatives I GOT 3 DAYS!!! WHEE!!!! (sorry)

I have more kits because I found 12 more DSP boards I had crammed in a box of CDs when I was moving. If you order by Monday noon, I will ship on Monday

EATyourGUITAR · Post by **EATyourGUITAR** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 6:53 pm

thanks for the reply Paul. I'm in the process of dumping all my unused gear and saving money from work. I might just buy a E340 kit before the power supply so I can make sure I don't miss my chance this time. I don't want to be all talk but its hard to figure out exactly how much money I have till I sell a few things or work a few weeks. I have your email and I will be in touch as soon as I get my money right...with my fingers crossed that they don't sell out.

back at ya

davebr · Post by **davebr** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 12:41 am

sduck wrote:Yes, that's Dave Brown's page - he's a regular here, and will probably reply shortly. He does fantastic builds, and does a wonderful job documenting them. Yes, some of his methods are a bit "over the top" for some, but they work for him, and I've used a fair amount of his ideas with good results also.

This thread was fast! The first message was posted about an hour after I created my E340 page.

When the price of Vishay potentiometers went through the roof, I went to BTT direct and bought 240 100K potentiometers at a very nice price. Since then I've not tried to scrimp on controls. I use the Radio Shack small knobs which are also quite affordable so I tend to use more small knob designs.

sduck wrote:Yes, FPE can be a bit expensive, but heed e-grads idea for one way to save, and there are several others - search the diy forum for some more. For one-off type things like this, FPE is about the only game in town unless you want to get into doing your own panels, which is almost always a good idea. Places that do silk screening would be cheaper if they were doing many panels, but the set up costs for just doing a few panels wipes out the overal savings.

I learned a long time ago that my labor was the largest investment so I continue to do full FPE designs with all the tic marks and legends. If I don't really want to invest in a FPE panel, I just print them out on a good laser panel and glue them to a blank 0.125" aluminum panel. I do increase the lines and legends to 0.4mm to make them whiter. You can't really tell them apart from the others. There are photos on my wogglebug page. The left photo is a laser printed panel and the right photo is my FPE panel. I do spray the laser with about four coats of lacquer. For a lower cost FPE panel do the single line legends as described and start dropping out numbers and tic marks.

Dave

EATyourGUITAR · Post by **EATyourGUITAR** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 12:37 pm

just so you know, I think I googled "MOTM E340". google robots were quick to update.

working a good job and throwing money at FPD is the opposite of how I do it. I work a shit job with fewer hours which dictates my DIY on a budget strategy. I would even build modules full time if there was a demand for it. so really for me I just like the look and price of silk screened panels and large knobs that fit perfectly into an all synth tech modular. I will be adding in 3rd party modules too but I dont want to pay FPD prices unless its a module I really really want and its my only option.

I have also considered mixing blacet and MOTM with multiples in a 19inch 1U rack spacer. the power is the same. I probably wont do blacet though cause I dont like little jacks.

and thanks for documenting all your work. it has helped me so much already.

JohnLRice · Post by **JohnLRice** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 4:54 pm

EATyourGUITAR wrote:haha I was totally thinking of using a hex editor to remove the white infill on each object! it was taking forever to click each one. they should make it easy to remove infill when you go to order.

It is pretty easy! 8_) You can either left click + hold and drag across a group of text/line objects or just hold down the Shift key and click each one until you have them all selected then just change the property for them all at once. Or, is that what you were doing and it took too long?

boothnavy · Post by **boothnavy** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 7:22 pm

Or select "no infill" in the properties of the panel and it will deselect infill from everything in one move. Great for evaluating the difference in price. It actually looks pretty white with no infill...

EATyourGUITAR · Post by **EATyourGUITAR** » Sun Oct 02, 2011 8:57 pm

when I dragged a window around it the properties just said x, y
probably cause I had mixed graphics and text. I guess it would work if I selected only text. doing it on the panel sounds like a better option. thanks for the tip.

boothnavy · Post by **boothnavy** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 9:17 pm

if you just click on the panel it will bring up the panel properties. This is also where you select user supplied material if you want to send in a dotcom blank.

doctorvague · Post by **doctorvague** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 7:45 am

paults wrote:<<<the MOTM 2.0 stuff>>>

Can anyone explain what this means exactly?

paults · Post by **paults** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 7:48 am

Parts for people wanting to build their own modules: blank pc boards, wire, pots, knobs, panels, brackets, etc.

EATyourGUITAR · Post by **EATyourGUITAR** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 8:35 am

yeah I don't understand why some of the DIY is still in the store @ synth tech and some of it is at bridechamber. I noticed the 960 distribution is at bridechamber only now.

EATyourGUITAR · Post by **EATyourGUITAR** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:33 pm

will there be an official synth tech panel for this module? is this pic the only one in existance?

paults · Post by **paults** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 7:51 am

This photo was the prototype panels.

I have not decided what direction to take the '520 at this time. Will decide around NAMM time (early Jan.).

All DIY stuff should be now transferred to BrideChamber.

MOD WIGGLER

MOD WIGGLER

E340 panels? kits? PCB?

E340 panels? kits? PCB?