Mail Day Thread

My tiny haul for today… lol

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You’re going bananas? I must admit I find the notion tempting.

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just for 2 “modules” - mostly to allow for connectivity with future gear - serge, test equipment, etc.

I made a Format Jumbler and a Grounds utility module that should be here really soon :smiley:

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I really would love to convert it all to bananas but man… thats a shit ton of work lol.

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You’d freak out @Caustic :rofl:

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I’m moving so slowly that I have time to evaluate the costs. I have one semi-modular (Crave) with 3.5mm jacks and a couple of unbuilt Kosmo kits. Most of my builds are going to be to my own design (eventually) so I have a lot of wiggle room.

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it would surely be cool to see a full KOSMO (v2 - current iteration - as Sam has done Bananas in the past) with bananas :smiley:

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Just curious why you would want to convert them all over to banana jacks? Just personal preference?

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In my case, an innate sense of tidiness, and deeply seated parsimony based on decades of experience in software development.

Conceptually there is one signal per cable, so only one conductor is required. The earth/ground connection built into the design completes the path. Shielding isn’t necessary in synth patching, at least not often enough to merit the extra bother and cost.

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Banana cables are typically more expensive, though you can find some cheap ones on AliExpress.

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Maybe the made up cables are pricey, but stackable banana plugs with simple screw-fit cable connections are very cheap and you can take your choice of insulated wire. Likewise sockets.

Edit: to enable me to test this I ordered 40 4mm banana plugs and 50 4mm sockets in assorted colours. Total cost about £16 from Amazon, with free postage and timely delivery via Prime. I’ll include these as part of my rapid prototyping system.

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Yeah, but they’re about half as much work to make your own :wink:

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People have been using, and arguing about, different cable types for synthesis for 50 years now. I figure if banana or 1/4" or 3.5 mm had real objective superiority over the others we would have standardized long ago, and we haven’t because it’s really just a matter of personal preference.

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This is what I noticed after I began to check it out last night. Banana plugs are a lot easier to work with because they’re typically designed for a simple screw connection. So you don’t need a soldering iron just to make up a patch cable. All you need is a wire stripper and a screwdriver. Cut your single core cable to length, strip the endings , screw a plug at either end and you’re up and running. The plugs and sockets work out at less than 20p per part and the single core cables can be as cheap or as fancy as you like.

You can in principle even stack the plugs, which is like getting free built-in passive multiples.

I don’t much like the way they look on the panel, but they do have a lot going for them.

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Stackability is indeed the main draw and stackable 3.5mm cables command a hefty premium.

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My order from circuitbenders UK finally arrived, @ChristianBloch I must have been copying you cause I also have a cb55

Also something called phonic taxidermist as well as a huge 24pin IC to go with it

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There seem to be two types of stackable banana plug. The really inexpensive banana plugs usually have a large hole in the body into which another plug may be inserted, at right angles to the first. Other types of stackable have the cable introduced from a slight angle, with a hollow body into which a second plug may be inserted from behind. Neither strikes me as mechanically stable, but I suppose this depends on the sturdiness of the construction. I’ll have fun evaluating this connector system against the 6.35mm mono connectors I already have.

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No photo to go with this delivery (because I can’t get a good enough one, it’s not that interesting to look at and I had a “superglue incident” earlier which has made the a huge mess of my workspace - and fingers).

It’s a reverb module, the sort that gets built into karaoke machines and things. Just had it hooked up to the test board for the sound effect modules I got last week, going in turn to my tiny homemade experiment speaker, and it sounds good. Very clean signal coming out. On the downside, not many parameters to vary (just picking one of the 100 programmed presets) but I knew that in advance.

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Ow ordered the same one! Juanito Moore combined this with a pt2399… Still waiting for those to try it out.

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JLCPCB order showed up today!


Lil Sidrassi
GRNDS (PCB/Panel)
JMBLR (PCB/Panel)
Noise x S&H (PCB/Panel)
And the KOSMO Euro Playsets

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