you got this
5 Likes
If you are dialed in on stripboard, a well made pcb build is going to be a breeze! Some of the pads connecting to grounds are a little weird sometimes
4 Likes
@heckseven and @CTorp I have no doubt that I wonāt be able to do it, rather that, if this module is just so much better than my self-made on stripboard, I will lose the desire to build stripboards. But I canāt afford any ārealā modules. Thatās usualy why I started with stripboards. But I am deeply impressed by the PCB mount technology, how well the potis hold on to the board and how stable it is overall, really great! To get there, I still have to practice a lot ā¦
1 Like
Or how about āI will gain the desire to design PCBsā? They cost more than stripboard but can still be quite cheap. The shipping can be a lot worse, but if youāre patient you can use the slow and cheap shipping, or you can hold off on ordering until you have several boards to make and spread the shipping cost between them. Designing PCBs takes some effort but itās not that hard, at least not for something as un-demanding as audio. And of course thereās also the option of getting someone elseās PCB designs made, if theyāve put their Gerbers online for download.
Or you can etch and drill your own PCBs, if thatās how you want to spend your timeā¦
Also, some commercial PCBs can be had, without parts or panels, for pretty low pricesā¦ $8 or so is typical for Barton and NLC, for instance.
4 Likes
Indeed, and it seems that you can amortize your cost by having a few extra boards made and selling them to fellow forum members.
3 Likes
My 3340 VCO/LFO build so far. Done with the core stuff, now need to think about If I wanāt to do anything with 3 extra opamps I have. Or remove the quad opamp and put a dual one. After that Iām designing and ordering my first PCB ever.
13 Likes
So there it is ā¦ the Skull & Circuits VCO-1. Itās a great device, but itās not that far removed from my self-made ones. I will definitely continue to build on stripboard !!!
I made some stupid mistakes when building it. I soldered the Eurorack plug to the back from the start and thought how stupid it is that the trim pots are not also on the back and installed them as described ā¦ I would have listened to my gut feeling ā¦ . so it was really a pain in the ass to calibrate it. Then I wanted to unsolder the trimmpots again, and the solderpads also came loose ā¦ thatās really crap! So I leave it that way now, I canāt set the wave animator correctly, but I have to live with that. In any case, I donāt feel like scratching the circuit board to expose the conductor track in order to solder the trim pot again ā¦
Oh, one thing that really annoys me is the limited space, you canāt completely encircle the knobs ā¦ that sucks!
6 Likes
I had a look at the panel design and thatās a very severe limitation with the 3U, 16HP form factor given all the bells and whistles heās added to the basic 3340 feature set. Still the panel design is simple enough and you could probably put the switchgear onto long wires and fit them to a wider panel (or even Kosmo if you want) of your own construction.
Itās such a lovely feature set with lots of potential for experimentation, so it may be worth the extra effort.
2 Likes
Thatās the Eurorack cult of slenderness for you. They probably have people complaining 16HP is too wide and if they used these pots with no knobs and rearranged things they could get it down to 12HP.
2 Likes
12hp is too wide. Replace all pots by a single encoder and do it in 8hp. 
1 Like
Oh yes, today a blue OLED screen, an encoder, a mCU and some jacks are all the hype.
Lets ADC-ize, process digitally, DAC-ize the analog signal in each āanalogā module !
2 Likes
Actually that sounds like a good idea. Iāve been planning hybrid gear like that for months, because software is so incredibly versatile.
3 Likes
5 Likes
Just go full modular digital, use one of the numerous digital audio interface, and patch the digital signal from module to module.
The result will be much better than a chain of 20 ADC-DAC conversionsā¦
I have nothing against digital, I even plan on building 2 or 3 Braids, but the repeated digital<->analog conversions will destroy your signal so fast, especially because they wont be samples at the same rate and in syncā¦
Go modular digital all the way !
Use RJ-45 in place of the jacks to carry start-of-sample/clock/left/right signal, patch with these, innovate !
Whatever you do inside the module is fine, if the results are good. Just donāt take my knobs ā big ones, with space between them ā away. Donāt make me dive into menus to change a sound. Donāt push presets to the front and controls to the back. Donāt make it harder to create and easier to imitate.
6 Likes
Or just use a softsynth.
4 Likes
Imagine a physical VCVRack 
Modules with touch screens at the top to choose what analog module they imitate and then show the needed controls, with RJ-45 (or optical digital audio, optical fibre is so hype today) connectors on the bottom to patch them together.
Oh would that beā¦ not for me
Software is my day job, I wanāt the minimum in my hobbiesā¦ and Kicad already fills the allotment.
But in fact, I would love to see something like that, just because it is possible
2 Likes
I am working on an extremely crude idea similar to this, although all of my software synth projects have now been replaced by Kosmoooo
2 Likes
