I made that mistake once. Sold my MkII. Despite getting $4k more than I paid for it, I regretted it very much and ended up spending a lot more to replace it with the MkIII I currently own.
Fair enough!
Mind you, I’d never suggest that it was literally worth the cash. You could do so much more with what they cost, and without the repairs. It was just a personal thing for me. Tought me a valuable lesson and now I am very conscious of selling something that I’ll not likely be able to afford to replace.
3 x A4 MKII
So how much would you say it cost you to complete a TTSH yourself?
I don’t know much about the whole TTSH thing apart from it’s a diy project. It’s sort of passed me by at the time.
If only i had experience with soldering and electronics i would build a TTSH.
Understandable. Sometimes something is much more than what i can do. Its the relationship and stories you have made with that instrument. I am in my late 20s so i missed the cheap analog synth boom so I’ve had to resort to primarily DIY to do this hobby. I lusted over the arp so long. So as soon as i seen an available DIY clone i snapped it up. I have yet to see a good Synthi clone bar the Phutey. But it has far too much cabling. ( I am currently in convo with the kit maker , and it seems like potentially they have made a bus for the pin matrix , which would be a life saver , they just need one for all the front panel controls before i go near that cable nightmare!)
I really want to build the 1601 sequencer clone. I’ve had plenty of experience (too much!) repairing the real thing…
I keep thinking about building a TTSH just for fun. I am not sure I’d want to build a Synthi clone. I’ve worked on my VCS3 enough not to be intimidated by the wiring, but I’d never want to recreate it. Yikes.
It was my first big build. Definitely made some oopsies but i was able to correct them fine. The only comment i would make about these sorts of boards is that they are all made by hobbyist so they can have a lot of errors in them and the power rails aren’t always put in optimal places when they design them on PCB software. ( my father tells me this from looking at them. PHD in EE and 40+ in pcb hardware design).
So no different than the classics, then!
You are probably very right lmao. But regardless , they all sound great , i think my father is a bit like a proud brick layer in that regard lmao. But it is good to be disciplined too!
https://www.dsl-man.de/display/TTSH/TTSH+Home
A fantastic resource. I think it cost me around 1.5k but i also had a very good soldering iron and test equipment. If you go in wanting to build one of these , you basically take this on a long term hobby. Which is a good thing. But from your repair experience i am sure you have that already! I would definitely take your time with it , as most of my mistakes where when i was very tired. The Deckards dream i built i think had 3x the amount of components. It was a real slog.
It definitely was fun/ a learning experience. I would like to one day maybe play performances with only DIY kits i have built. The next thing i have my eyes on is a buchla 208p.
The build for the 1601 clones doesn’t seem too crazy! If you are a dab hand at soldering , it should only take a clear weekend to build id reckon!
Also the synthi clones with the wires literally looked like the inside of a Swarmatron. Amazing sounding wacky device , however i think my head would explode building never mind repairing such an instrument!
Many thanks I’ll check that out. I just saw an article quoting a V4 coming out in August. Assembled and tested its $3400 or the full kit is $1500.
Happy to help
Straight up dude, that’s why I never sell vintage synths that I scoop up because I know replacing them will be MUCH more expensive and it’s not worth selling just to afford some hot new gear on preorder.
Have you studied electronics or you are an autodidact ? Im a software developer with no real knowledge of electronics except what i’ve learned from school when i was young (the basics)
I sold my TTSh in anticipation of the clones that are coming out, I really like the KARP and I look forward to the street price.
My background is in software engineering , but shortly after working for a security company and seeing all the fun people where having designing and PROGAMMING cameras i realised for me (and what i find interesting) I messed up. So i have studied EE for a few years. Nearly finished my foundation degree in EE and telecoms (which comes in handy as RF and synth tech is very similar). I will be topping up to a full degree next year and pie in the sky do some research work to stretch my knowledge. I am predominantly self taught but from learning and studying under my father i also have a good bit of practical experience.( hoary nepotism).
The best bit of advice i can give you , is software and hardware is very similar. We had to base software on logic that was already there. So if you do get into it , you will get into it much quicker + when it comes to anything with microprossers and programming, you will be turbo quick compared to most EEs. Pick up a DIY electronics book , get your hands dirty. Its the only way to learn! Or get a teensy board and start adding schematics you find online and try to control them within that. Thats what I’ve been doing! I am now starting to build stuff in PCB software. But i am in my infancy of that. I think it’ll take a while of stumbling in the dark and it’ll click!