Pin Hornet vs. Portabella
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Re: Pin Hornet vs. Portabella

Last edited by synthichap on Wed Nov 11, 2020 2:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Pin Hornet vs. Portabella
like i said, it's all digital. Just a little chip in there. Just like the moog modular reissues.
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Re: Pin Hornet vs. Portabella
A few days ago me and a fellow Portabella owner put our machines together for a comparison. Not too many differences, especially soundwise it seemed more or less the same, but there are a few little ones.
There's a different behaviour of the random voltage generator (much faster rate on v2019). The toggle switch for the RVG to envelope now has "off" printed on the panel instead of to output. The behaviour there is also different. On the 2019 it's an "or" switch, routing the RVG trigger to either output or envelop. In the 2020 it's always present at the output and the switch only affects the envelope. The reverb mix knob responds different, though still a bit odd. And the trigger button is red on the v2020, aluminum on the v2019.

There's a different behaviour of the random voltage generator (much faster rate on v2019). The toggle switch for the RVG to envelope now has "off" printed on the panel instead of to output. The behaviour there is also different. On the 2019 it's an "or" switch, routing the RVG trigger to either output or envelop. In the 2020 it's always present at the output and the switch only affects the envelope. The reverb mix knob responds different, though still a bit odd. And the trigger button is red on the v2020, aluminum on the v2019.

Re: Pin Hornet vs. Portabella
For the current Portabella owners - what did you buy as far as additional pins (either of the standard resistance or the other two available)? My initial thought was to have the 16 standard and maybe 3 - 4 each of the other two. Seems almost a waste to spend this much and not max out the pins. But then again, the price from Pin is something like 15 USD for each additional pin - YIKES! And someone mentioned earlier that the other resistances might not be all that useful. Any thoughts?
Someone mentioned getting pins directly from the matrix manufacturer. Is that an option? If so, what does it cost going direct like that?
Also - what are all the options for pin colors? So far I think I've seen white, yellow, red, green, and black. According to Pin there are just the three resistances available. So are people just mixing up the colors for whatever they like? Or is there a pattern? I know atleast the red pins posted earlier were said to just be for personal preference.
Lastly (I think) - has anyone tried painting or putting colored inserts onto the knobs? I was thinking this would be nice to try on an extra set of knobs, assuming they can be had for a reasonable price.
Someone mentioned getting pins directly from the matrix manufacturer. Is that an option? If so, what does it cost going direct like that?
Also - what are all the options for pin colors? So far I think I've seen white, yellow, red, green, and black. According to Pin there are just the three resistances available. So are people just mixing up the colors for whatever they like? Or is there a pattern? I know atleast the red pins posted earlier were said to just be for personal preference.
Lastly (I think) - has anyone tried painting or putting colored inserts onto the knobs? I was thinking this would be nice to try on an extra set of knobs, assuming they can be had for a reasonable price.
Re: Pin Hornet vs. Portabella
I got some extra pins directly from Ghielmetti. They were about 10USD a piece.
Re: Pin Hornet vs. Portabella
If PIN is charging USD $15 for pins, he is not marking them up much, if at all. Ordering from Ghielmetti is quite the PITA, and their prices are steep. Also, for EU folk, they are in Switzerland, so ther are import duty and taxes ato pay too. However if that's a bitter pill, on the upside, the pins are totally gorgeous, gold plated and machined - far, far more robust that Seelectro ones. Swiss engineering - what else would we expect?
Re: Pin Hornet vs. Portabella
Cool, that is all good to know. I didn't realize the pins were going to be that much. It is peanuts compared to the cost of the Portabella anyway, so not that big a deal.momo wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 11:05 pmIf PIN is charging USD $15 for pins, he is not marking them up much, if at all. Ordering from Ghielmetti is quite the PITA, and their prices are steep. Also, for EU folk, they are in Switzerland, so ther are import duty and taxes ato pay too. However if that's a bitter pill, on the upside, the pins are totally gorgeous, gold plated and machined - far, far more robust that Seelectro ones. Swiss engineering - what else would we expect?
Speaking of, back to the other question - what does everyone feel is a good minimum number of pins to have (assuming you don't want to risk running out)? And how about the makeup of the different resistances? My current thought is to get 8 more standard (24 total), 4 of the next resistance, and 4 of the last resistance. If that is nuts or anyone has suggestions based on real world usage, I'd love to hear it.
Re: Pin Hornet vs. Portabella
I had some correspondence with Sandro in 2018 and he recommended me to only get the 68K as additional resistor value. So I ordered additional 16 pcs. 2k7 in white and 4 pcs. 68K in green (because I like that colour). I ordered directly from Ghielmetti, which as Sandro had pointed out will be cheaper. BTW, these are made to order in any quantity, in any resistance and colour is the information I got from them. Took a few weeks. Pricing as above, which I do not think is expensive for a custom order.
PS: I got them all in 1% accuracy - no additional cost. No need to get less accurate resistors as in the past with worse accuracy in order to save money (I believe on the orig the 1% pins were green).
PS: I got them all in 1% accuracy - no additional cost. No need to get less accurate resistors as in the past with worse accuracy in order to save money (I believe on the orig the 1% pins were green).
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