Late August/early September, I had been conversing with our own Peake on laying out some of his PCBs as gerbers so boards can be ordered instead of home etching. This started a process of visually tracing Peake's boards in Eagle. Once his boards were done, I began talking to Apetechnology about the remaining 100 series modules that have been left untouched in terms of documentation and DIY. He has access to a 76U Buchla 100 series system, and he quickly began to share high resolution photos of the system to me, disassembling them and documenting parts. Paired with Apetechnology's background in mechanical prowess and Peake's insane part knowledge, I have decided that more of us need to have access to a system of this magnitude.
So far, this project has amassed a folder on my hard drive that looks a bit like this. Or in other words, the Christmases to end all Christmases:
The process is simple - painstakingly redraw each pcb in vector, convert to BMP and redraw in Eagle. I know it can be done faster with other software, but I treat each PCB generation as a true old school process, I liken it to rubylith cutting and masking.
I have been repairing and building synths since I was 15 years old, ripping old stuff apart and learning the ropes from experience. When it comes to vintage systems, I do not subscribe to new layouts, part subs or even improvements on the design, call me a purist in a sense. I feel like this is a huge labor of love, and it needs to be done RIGHT. This is why I set out to reproduce as closely as possible the path these electrons will take. Will it make a difference? Probably not. But I want these circuits to take us all back to the mid to late sixties, when the synthesizer made us all hear music differently again.
To prove how hard we have been at work, here is a list of COMPLETED boards. These have not been tested yet, as we are still labeling components.
And a few teasers images to show some work.
Note, all boards are made to use vintage or new parts, whichever we choose. Trimmers are 15mm Piher, with holes under each pot to adjust from behind the pcb, like the original. Apetechnology and I chose to keep parts that were close to unobtainium - namely the blue bead relays in the Random module and even a footprint for the formed coil on the White Noise Gen. I am as we speak making a clone of the 115 Power Supply pcb to be extra thorough. As for new part subs, daughterboards will be made to convert old footprints. This is to ensure anyone with any pricepoint can pick away at the project without dumping 40 bucks on relays.
Boards will be made available once we have thoroughly tested each module - this is not a project we want to rush, as this needs to be done properly, especially the way we have chosen to do it. No ETA at the moment, but a blip on the horizon for hardcore DIY enthusiasts.
I prefer to get as close as is possible to the original just in case there's some cumulative mojo which might otherwise be missed. Better safe...but it =is= possible to use modern components if wished.
