Building up the PCB's inApril

I'm sorry I seem to have misled people, this project has required all of my skills to complete, I have been in Engineering for 42 years, and my hobby was electronics before I started my engineering apprenticeship in 1968, you will need a great deal of DIY skills to build a clone for yourself, even if you have the necessary components.

I have made the clone , using the dimensions of the original synth they are H 44cm x W 43cm x D 42cm.

The panels sizes are upper W 40cm x H 32cm x 2mm and the lower panel is W 40cm H 30cm x 2mm.

The Phutney clone wiring is complete on 16/03/2010, but still needs needs fully calibrating, as there are some differences with the pots and internal wiring.

I have finished the track layouts of the three main PCB's.

I have finished wiring up Board X's connections to the Patch Panel and I/O, and have tested my original Synthi A board in that position, I was a little bit nervous as I powered up, but all was well, and I measured the +12V and -9V d.c. supply, and confirmed that they checked out to within tolerance. Board Y connector is completely wired up, I tested both boards X & Y, I had a problem with the reverb circuit, but soon realised where I had gone wrong, and corrected the error, finished the wiring to Board Z, tested all the boards, all O.K.

As you can see I have used plastic conduit to guide the wires, as I don't have wire mans skills, and I didn't want the wires to look untidy, so I have just run them in the conduit, when I have finished, I'll put the top covers on, and should I need to add any further wires, the process will be very easily accomplished.

I have adopted to use a Ghielmetti 20 x 20 patch bay, this is because a 16 x 16 matrix is classed as a "custom" patch bay and cost double the price of a standard 20 x 20, but changing the 20 x 20 to a 16 x 16 is a relatively easy task, but I chose to use the 20 x 20, as I plan to add some extra features, which were planned on the original, like voltage control of oscillator wave shape, and filter response, but as the 16 x 16 matrix were cheap and available, the additional features were shelved.

I didn't like the white finish of the Ghielmetti Matrix Panel. so I ordered a piece of Black poly carbonate and re-manufactured the top panel.

Finishing the wiring, tested all the functions, only a couple of minor adjustments to do, on the joystick and Osc 2. now to the manufacture of the 3 PCB's. I'm hoping to have this project finished by the end of June 2010.

I got the PCB's made, the guy quoted me £120, but they actually cost £212, that's just for the three prototypes, well at least the work is done now, and I'm told that if I need any minor changes done, it's not going to cost anything extra.

I've now populated all boards, and after correcting a few track errors, I managed to get all the boards working. The biggest problem I had was setting up of the Env. Shaper, but I was advised by Steve Urquhart, how to resolve the problem, in contrast the Filter just burst into life, as did most everything else, I have an issue with the Reverberation circuit, the whole thing distorts the original sound, on both Wet and Dry mix.