Deckard's Dream DIY (Part 1)

 If you follow my blog you know I like to build my own synthesizers. Unfortunately due to my divorce I had to sell a lot. Also some of my DIY stuff. But as you know after 2,5 years I have a small studio again. Luckily I still had a DIY kit that I saved. It is a Deckard's Dream which is actually a clone of the famous Yamaha CS80 that was heavily used my Vangelis one of my favorite musicians. I did have a CS60 in the past and that came close. So I'm really looking forward to this synthesizer. But the build is a lot of work and not the easiest to build. First thing up is build  the 8 voice boards. In the picture you see the back of the first one. You have to solder a lot of very  small SMD capacitor on there to begin with. I never really did that and my eyes used to be better ;) So that was quite a challenge.

After that you start with the resistors and diodes. There are a lot actually and you need to pay attention to the correct value going in the right spot. Usually it is quite a puzzle, but luckily some made a build document that made life a lot easier. It is divided with a drawing that highlights all the resistors of one value and where they need to go. That actually saves a lot of time and mistakes. And one thing I learned myself is using to multi meter to measure the resistor values before I put them in and not rely on what is printed on the bag you buy since sometimes the supplier makes mistakes too. It is a lot of work, but actually I find this work very therapeutic and relaxing :) So I don't mind.

After This the capacitors go on. Just like the diodes here you have to watch the orientation too. Getting this far for the first board was about a days work. So time to stop and also the sun light was going away. Unfortunately I don't have very good lighting in my temporary work place which is actually the dinner table in our living room. So time to call it quits. 

And already I'm worrying if I didn't make any mistakes. But I decided to build the 8 voice boards one by one so when they are finished I can compare them to each other. It would be weird if I made the same mistake 8 times over. But well you never know ;) I will update you with part 2 soon.