My little Beast (Updated - Panel Time)

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Hell yeah! Definately in on this project when its done! Know i've said it before... but that front panel is amazing! You're truly an artist
 
Yeah :) It's so funny how this was just around the corner from where I used to live,
and my old friend/studio rat works there. So I got 100 ideas and meanwhile the guy
who runs the place and I are really good friends.

I accept orders for making these for developers, but there's this thing with a $ sign
attached that looms vastly for one-offs. Still, it's a very solid choice if you're doing
a run of 10 somethings you designed, price for that volume hangs around 1200€.

Gotta ask yourself of course if it's worth it  ???

But it definitely is probably the most awesome panel aside from LEDs and opalescent
Plexi, no doubt about it.

For DIY release...I don't know yet...maybe a very small volume, supporting this thing
would turn into an absolute full-time job. Certainly no GD publishing because at this
point (plus two revs) some [yes I see you reading this right now how about registering
and sharing your stuff] peeps could just have a product in a sneeze, and I couldn't do a
thing about it.

I only ever wanted to be able to build kick-ass boxes ;)

Well...maybe I just fell in love with it all and now I have kids that keep going chirp chirp :)
 
:)

You know, what I really think is amazing about the etching industry is that
it's not really too easy to automate. What these guys make is mainly stuff
like HF shield boxes that get soldered onto PCBs, and it's all manual labor.

Chemistry is very finnicky, it actually even reacts to the moon.

No bull on that one - they even learn that. It can be one day nothing is working
at all, even if you spray it with acid for 10 minutes, next day - fine and dandy.

Messes up timetables good...and the Shinkansen doesn't like to wait ;)

Though it really is a costly process, I'm kinda funny that way - considering
you're sinking about 500€ for all the components and then the PCBs, you
still have about 2200€ to go before you hit the MSRP of the official one -
might as well do it right... ;D

Next stop: Grayhills.
 
That's Awesome!

I love to play with kids who mean it...

If you ever need help designing some - you know who :)

Detail accuracy is incredible. Don't ever be scared of doing something beautiful.

You can even get your kickass board for panel mounting right here. Lord, I think
this service was a good idea...
 
Awesome! Panel is real piece of art.  :) Mate , do you have a plan for giving the selfetching PCB files . Illustrator files are welcome  :)
 
Yeah :) You know, there's nothing I would like to do more than just put the entire document online but
fortunately, I'm not completely insane. Maybe I'll do a limited release but basically it's my baby, and
I've been working on it for over two years to get it this far.

What I really want with my posts is for you to get a peek at how I do this, and maybe get some usable
insights and ideas you can apply in designs of your own. But lord knows I'd be the first one myself to
ask the dox question.

Sorry to disappoint, but like I said, I might be crazy but I'm not completely nuts ;-)

Yet.
 
For now though, here she is (click for big):

You can imagine what my weekend is gonna look like ;)




Once I have the basic SSL config done and working in the box, time to get together with TV
and pimp the audio engine to kingdom come :)

Got your warning mail about coffee btw, thanks.

Why do I love this place?
 
Oh man! This is probably some of (if not) THE best stuff I have seen come out
of this forum! The attention to detail is magnificent.

Mate, screw posting the docs for us... this shit needs to be sold as a, even if it is in a limited run.  ;)


Can I ask though, how are you switching the LED's?
 
Sure - just designed a board where the unused pole on the Lorlins does the LED switching.

You can make one of those in Illustrator in two or three evenings. Conceivably, you can use
twelve positions by relay-controlling everything and paralleletizing the LEDs. Solid idea.

The LEDs kept breaking on me on Rev3, and so I decided to not stick them through the
front panel but rather find some kind of light channel - ended up in Segor here in Berlin,
buying baggies of them on a hunch. It was really practically motivated, I was even a bit
worried about "color crosstalk".

But now that I have it - wow. You turn it off, and it goes "all grey and transparent"
and when you turn it on you get these awesome crescents that change color - major noms :)

It's subtle, it's beautiful, but the bit about "that's fruity" ends instantly the moment you hold
the heavy build with the chrome steel front panel in your hands, built on MILspec boards.

Suddenly it's "wow serious 21st century steampunk machine that will outlive yo'ass"

Interesting side effect is that it is completely modular - you can just install the first two
front boards and interface directly with the 10er header on Jakob's board, add the third board
and you have higher-of-two peak/average meter plus turbo, still the same group header.

Put in the whole smash, and you've got the entire Ultimate GSSL à la Waffle House.

What I need to do now is get the "Ultimate" antiparallel summation to happen in the CnB and
put the hipass on - and then it goes to rev5, which will be all the stuff on one big board in the
back, including PSU and relay bypass XLRs. And probably the one or other T mode in the SC.

Then some external 0-5V CV direct injection so you can control it via a modular synth and vice
versa, and possibly a Lundahl or Haufe/Pikatron TX I/O so it floats.

Rev6 - chip-level signal path tuning from here to the forest. As it is already, you can directly
solder in Gold-Can and Black-Can vcas, which I might clone sometime on the side.

If you look at the traces on those things - graphic design layout :)

You could say I love my SSL :)
 
Maybe I'll do a limited release but basically it's my baby, and
I've been working on it for over two years to get it this far.
Of course it's your baby  ;) So, can we expect some manufactured PCB's to buy?
 
When I'm satisfied with my design, yes I'd love to. Can't resist sharing :)

I'll need some time to give it full nuts-and-bolts documentation plus a debugging
board too - plug it in and find the problem instantly. But yeah - takes a while :)

I'll also be pretty much forced to do a full kit with components because of spec constraints,
and ask for a proper chunk of money since it's a deep design. Don't take me to the
rack for it ;) Gotta live off this stuff or there's no way I can continue designing.

Who knows, maybe Ptown and Volker would have a blast distributing it?

Me, I do design & production exclusively.

Next up is a reduced version for 51X. But we'll see that when we get there.
 
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