Analog Synth DIY with Abby Echiverri

04/27/17 • -1 min

I've often fantasized about building a huge analog synth. But besides the obstacles of cost and not having a spare room in my house for it, I've always found the DIY synth world to be a bit intimidating.

In this podcast, synth wizard Abby Echiverri walks me through the basics, such as:

Is it feasible to build your own synth?

How much should I budget?

What are the basic modules I need to build?

Abby is a composer, DJ, DIYer, and audio gear designer. I caught up with her when she was on the road as the synth/keyboard tech for Soulwax.

Download the mp3 or subscribe via iTunes

In this podcast, synth wizard Abby Echiverri walks me through the basics, such as:

Is it feasible to build your own synth?

How much should I budget?

What are the basic modules I need to build?

Abby is a composer, DJ, DIYer, and audio gear designer. I caught up with her when she was on the road as the synth/keyboard tech for Soulwax.

Download the mp3 or subscribe via iTunes

Previous Episode

Chassis Design with Jon Erickson

We audio nerds love to talk about particular parts and circuitry—transformers, op-amps, discrete vs integrated, passive vs active, etc—but we rarely discuss the biggest part and the one we actually interface with the most: the chassis.

In this episode of our resurrected podcast, I talk to Jon Erickson about the ins and outs of chassis design and manufacturing.

Jon Erickson has been involved with some of the most delicious-looking audio gear on the market: the A-Designs Pacifica preamp, JHS Pedals' line of 500-series modules, and his flagship Tonecraft 363 DI/preamp.

Download the mp3 or subscribe via iTunes

Next Episode

Designing Legendary Gear with Paul Wolff

Paul Wolff has designed more legendary pieces of gear than most of us have used. In his years with API alone, Paul designed the 550B EQ, 512 and 3124 mic preamps, Legacy console, and 2500 compressor. He was recently honored by NAMM TEC hall of fame for inventing the Lunchbox and 500-series format, which he helped turned into a cottage industry.

I was honored to have Paul on the podcast to discuss console design and how he's seen the industry change in the last 40 years.

Just a few of the things we discussed:

The origins of the 500-series
How Steve Perry became the first customer of the Lunchbox
The uphill battle to make gear that’s authentic to the API sound
What happened in 1978 to change the sound of most audio equipment
Paul's opinion that cloners "should be burned to death”

Download the mp3 or subscribe via iTunes

Some Notes on API Jargon

As much as I try to keep our podcasts fairly jargon-free, I was guilty of using a lot of API model numbers without explanation this episode. These are:

550A: Late 60's, 3-band EQ
2520: The discrete operational amplifier (DOA, or "opamp") that's at the heart of most API designs
2488: Early 70's console
512: 500-series mic preamp designed by Paul
312: 60's mic preamp
3124: A 4-channel 312 designed by Paul
2503: The output transformer in most API gear
2500: Bus compressor designed by Paul