Haible Vokoder?

[SolderSmoke]

I´m still in!!!

[StephenGiles]

Jurgen and list, I no longer have funds to undertake this project unfortunately, and can only ogle over the circuits!

My wife has often said to me from her many years of Spanish teaching that "there is always one" who is a nuisance in her class and generally rocks the boat. This seems true here of your difficult customer for which there is no excuse for such behaviour.

I think you must do whatever is likely to cause you the least amount of grief.

[ach_gott]

The pillory for the trouble maker!

I think you just have to make us say something like "I understand that my build of this project, because of it's complexity, may fail after many hours and deep expenses. I throw caution to the wind in this undertaking and accept full risk and responsibility." I mean, it's true, I could spend hundreds of hours and come up with a pretty piece of plastic. If that happens, I'm hanging it on the wall as one of a very limited edition of works of art.

Besides, if you don't ever release it, you'll never recover a thing for your efforts. This way you'll get a little money and a lot of hero worship.

[emdot_ambient]

I don't think #1 can be denied. Vocoders are sexy, but let's face it, most musicians really don't need them, nor will most even stop and consider long enough to realize what else (other than robot voices) a vocoder can do. Most musicians would be better off with a software vocoder, something they can play with and discard after they get bored with [more] robot voices.

As for #2...man, I feel that one. I'm terrified of this project. It's huge. But would seriously be tempted to get a PCB just so that some time in the future I could finally prove to myself that I can do manly DIY Badge of honor. Not to mention ending up with an amazing piece of very rare and unique hardware (which personally I would love using for lots of stuff OTHER than robot voices )

So, basically, in the end I understand your trepidation and will honor your ultimate decision. If you go ahead and offer them...I'll try to get one and maybe even complete it before I'm too old to wield a soldering iron.

[loydb]

I'm still in for one, and promise not to barrage you with DIY help questions!

[TheAncientOne]

I have a few thoughts that I will send by email, because they're a bit long winded philosophical.

The core of my thoughts are:

Finish the project

I personally would have no problem in signing a legally binding agreement, that I considered myself competent to build the unit, that I understood how complex the job was, and that any problems I encountered were mine to solve.

I would also offer to help other builders in the UK who might have problems, (I run an electronics business, and am quite adept at fault finding)

A half joking thought is to ask prospective buyers to provide evidence that they've already got one of your projects to work. I for one can testify to the slightly euphoric effect of testing my "Living VCO's", one at a time, and my grin getting wider as each one worked perfectly, first time.

For many, this project, though complex, is their only real chance of owning a good quality analogue vocoder.

[Luka]

im still in jurgen but i wont purchase for over a year - so take your time

i understand the work it takes to support these designs - i would be happy to take a no support option and still purchase the pcb(s)

[diablojoy]

also definitely still interested, support or no support matters little too me:)
I am old enough to be responsible for myself
personally I would never just go out and buy a vocoder, well maybe a EMS5000 if it was at a ridiculously cheap price, haha not that i am ever likely to even see one here in oz. It is the building that i enjoy as much as anything else , so I do hope you will continue with this.

[Funky40]

Thanks Jürgen for the honest words


my thought on this:
get some $ extra for the PCB, for some hours for the forum and make a checkpoint instruction for the Vocoder PCB


we the community or Jürgen or all together should find somebody who is willing to debug the Vocoder builds for money.
There is a Guy in the US who builds DIY projects for very reasonable prices or maybe "the prof" here or who ever..........we could ask
This person should get an extra introduction from Jürgen. add the $ to the PCB.
Jürgen does it sound doable to introduce somebody that deep that debuggings can be donne within reasonable time/money ?









This might help that folks still are willing to take the risk.
See how much the people pay for Vintage gear.
I'm in no doubt that Jürgens Unit will be from more value musically


i have not much money, i have NO debug skills,
i'm out of soldering since one Year, nevertheless i'm in,
but i hope for some organisation that a "debug station" will be there



last thought:
bring it for the winter, so we can make it our big winter project.
sorry if my english was not clear enough. I can repost in german

[Funky40]

regarding patching with a Vocoder:



whoever thinks that one can only do robotvoices with a vocoder has no clue of patching.
We, some friends ( all musicians) and i could hear some of my modularjams on a 50'000.- CHF HiFi System owned by a Physician.
There was a jam made with the doepfer vocoder in the center of the patching.
Everybody felt the same:
one of the best electronic pieces of music we ever heard.
Vocoders are magic if you can patch them up freely.
The things i patch you can't do within software.
software Vocoders might have their strenghts but they can't replace analog patching.
my2cents on this

[Fetafarmer]

I'm really looking forward to purchasing this PCB set. I guess the key to making it manageable is making sure that the testing and calibration procedures are well documented.

Kevin

[decaying.sine]

I also look forward to purchasing the JH Vokoder PCBs. I do not expect any level of support outside of the contributions we all make in the posts.

Thanks for taking on so many interesting projects Jurgen. I really appreciate the opportunity to work and learn from your PCB designs.

[Serenadi]

Hi Jürgen and list,

I suppose you finish your own vocoder.
But if you don't share your fantastic work with the DIY community, I believe every time you look at it you'll be annoyed.
For sure
The best payment isn't money, everyone who's developing circuits for synth-diy knows that. The best payment is to see the fruits of your work in the hands of musicians working with it. Satisfyingly.


Anyway.
I don't fear any trouble building the vocoder. The circuits aren't complex. It only will be a lot of work. And for sure there will be help from the forum, don't worry about that. Of course, you have to carry responsibility for your baby. But not more than for every other baby from you. And we on the other side, are old enough to carry our own responsibility. Like diablojoy said already.

So I would love to built your vocoder.

cheers,
Bernd

[jhaible]

Thank you, you give me the best cue to start here:

[diablojoy]

no not a stupid idea at all though it may incur almost as many difficulties for you i suspect
we all have lives outside of this and priorities change constantly no promises can ever be given or even implied 100% for what is basically a hobby for me and i guess the vast majority of people here


I would have to consider very carefully before volunteering to being one of the ten and to be honest would need to look closely at what I am getting myself into first. so i would need some time to again look over all that has been documented so far in more detail. this is not something that will happen quickly, i do not have anywhere near your ability, but still i am interested
in the challenge I just hesitate on if i can dedicate the amount of time it would require to do it .

[Sound]

Hello!

I'm selling a kit with almost all components (1%capacitors, chips etc...).
If anyone is interested please pm me!

Oscar.

Edit: I dint explain it correctly: Im selling one kit I mean the components that I bought for this project, not that Im selling kits.

[zthee]

Is there a deadline for deciding?

I'm 95% I'm in. But I need to do a bit of thinking and calculating..

[decaying.sine]

Jurgen,
I will commit to buy one of the 10 and help with the debugging. I am by no means an electrical engineer, but am comfortable with builds, working through schematics, etc. I doubt I would be one of the 2 or 3 who would really be beneficial in a major way, but will certainly contribute.

Brian

[decaying.sine]

Would the plan still be for one large PCB that is approximately 40 x 30 cm? I was trying to consider if it would be possible to fit it in my modcan A cabinet, which has a lot of space.

[jhaible]

[jhaible]

[decaying.sine]

Email sent!

[JoeMorris]

So does this mean no more JH projects then?

[jhaible]

[Serenadi]