janzen@pipa.DEC (Thomas E. J. LMO4/B5 279-5421 ECL Test) (03/27/85)
14 March 1985 Thomas E. Janzen 30-9 Briarwood Lane Marlboro, MA 01752 (617) 485-1657 Craig Anderton, Vanessa Else PAiA Electronics, Incorporated 1020 West Wilshire Boulevard Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Dear Mr. Anderton and Ms. Else: I have completed assembly of PAiA's 6710 Vocoder, and am very pleased. Although I have no previous personal experience with vocoders, I have heard them used by ZBS studios on such radio programs as "Ruby," and by Laurie Anderson. The 6710 seems to have approximately the same quality of sound as these. You know best what problems there may be with the 6710. Nevertheless, as a customer and user, I may have an advantageous perspective on its assembly and use. The following difficulties, not severe ones, were encountered during assembly: o The four 1 nano-farad polystyrene caps were missing. I purchased replacements at Active Electronics nearby. o The screws for the switches without threads seem too short. o I had to cut off the nibs off the potentiometers to fit them to the panel. This could have been mentioned in the documentation. o There no mounting holes in the panel (although mounting to the PCB is shown in an illustration). o Many of the jumpers' lengths (top of page 7), given in the text, seemed to be in centimeters rather than inches; they are very wrong. o The etch was easy to detach when heated. It's clearly a lower weight copper than used on the 4700 series. A warning in the text is merited. o The 5" inch bare wire on page 8 should be given at 3.5 inches. The wire on AU is a little short. It should be 4.5". It took about ten hours to complete assembly. I had not built any other 67XX kits. I have built several 47XX kits, as well as some circuits of my own design. By implication, the parts list and pictorial documentation were correct. I added the little missing etch per instructions. As I learn the proper and complete use of my new vocoder, I will inform you of further discoveries. Until then, I congratulate you all on your achievement. The 6710 is a fine technical success, and, I hope, a fiscal one. Yours cordially, Thomas E. Janzen Tue 26-Mar-1985 11:51 EST