Project Update #99: VS-1 Polyphonic Analog Synthesizer by Abstrakt Instruments
Week 225 Update
Posted by Abstrakt Instruments
November 23, 2024
Hi Everyone,
I hope you are all well. I am late again with another update. I wish we could make time slow down, it is unbelievable how fast the weeks pass these days. I've been handling most of the business operations myself these past few years just to survive so I'm doing the best that I can. It's certainly not ideal but I'm pleased we've been able to stay afloat without much income and we will be ok for the foreseeable future.
New production DAC boards finally made it yesterday after some shipping delays. I mentioned in previous updates we made a last minute change to add a low noise voltage regulator for DAC power right on the DAC board. This was to improve the performance of the DAC for better accuracy. After testing the new boards over the past several months we completed the new production run. They are slightly larger than the previous few versions. All said and done we ended up with five revisions. For those with DIY kits the DAC Board comes pre-assembled - but the Production version "A2" files are now linked on the website for reference. I have also updated the mainboard files on the website as the files from 2023 that were linked were not the final production files. The files have not changed much but some of the CV handling was off-loaded to the DAC board to avoid long back-and-forth trace runs. Also, the production assemblies were increased to 4 layers to improve EMI and improve the performance of some of the fast peripherals (especially the external Flash & DAC). Lastly, the DIY BOM was updated a few weeks back to reflect some of the parts that are no longer needed on the mainboard.
I have not yet started contacting DIY backers for the second package. I will soon be emailing every backer once again to confirm delivery address. At this time any missing parts from the first package can figured out and sent with the second package. I look forward to finally getting these parts shipped.
Brian Castro | Abstrakt Instruments