PAiA Fatman Analog Synthesizer

The Fatman is a DIY, midi controlled, analog synthesizer kit from PAiA.

Essentially you get a bag full of resistors, capacitors, potentiometers, IC's, a PCB and some other odds and ends, and put it all together following the instructions. This project requires some patience, a still hand, and lots of beer.

I have read of people stretching out the build over the course of a month or longer, but not I. I had this thing together after about 3 days/nights of nothing but soldiering.

There is a certain sense of pride when you build it yourself, and it works correctly. I highly recommend PAiA products if you are interested in electronics, as well as music.

One problem I ran into initially, was with the power supply. The "wallwart" style transformer it comes with is an AC to AC adapter, not AC to DC like most you have around the home. My original power supply was not providing any voltage, I noticed it was 12V 2A, and just assumed it was DC. I found a 12V 2A "wallwart" transformer I had laying around, and plugged it in, of course it was DC, not AC. The unit did power up, sort of. The LED's were doing some strange things, and there was a weird constant drone sound coming from it, that was not affected by any of the potentiometers.

Anyhow, after emailing PAiA's tech support, I got a prompt reply, that nailed it right on the head, of course, the DC vs AC PSU.