Places for Info and Supplies
These pages that present resources are the ones I recomend. While I may say you should buy it or you should read it does not really mean I am telling you to drop everything and get it. I been on a tight budget myself many times due to failed ideas in the past. I only say you should because these are either hard to find or they are in some sense critical things to learn in the craft that falls under the tab your currently in. There are many different ways to do things and I by no means know all of the methods. If something does works for you then don't change it. As they say? "Don't fix something that is not broken!"
One of the biggest modern DIY creaters in my list is Ben Eater. I highly recomend his tutorials and kits. Especially if your planning to do things on the cheap. Ben teaches you how to build things from the ground up. He focusses on the engineering on bread boards and makes a wonderful start to any tech DIY. While you may not learn how to solder, you will learn the most important parts to designing your own circiuts that could then be implemented into a PCB design. If you can create things on paper first then you will be saving a lot of money not having to buy simulation software. You will need to make a strip board prototype, but the first step to any project is a worthy plan of action. Ben manages to teach critical thinking and to me that has helped a lot in my own electronics lab.
Everyone likes to have a little fun with their craft am I right? There has been times I thought I would lose it because this guy is just way too funny. This guy is a wonderful start to learning how to prototype your ideas once you bread boarded them. In the building process this is where all your most difficult problems will show up. Trust me... If you don't have something to get you in good humor that soldering iron will grow wings and fly out the window. I am not talking figuritively either. That iron will be thrown out the window like an epic fail light bulb out of Edisons 3 story high window. My mother always told me if I did not lauch I cried. Be sure you can show your mother the same as well. Look Mum No computer also has gerber files which makes learning to solder easier. I recomend buying his PCB's because they are not really expensive compared to the major brands. They may not be as good as a Math's module, but this will teach you some very important things you need to know before you build your first synth or any other instrument containing electronic parts.
I actually stumbled upon this persons YouTube. I found his lay out of bread boards to be wild. Certianly inspirational to determination. If you design your entire system on bread board before strip board prototyping this guy is certianly to be a place to look for inspiration. He has a very plesant voice to listen to. Always pleasant when you already know things are going to get difficult. He starts off all his videos in a way that is very similar to a community class for arduino or raspberry pi. Very professional to his line of work. He built his entire system to be a stand alone project, but if your going to be working with bare parts such as Operational Amplifier chips this guy is an invaluable resource for learning the science of VCO design.
Rex Kruegar is a rather interesting persionality when it comes to wood working. He is similar to Look Mum No Computer in that you get satire with the information. Actually this can be important because fine wood working is not easy. There is a lot that goes in the design of a cabinet and the considerations made when building an enclosure for any project. Cabinetry is actually a hobby in of itself. Probably one of the most influanced by historical culture. With Rex you get a lot of fun and interesting information. You don't need to build instruements to understand how furniture can be a wonderful adition to ones living space. I also highly recomend Rex's wood working plans. They are not expensive and I think you can get most if not all his wood working plans for free on his Patreon. A worthy resource if making your synth or any other type of furniture a masterpeice pleasant to the eye. Note that this recomendation is for wood working itself. You will need other resources in order to learn how you can adapt these plans for your own synth wood shop. Learning how to do wood working for simple cabinetry can be very important before you apply it to your expensive synth modules. I recomend at least one ordinary cabinet project before you attempt a synth cabinet.
Ray Wilson is an iconic figure when it comes to synth DIY. He also gives a lot of good tips to building your own cabinet. I should also note that if you don't want to put a lot of work into a big cabinet Ray does provide some good advice to making simple ones that are smaller. Ray has passed away due to cancer sadly, but a lot of information he provided is an important archive in my opinion. Its important to note that the information on his website can be daunting. However, I still recomend his projects because they are a true test to see where you need to improve. Looking at his schematics has shown me exactly where I needed to improve even though I often times got aggrivated with the DIY projects. When ever you get too comfortable with your skill that is a sure sign that your no longer learning or improving. Ray seemed to create a massive amount of projects that can put your skills to the test.
Kristian is the go to guy for getting off ground from the start. He shows how you can take comon stuff and run with it. His synth is built out of server racks and strip boards. Even patches them with headphone jacks and stereo cables. If your not interested in making something that will cost an arm and a leg this is the guy that shows you how to do it. I may also add that a lot of what he teaches can be very important to taking your bread board designs and implementing them into final pieces if your not interested in printed boards. No everyone has that kind of budget. If your just starting out this is probably the best guy to check out. After learning from Kristian I recomend going to Look Mum No Computer due to how these two You Tubers seem to complement eachother in their methods of construction. Not the name thing just their types of lessons if that makes sense.
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