Initial ideas and their development

First of all, here's a visual comparison between Tinysizer patch cords and regular (6.3mm) jacks. I patched up the long connector - one of many I tried - to test how well they would work in practice. This type proved to be unsuitable because round pins plugged into rectangular sockets are too loose.

This prototype (3U, photo is on its side) of a quad LFO plus VCAs is practically the great-granddaddy of the Tinysizer. The knobs on the front panel were placed very close together, made possible by the rather narrow plastic caps. Where else have you seen 12 pots and 20 sockets in a standard double-width module? Only good for narrow fingers, the concept was quickly dropped.

After two years of trial and error, I finally decided on the direction I wanted to go , and it was time to build my first prototype. After a lot of shopping around, I found the best hardware components for the rough-and-tumble of everyday use. This could be the only truly "solderable" socket available:

Of course I wanted the shafts of the pots to be very rugged when attached to the panel, so they had to be metal…

These circuit boards were forerunners of the final version 1.5. One-off custom boards this size don't come cheap, and I had to ditch quite a few of them. Note how closely the components are packed - absolutely necessary in such a small device. I rejected SMD (surface mounted device) technology, as this would have meant months of prototyping with expensive wastage each time. SMD development would have ruined my eyesight and bank account, and it wouldn't have made the Tinysizer any smaller.

A few peeks inside the "holy temple":

And now… the very first pizza-box Tinysizer, with printed paper labelling - Hurray! Then: testing, testing, testing… A crackle here, a hum there… ah well, let's start all over again.

Next came the final aluminium case. It wanted to retain some true modularity, so I decided that the sides should be removable, fully customizable. Example: triangular "console" ends, long plates to connect two units together, wooden end-cheeks - everything should be possible.

Couldn't resist :-)

Patch cords from the "shop"....

It was a long journey....

And BANG! It's done :-)

Why TINYSIZER?

I think it´s one of the smallest patchable mini analog modular synthesizer in the world!

- analog Tommy -