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If what you're interested in doing is analog/digital synth stuff, the AoE has the information you need. It leaves some gaps and presents it in a way that I am not fond of, but that's just me and I'm far from your typical learner. That said, be prepared for a long, dark rabbit hole ;-) Depending on the level of "off the shelf" you're looking to deal with, a MIDI controller can be as simple as a USB controlled MIDI chip hooked up to some switches, or as complicated as a manually implemented digital synthesizer that talks to a USB bridge (don't try to implement a USB controller as your first, or tenth project). Regarding kit/components, the key is trying to strike a balance between knowing what you want before you buy anything, and not waiting too long to start experimenting with real components. You can save yourself a lot of time by simulating the basic circuits in your project using a software like LTSpice[0] or TINATI[1]. They're both free and easy to use. However, simulations are never good enough, and often you don't have a model to simulate some important piece of your circuit, so the picture isn't complete. A good approach is to sketch out the circuits you want, do a quick sim or two to see if the basics like your power supply or oscillator or digital logic are going to basically do what you think, then order all the components you need from digikey. Shipping under $200 costs $8 from digikey, so it pays not to make too many orders. The bonus is that they are extremely timely with their orders (in US and Canada anyhow). Sometimes unbelievably so. A note when ordering things from Digikey: First, make sure all the parts a in stock (check "in stock" in the search params). Back ordered parts take a long time, and for almost any part you can imagine there is a comparable replacement in stock. Second, when you want low volume stuff you'll be wanting the "cut tape", "bulk", "tube", or "tray" packaging options. "Tape and reel" or "Digi-reel" are for big rolls of one component and this the minimum order is 1000+ units. Almost everything is available in one of the low-volume options. Regarding kits, take a look at sparkfun[2] for a wide range of boards, kits, etc. They have some good stuff and are targetted at hobbyists. A lot of their products come with not only a datasheet, but also a simplified "hookup diagram" that tells you how to wire everything up for a typical application. You can get some kits of basic components like resistors and caps, but they tend to get pricey and I always found that I would use one or two of the components up and never touch the rest, i.e. use all of the 10k resistors and the 1uF caps and nothing else. If there's a kit specifically for the project you want go for it though. [0] http://www.linear.com/designtools/software/#LTspice [1] http://www.ti.com/tool/tina-ti [2] https://www.sparkfun.com/categories/157 |