I’ve updated the Synthfool Docs section to include some additional technical info on Minimoog D models.
Included are rare (custom) parts pictorials for all boards except the VCOs (I’m working on them now.)
Manual errors and corrections
Some mods and factory upgrades.
One more mod that can be done, to reduce greatly temperature drift on old VCO boards, is to move R20 and R71 and glue them (side-by-side) on top of IC2, and move R119 and glue it on top of IC7.
It’s been done on mine, and temperature drift is quasi inexistant. Even with the original Raytheon RC741 op amps (from 1973) instead of the more stable LT1006 suggested in one of the documents.
Despite countless examples where I’ve seen the tempcos glued to the top of the transistor arrays, I’ve yet to observe any improvement.
The trannys don’t get hot and they’re both inches away while contained in the same enclosure.
Likely they see the same heat.
This isn’t so much true on prophets with SSM chips or 921Bs or JP8s where they’re run at higher voltages.
This is further supported by the fact that no single tranny array controls any one singular VCO.
So any temperature changes resulting from one chip’s heat that’s controlling two vcos would only affect 1 vco.
I personally think it’s an old wives tale, but to each their own.
It’s true that I can’t tell if this has made any improvement, since I got my Mini this way already. And I’m not about to unglue them to find out !
I might just be lucky to have an old oscillator board that warms-up in under 30 seconds and stays really stable for hours… I’m not talking DCO stable, but stable enough that I don’t have to touch the tune knob at all. Only the fine tune knobs of osc 2 and 3 very occasionally to control beating speeds.
Heck, my Mono/Poly that has 4X SSM2033 with glued Tempcos and high preset operating temperature, drifts more than the Mini !
Another method I’ve found success with is in replacing the transistor arrays (LM3046, CA3046 or SG3821) with LM3045J chips.
These are the same pinout and function, but housed in ceramic packages and have mil-spec wide temperature ratings.
I have my own little stash of these for clients that really want minimum drift.