Music Thing: Paia Synth Kits

Each week Tom Whitwell of Music Thing highlights the best of the new music gear that's coming out, as well as noteworthy vintage equipment:

John Simonton, who created the Paia electronic kit company in 1967, died last Friday after a battle with cancer. If you were a teenager in the mid 1970s and couldn't afford a Moog, a self-build Paia kit was a way to get your own synth
(plus a working knowledge of soldering) for cheap. In 1973, the 2720 Modular Synth would set you back just $130,
although a few corners were cut — the keyboard was made out of black and white shirt buttons and twisted wire.

John also invented the first mass-produced programmable drum machine — Roger Linn often gets the credit, but always corrects interviewers who ask him about it.

Since John's death, there's been a real outpouring of emotion on the synth message boards. While other designers were concerned with selling the next whizzy thing, John's mission was helping people get into making music gear themselves.
He was always on the phone, helping people troubleshoot their hamfisted soldering. If you got really stuck, he might ask you to send it back and fix it himself in the workshop. Remarkably,
Paia has been in business for 38 years.
They survived the dark years where all synths were digital and made in Japanese factories, and have undergone a resurgence in the last few years as the Internet brought in analog-hungry customers from all over the world. It seems a terrible shame for John to have died just as the DIY technology movement he helped inspire — from open source computing to Make Magazine — is really taking off. (Thanks to Synthfool for the picture)