John Simonton in memoriam

John Simonton was the founder of PAiA Electronics which produced - and still produces - a number of DIY synthesizer (and other sound related) kits. Sadly, he passed away in 2005 (the same year as Bob Moog). Like all the giants, he died far too young, only 62 years old.

I never met John in person; his legacy can be read about on the net. For me he was the father of the Gnome synthesizer, a simple DIY kit that was one of my starting points into the synthesizer construction. He also wrote a book called "Friendly Stories about Computers/Synthesizers", which detailed interfacing a PAiA 4700 series modular synthesizer with a 6503 microcomputer. One of the programs he wrote, Pink Tunes, is a random tune composer. Larry Fast (Synergy) made a whole album based on that software, and I once succeeded in porting it to my MiMi-a synthesiser.

Rest in peace, John. See you in synthesizer heaven...

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