www.megadrum.info

Hey guys (and girls?)! and Hello World!

This is my first forum post. I have been a DIYer for 10yrs now. I am a bassist (gasp!) and a bagpiper (for those of you who have been in pipe bands que the GASP!) yeah that's right! I am not a drummer. But, my brother as well as many other members of my family are (I am surrounded by drummers). I am going to a local college to become a Materials-Science Engineer and I have a lot of personal non-professional experience with circuitry as well as software (probably more with software than hardware). I am currently in the planning phase for a drumset build. it is for my bro who knows nothing of circuitry.

I have a question: have you ever used VBB (Virtual BreadBoard) http://www.virtualbreadboard.com/ I did a search in the forums for any posts about it and 0 results. I think it is a valuable tool for pcb beta testing, instead of messing with wires and such or having to buy a breadboard. As well as risking the damaging of your precious components. tis good for the tool box.

and while I am at it: Why do you guys use KiCAD? and not AutoCAD or EAGLECAD? is it only because its free? or is there something that KiCAD has that the others don't?

Thanks
-Hardcore

Hah! I'm a bassist too!
But take my advice, if you are interested in building on I suggest you purchase a kit from snythex.
Which will save you much frustration trying to build one from scratch.
Trust me.

HardcoreDIY wrote:I have a question: have you ever used VBB (Virtual BreadBoard) http://www.virtualbreadboard.com/ I did a search in the forums for any posts about it and 0 results. I think it is a valuable tool for pcb beta testing, instead of messing with wires and such or having to buy a breadboard. As well as risking the damaging of your precious components. tis good for the tool box.

I've never used mostly because I don't see any need for it and also because I didn't hear about it.

and while I am at it: Why do you guys use KiCAD? and not AutoCAD or EAGLECAD? is it only because its free? or is there something that KiCAD has that the others don't?

What will Autocad/Eaglecad give me which Kicad doesn't have and I would use?

dmitri wrote:

HardcoreDIY wrote:I have a question: have you ever used VBB (Virtual BreadBoard) http://www.virtualbreadboard.com/ I did a search in the forums for any posts about it and 0 results. I think it is a valuable tool for pcb beta testing, instead of messing with wires and such or having to buy a breadboard. As well as risking the damaging of your precious components. tis good for the tool box.

I've never used mostly because I don't see any need for it and also because I didn't hear about it.

and while I am at it: Why do you guys use KiCAD? and not AutoCAD or EAGLECAD? is it only because its free? or is there something that KiCAD has that the others don't?

What will Autocad/Eaglecad give me which Kicad doesn't have and I would use?

well now that I have looked over KiCAD I do believe that VBB is a little underpowered compared to any CAD software. But, like any real breadboard, it's (vbb) simple and easy to understand.

I must say I am impressed by KiCAD, I wasn't expecting free to also be good at the same time.

HardcoreDIY wrote:I must say I am impressed by KiCAD, I wasn't expecting free to also be good at the same time.

In my experience, that is the way it usually is. KiCAD is way over my head though.