About Me

My name is Scott Bernardi. I was first bit by the Synth-DIY bug back in the early 80's, was away from it for a long hiatus, but have now gotten back into it for the past couple of years.

Electronics Background

I've got a degree in Electronics Engineering from UC Berkeley in 1978. My Analog Lab project was a VCO based on a PAIA design (got an A+!). I worked for four years as an analog IC designer at Precision Monolithics in Santa Clara, CA. My claim to fame in that area is I'm co-designer on the OP27. I left electronics engineering and got into computer programming (where I've been ever since) in 1982.

Musical Background

I play guitar fairly well (30 years+) and keyboards OK. My favorite stuff is classic rock and blues from the late 60's and 70's, and ELP and Yes for the synth stuff. Of course I can't play their stuff worth a darn.

First DIY Synth

My first usable DIY synth (I played with contructing PAIA modules from scratch without very satisfactory results) was a modular I built while I was still an engineer at PMI, called OGEE. OGEE has since fallen into disrepair, and I've cannibalized it for parts for og2.

og2

In 1999 a couple of things happened; I landed a new job that paid very well and so had lots more disposable income, and my interest in computers as a hobby and not just my job waned a bit. I returned to one of my old hobbies and bought an electric guitar again and some effects boxes (I'd been playing acoustic steadily for many years in my church). I also started building up an electronics lab - scope, DVM, breadboards and parts - and built a couple of guitar effects boxes. I originally was going to restore my old OGEE synth which had been sitting in the garage for years (you can read the whole sad tale here), but that wasn't going to be worth the effort. So, the idea for og2 was born.