For those who often find social media/online to be a slightly toxic place in recent times, I want to share a fun story, which will especially appeal to music tech geeks. Sorry in advance for the tweet storm.
A few years ago, I bought an Arturia Microbrute, a small, low cost but extremely good analogue synth. But after playing it quite a lot, one thing bothered me. Here's a photo of what it looks like: 
The mini keyboard isn't very good so I'd mostly play using an external keyboard. And because of my disability - I have limited reach - the existence of the mini keyboard made it hard to use the controls at the back. Resting flat on a desk, the viewing angle wasn't right either.
I searched on the Internet and saw that one or two people had attempted chopping off the keyboard, literally. So I talked to my buddy and we put together a plan to attempt the same. Here is a photo of the chop we eventually did:
This however didn't solve the viewing angle problem, and so we both discussed the option of building some kind of stand or case. This could also potentially help hide the chop even better (although it looks pretty good just with the foam board cover my friend built).
Meanwhile, via eBay I'd heard of a guy running a business called 'Synths and Wood' (synthsandwood.co.uk), who builds wood stands/end cheeks for various bits of music kit. I emailed him to ask what he might charge for a custom-built case. His reply caught me off guard.
Knowing why I wanted it, he offered to build one for FREE. His reasoning was that he'd never had a chance to create a stand for a 'Microchop' - the name given to the hack on various internet forums - and it would be a good showcase piece. We had never communicated before.
Once my friend and I had finished the chop, all I would need to do is send my Arturia Microbrute to him, a total stranger, for a few days and he'd get to work right away. Which I gladly did.
He was true to his word and kept me up to date every step of the way. First sending me a CAD render and then tweaking the design a bit. He then did some prototyping until the final case was milled. Here it is in progress:
Then he sent me a photo of the synth in position, which, I'm not going to lie, brought a huge smile to my face. (I love seeing the design process).
I was then tasked with choosing a wood stain colour. As I already own a Crumar Mojo 61 keyboard with real mahogany end cheeks, I chose red mahogany wood stain (on the right), hoping it would be roughly in the same colour palette:
The following day, he mailed back the Microchop (refusing to accept money for postage). Here is the finished case with synth in my home studio. I think you'll agree it looks amazing and the viewing angle turned out to be perfect (20 degrees is the magic number):
So, once again, props to synthsandwood.co.uk - and let this serve as a reminder of how the internet brings people together and lets cool, niche boutique businesses and skills thrive to give us nice things and make the world a better place. HAPPY FRIDAY, PEOPLE!
