Huh, so it looks like I’ve got one of the last P3s:

Folks,

There is a news update just posted to the Sequentix web page, which I'll quickly summarise here...

I am ceasing production of P3 after the current run has sold out.

The production cost of P3 in its current form has proved to be much too expensive.
With the benefit of experience, I believe I can design a replacement that will be more efficient to produce, and which can be assembled entirely under sub-contract.
But I'm not able to devote the necessary time to that adventure while I'm still putting P3s together.
I expect to take a few more weeks to assemble the remaining units I have parts for, and after that, there will be a hiatus of at least a few months while I get the new unit ready for production.

This does not mean the end of support for P3.
I fully intend to finish off the remaining few things I want to add to the P3 OS, and will be just as fastidious in clearing up any unlikely bugs that may emerge.

The last few P3s will be available though the usual suppliers, at the same unrealistically low price as before.

I'd like to thank all P3 owners for their support and feedback over the past year, and welcome any suggestions you might have for the future Sequentix sequencer.

Best regards,
Colin Fraser
Sequentix Music Systems Ltd
http://www.sequentix.com

(Taken from the analogue-sequencer Yahoo! Group.)

The first round of 9090 parts are here. There are tubes of IC sockets longer than my forearm.

Last night I ordered the first round of parts for the PCBs for the TR-9090 I mentioned yesterday. After ordering just the resistors, sockets, diodes, on-board pin headers, and transistors there are 852 parts to be installed, totaling 2546 solder points. This does not count any caps, nor any of the bits from the front panel, MIDI, audio out, etc.

And strangely, Mouser bumped the shipping up to UPS next-day air. I’m not sure why… I think they are dragging their feet a bit on the shipping (overloaded?) so that’s being done to ensure there isn’t a huge delay. No bother, I’ve got other things to do in the mean time.

TR-9090 Main PCBs (Click for large versions…)

Now that the Sequentix P3 is done I’ve begun thinking about the next project. A few months back I purchased a PCB set for Trevor Page’s 9090, which is a clone of the synth part of the classic Roland TR-909.

As you can see from the PCBs above, it’s not going to be very simple to build. Additionally, the kit came with just the PCBs, ROMs, and microcontroller. All the other parts need to be sourced myself, and the only thing I have to work from is this PDF parts list. That is, no part numbers, no sums of numbers of parts needed, etc. Designing the case will probably be the most interesting part. I’m hoping to put it in a sloped-front metal enclosure something like one of these, but I’m still not sure yet. For now I’m going to build the boards, figure out the clearances I need, then work from there.

Well, actually, for now I’m going to keep building the part lists…

There are around 92 discreet transistors. And more than 50 IC sockets are needed. This isn’t going to be cheap, either.