Comments on: A Real-Life DIY Reason or Record Rack in Peru?

By: zetangas

zetangas — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:02:27 +0000

COOL!!!!!
you can visite my web site http://www.zebranalogic.com
or http://www.myspace.com/zebranalogic

By: Mig

Mig — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:53:39 +0000

I’m in Lima. Need a camera. Where exactly IS this market?

By: RoyMacdonald

RoyMacdonald — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:48:36 +0000

Why do you assume that foreign production increases the toxic waste?
Producing in the US would do any better with dealing with environmental issues?
But sure, it wouldn’t be bad if the US makes an effort in recycling electronic parts.
Well I guess we are moving away from the original topic, though the environmental impact of electronics production is a very interesting issue that can bring up lots of discusion.
BTW, peter I sen’t you an email some time ago with some topics that could be posted here, yet I had no reply ( yet I understand you must get thoussands of emails). An answer would be nice.
Keep on the good work!

By: Peter Kirn

Peter Kirn — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:11:46 +0000

Oh, I don’t take for granted these great Internet options we’ve got. And they’ve gotten a LOT better just in the last few years. But if you compare what had been in the past in the US — surplus parts stores and domestic production, now replaced with increased waste (toxic waste, no less!) and foreign production with the resulting environmental footprint — it’s not so much the grass being greener elsewhere as us having lost something important. Now, maybe retail space in fact isn’t practical in this day and age. But the US could do a better job of producing stuff locally and recycling electronics parts.

By: RoyMacdonald

RoyMacdonald — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:04:52 +0000

It´s funny that Peter craves for going shopping to “buy parts”, which is almost our only option here, yet you, Americans and Europeans, have a super good internet based stores from which you can get stuff at good prices and have it i your hands the next day, which happens to be what I crave for and probably all other fellow SouthAmericans. Funny cause nobody seems to be happy with what they’ve got. maybe some sort of “the grass is greener…” =)
Anyways, it´s part of what makes the DIY pratice interesting, figuring out how to do what you need with what you have available.

By: The Noise

The Noise — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:43:43 +0000

I’m not really sure of what that thing is : something for analog purists who prefere hardware over digital / software, or somethig for people who prefere scales over scrollbars.

By: gbsr

gbsr — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:51:14 +0000

great. now i have to go to lima aswell.

what with my thousand trillion dollars of money units i dreamed of last night. goodies.

By: Peter Kirn

Peter Kirn — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:20:26 +0000

I’ll also say that the big thing about the US is that the market for electronics has just utterly died. You can’t find electronics districts like this, and more importantly, you can’t even go out and ** buy parts **. I don’t think it’ll get much better, given the cost of real estate, but it’s part of why this looks so appealing.

It’s especially sad, as I live near the site of the World Trade Center, which was where the old electronics district used to be, in a neighborhood called Little Syria. (Oddly, I have Lebanese relatives who lived in NYC.) That district was demolished to build the WTC. Now there are just a couple of crappy Radio Shacks.

And also, I think it’s about time the DIY and electronics movements better know our neighbors around the world.

By: cooptrol

cooptrol — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:13:03 +0000

I live in Uruguay, next to Argentina and Brasil. We also have “the electronics district” in our capital Montevideo. Lots of homebrew stuff there too, but just old schematics PAs and mics, no synths or whatsoever. There’s a guy here who has been making MIDI controllers since before the Phat Boy, and now produces special guitar pedals which people like Vernon Reid buy. CHeck them out: http://manecolooper.tripod.com/
What I know about Peru is that they have a long standing avant-garde and noise tradition, with projects that started in the 80s. Their electronic music scene in general is not very important in SouthAm, being Argentina, Chile, Colombia-Venezuela and Brazil the biggest ones. But their experimental scene is really big.

By: Peter Kirn

Peter Kirn — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 07:30:24 +0000

Hey Roy – thanks for that feedback! I’d love a tour of Chile. :) Have to try to get down there.

No, even from this small Flickr photo, that’s what I’d expect. I think it’s still cool nonetheless, whether that would facilitate some sort of burgeoning Peruvian sound manufacturing market being something else altogether.

I’m conflating stories here in that I think newer projects are likely to grow as better information becomes available in other languages.