PAiA FatMan

Very straightforward, if you buy the panel for the kit everything is mapped out. It is the simplest synthesizer I have ever owned. Every knob and switch has its own functions, there are no hidden menus or anything. That is exactly what I was going for.
There are no presets. Life goes on. The sounds this unit can produce are phenomenal, but there is no patch memory other than your head and a notebook.
Editing patches is an absolute breeze. 4 knobs for control of the oscillators, 7 knobs and a switch to control the filter, and 7 knobs and a switch to control the amplifier. Everything is laid out for you. There is no "patch editor" other than yourself.
The manual is vital because there are probably only a handful of people alive who could build a Fatman without one. The Fatman was probably the 5th kit I ever built and by far the most complicated of them all so far, and the manual got me through the whole thing the first time. It also has a very comprehensive troubleshooting section.
I rate "ease of use" an 8 because I don't consider building it to be "using" it. Using this synthesizer is not only extremely easy but fun as well.

The synth is monophonic, it retriggers every time you press another key. You can get polyphonic-like effects by toggling with the glide and release settings, or by using a delay pedal with a long delay time. The keyboard action is as good as the MIDI controller you use.
It has no built in effects, unless of course you decide to build some in. You can modify it yourself to take an external signal and run it through the filter, but that's about it in terms of what it can do for you out of the box. Anything beyond raw manipulation of the signal has to be added on yourself if you so chose.
It has a firmware that can be updated into the PROM IC if I'm not mistaken, you can do this yourself by downloading the latest code off PAiA's website and if you have the right equipment. As for expansion capabilities... anything you can find schematics for or that you can figure out for yourself! There are plenty of modifications available online that range from simple to very complicated. For example, you can take out certain resistors and replace them with LEDs so the oscillators don't lock frequencies when they get close to each other (Lee Diode Mod), it is recommended to switch out the IC timers for the oscillators and replace them with CMOS 555 chips as they don't lock frequencies as much as the ones that come with the kit do. You can put in any ICs with a similar function and the same pin layout (like op amps and timer IC's) you want if you use IC sockets, you can put in any components you wish (different values can achieve different results), you can even add on many features such as making the filter multimode (low pass and band pass), you can mod it so the AR/A(S)R filter envelope repeats itself when a switch is in a certain position (acting as an LFO), you can mod the oscillators to hard sync, you can even create a third oscillator that plays exactly one octave lower than one of the VCO's (sub harmonic oscillator) for very powerful bass effects, the list goes on and on. There are some nice links off the PAiA page that will tell you how to modify your FatMan. I have not tried any of the mods myself, but plan on doing so with the next one one I purchase.
The FatMan does not have an onboard sequencer, though this gives me an excellent idea for my next FatMan.
Overall in terms of features, the FatMan is indeed limited compared to other synthesizers. It just has VCO/ VCF/ VCA sections and you can't do too much with them unless you add further modifications yourself. But for the money, ease of use, and pure analog sound, it can't be beat in those regards.

It is as realistic as any analog synthesizer with a low pass filter and two saw wave oscillators can be. I do not mean this facetiously or sarcastically. I can get it to emulate many analog synth sounds, from Moog basslines to ARP 2600 tempered 5th brass sounds to TB-303 acid leads. With use of numerous effects pedals I can make a somewhat convincing monophonic string sound. Don't expect this to be able to pull off amazing piano or choir sounds, because it won't. It's purely analog and is used to synthesize sounds you can't normally produce acoustically or naturally.
It works wonders for electronic music, and I believe it is most heavily geared towards that. After all, it is an analog synthesizer. It can be used for experimental, funk, and fusion type bands as well, but like I said before, it suits electronic music the best. Anyone looking for true analog sound should pick one of these up and build one.
It reacts to pitch bend and velocity MIDI signals, as well as MIDI note on/off data. It does not respond to any other MIDI control, such as filter cutoff, resonance, etc. Just pitch and velocity. So yes, it can react to your playing. You can set the filter and the amplifier to be effected by velocity.
The best thing this synth does, in my opinion, is basslines. The oscillators get somewhat thin at higher octaves, which is good for producing bell-like tones at higher resonances and odd harmonic structures. The FatMan gets VERY fat when you detune the oscillators against each other at lower octaves. If you play your cards right you can hear the "beats" from when the oscillators are close to syncing with each other, and further apart you can get some trancey type unison detune effects. With the filter cutoff low and the resonance up a smidge and the filter release up a tad, you can create nice "rubber band" type synthetic basslines. You can also make pitch slides and "stabs" with the glide feature. What I love about this synth is EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING can be controlled in real time since it is pure analog. There is nothing on this synth that has to be "brought up" or activated in order to use, except for the envelope type on the filter and the punch option on the amplifier (which are switches). You can literally have 3 or more people crowd around the FatMan and they can all twist knobs at the same time and the unit will immediately react to these value changes. No lag, no waiting period for the synth to recognize the setting changes, everything is controllable in real time. This is where the true expression can come into play and why the FatMan beats all my other synths to date in this regard.

The Fatman is as dependable as you make it, literally. If you do a crappy job soldering everything and putting the unit together in its enclosure cockeyed, it may not be as dependable as if you took your time and meticulously assembled everything by the book. I definitely plan on gigging with mine in the future simply because it's so awesome and it's sure to turn some heads in this day and age when most electronic acts feature a generic virtual analog synth like an SH-201 or a microkorg and everyone owns one. Not many people have heard of a FatMan, so it's definitely something a live electronic musicians should feel compelled to whip out at a performance. My unit has dropped off of keyboards I laid it on top of several times and survived the fall, and the way I see it, YOU built the thing (more than likely), so there shouldn't be a problem in fixing something if it were to break.
I probably won't be gigging without a backup because I'll probably have at least two of these things by the next time I hit the stage, and I will probably either use both of them, or only one of them in the worst case scenario. Overall I consider these things dependable as long as you built them correctly and house them correctly. One thing I will recommend - build your own power connecter and use an actual jack at the end of the wall wart, don't let the chord hang like the manual has you do. This is, by far, the number one threat my unit has faced thus far, is people tripping over the chord and gravity doing its job.

Scott Lee and all of PAiA have my deepest of thanks and appreciation. To put it simply, they rock, and I'm glad a company like PAiA exists out there. When I assembled my kit I was sure I had severely messed it up, as my gate LED would not come on no matter what I had my MIDI channels set at and no matter what octave I played. I packaged my unit up and sent it to PAiA for a look-see, and all I messed up was a jumper cable that was coming loose (but still completing the circuit) and I reversed the order of the MIDI DIP switch, so my MIDI channels are reverse of what they are listed as in the manual. All in all, the service cost me 30 dollars, including shipping. The unit was in working order when I received it back. Scott Lee also sent me a page long description of work performed and what went wrong and what he did to fix it, and we correspond via email on a pretty much weekly basis. These guys are on the same level as Dave Smith in my book.

This thing is worth way more than they sell it for. Sure you have to assemble it, big deal! Like I said, this was my 5th kit ever, all I had ever built before was simple... this was the biggest project I have tackled to date, and I built it right the first time. You will learn a lot about electronics and signal paths while building this, which alone is worth a lot more than this kit will cost you money-wise. I would definitely purchase and build another one if mine ever got lost, stolen, or broken.
I have been playing electronic instruments since I was in high school. I own a Microkorg, X-50, Electribe EMX-1, R3, XioSynth, 01/W, and a bunch of guitar effects pedals. The Fatman produces sounds within seconds that would take me a few minutes to programm correctly on any of my virtual analog synths. There are no hidden menus or edit select knobs or pages or subpages or anything of that nature. Just 18 knobs and 2 switches. Simplest instrument I own that has so many possibilities to offer.
I LOVE the sounds I can produce with it, especially the filter sweeps and the basslines. I also love the price as well, the only analog synth on the market I know of with a price anywhere close to this is a DSI Evolver Desktop, which can do a lot more but costs 3 times as much. For the price this thing is a steal.
I HATE the MIDI, however. Most of my stuff is really low and bassy, so all my old sequences on my Electribe don't correspond well with the MIDI on the FatMan because it only has a range of C-1 to C-6. Anything below C-1 or above C-6 is recoginzed by the MIDI of the FatMan, but is not converted to a gate signal, thus the synth makes no sound if I input a sequence from my Electribe that was programmed entirely with the note B-1. While the FatMan's design really doesn't require it to go that low anyway (you can acheive audio clips with C-1 if you turn the pitch and offset knobs all the way down), but still, it would've been nice to add an extra octave lower for the sake of efficiency.
Another thing I hate is the fact that I have to run my unit through some serious amplification to hear anything. I can run it into guitar amps just fine, but when I run it through my audio interface I have to crank it up really loud in order to hear it at normal levels. I don't know if this is exclusive to my unit or if this is how it really is, I guess I'll find out with the next one I build. The only reason this bothers me is the white noise that's produced when I amplify it to the point where it's audible.
I chose this unit because I once said, "I want to build a synthesizer before I die," back when I was in high school. It was very affordable compared to other analog synths out there, with the added bonus of requiring assembly. If you don't feel like doing it yourself, then go to Guitar Center after taking out a loan at the bank and buy a prebuilt analog synthesizer and stop complaining, or cough up a few extra hundred to get a prebuilt unit off eBay. But if you want an analog synthesizer and bragging rights amongst other electronic musicians at the same time, this is your key. This thing isn't just something you buy and use, it's something you build with your own two hands. That adds more value to it.
Anything I wish it had? Sure... an LFO, for starters. You can make your own LFO's with hex inverters, but this can prove to be a pain if you're new at electronics and have difficulty reading schematics. If the FatMan had an LFO that could modulate the three main capabilities it has (pitch, filter, and amplification), and if it came like that out of the box, that would be awesome. I'd be happy with a unit that's slightly larger to fit the LFO circuit and the extra switches/ knobs. An LFO is really the only thing I see from the traditional analog synth architecture that is absent on the FatMan.
With all that being said, this thing definitely opens doors. I recommend it to everyone who makes electronic music.

It's a kit, so you have to solder it together. The manual is an idiot proof first course. I followed the directions and it worked right away. It took a week of evenings, I had to buy new soldering tips and reading glasses. I've never done any project like this.

There are no presets. Deal with it.

Most romplers have a "Fat Saw" patch. I use that one a lot, but all the romplers were thin and weak. This thing does "Fat Saw" like nothing else, and that's pretty much it. Man does this deliver. Sometimes I run it through my Seymour Duncan twin tube classic guitar box.

So far so good. But I soldered it myself, so who knows. You can customize your own case, there's a few web sites that have some radical packages. I probably wouldn't gig without a backup.

Very personal company. The guy replies to all my emails.

I'm thinking of buying a second one, for sequenced/arpeggiated stuff.

It does one thing very very well.

Hard to say if it's easy to use; it's both hard and easy. To really get the most out of the fatman, you really need to tweak the sounds, and more importantly you really need to THINK about the sound you are trying to make. Picturing the waveform in your mind is half the fun.

Basically, the Fatman has everything it needs. I could be more, but I think it's fabulously priced and I'm sure it would need to cost more to do more. I don't use the CV outs, but I'm sure that's a big deal to some users. I do think it could use another waveshape - triangle only is a bit limited, and I'm sure someone could figure out a clever way to filter one OSC from a triangle to a sine, but you are able to do that with the VCF so what do I know.

I do LOVE the crap out of this thing. I use it as the pedal tone generator in my Hammond chop, so I'm looking more for simple tones and traditional bass sounds. Since I use a midi pedalboard, I suppose I have a billion choices in sound modules, but the fatman does a few things that I couldn't find anywhere else. I was using an Alesis nanobass, but the Fatman allows you fininite control of release times which is something not built-in to my pedalboard. That feature alone, and the fact that it's on a knob, was worth the lousy $140. While it doesn't have a transpose feature, the Fatman will shift one or both OSC over more than an octave, and my pedalboard can't transpose, so that's another killer feature for me. I suppose most keyboard controllers wouldn't need that, but I do.

Soundwise, this thing does pretty much everything I want in a bass specific module. Fat, warm and controllable, well behaved but not sterile. I do use some of the more synthy sounds with port and envelopes and so forth, and I find that I'm gearing my playing to take advantage of what the Fatman can do. Pretty cool. I have used it a couple of times with a velocity sensitive keyboard, and that made using the Fatman more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

I do think that novice synth players would get in front of the Fatman and quickly get bored because they can't take the time to really tweak everything in. As I say, it takes a good working knowledge of the box to get a wide variety of sounds out of it. If you are used to just scrolling thru patches, you will probably think "hey, everything sounds the same on this thing". But I assure you, there are a wealth of sounds inside there - you gotta know where to dig.

It's a tank, if you build it correctly. Most of the components are better than they really need to be. The PC board itself is 10 times the quality you'll find in anything you can buy from Korg, Yam, Roland, etc. Don't let the price fool you - there's very little chintz going on in there. In fact, I don't know how Paia can sell it for what they do.

Absolutly fabulous. I think everyone agrees that Scott Lee and Paia in general are top notch in terms of service. Someone should get a medal.

Can't be beat for the money, can't be beat for twice the money. Although it's a bit aged, there a lot of great mods on the web. I did the Lee Diode Mod and that was a real winner. I'd love to build a wall of Fatmans, but next I'll build the 9700 and get horny over that. Overall, the Fatman is a 10.

You build it yourself. The instructions are very clear and easy to follow. The instructions also include some troubleshooting info so if you get it all put together and it doesn't work, there's still some hope before you have to call them.

I assembled mine and only found a few minor problems that were entirely my fault. I corrected them quickly and it worked great. Took me about 40 hrs to assemble, but I'm kind slow and went very carefully (first kit).

Ease of use if great after it's assembled. Everything is controlled by knobs, no patch storage.

I received all of the parts, I did not have to ask for any more or go shopping for something they left out.

1-note polyphony. Lot's of mods available (google for paia fatman and you'll find 'em).

MIDI features work. I had mine at the begining of a MIDI chain, but none of the other modules worked. I just moved the fatman to the end and evertyhing is OK. It seemed like a MIDI-thru problem, don't know if other fatmen have the same problem or not, but since I was able to work around it I'm not really concerned (I don't want to ding PAIA on this, just mention it).

Sounds good. I'm just starting out so don't know that much...

Has always worked so far. Since it's a kit the quality naturally depends on your skills.

I'm happy with it. It was a fun kit. I'd get another one if lost or stolen. I've ordered PAIA's 9700 kit.

Manual is simple and easy. I assembled mine in about 15 hours, but I would have to say I have spent over 100 hours past that doing mods on the damn thing! (I have done at least six mods to mine and am currently working on a custom 3U rackface because I ran out of room with all of the extra knobs and switches from the normal 2U size)

I don't think a patch editor is availble for this, as the knobs do not send MIDI...time to get out the old analog paper "cool setting" form...

The synth is very straightforward. No FX...but if you want some that bad, build some Paia EPfM pedal kits and hardwire them into the rack!!

If you want a really hooked up bass synth, either mod the hell out of this one or buy a Future Retro 777 for four times the price. One of the better values in a bass synth if you want to spend $600-777 (and their site has mods too!)

The filter is a bit shy, you will get decent sweeps if you go over the whole range, but don't expect something you can do sub-bass with-- like a true vintage analog synth, its cutoff is 12dB, not 24dB.

It is hard to say this is lacking in features, because features are not the point of its existance-- instead of presets and effects you get pure basic hands-on control. In it's vanilla unmodded state it is a bit shy on an extreme variety sounds, but the few it does well it does incredibly.

Note: You do have to purchase the rackface or desktop case separately. For some this is a pain, but for us DiYers it saves us $$ as we are likely making our own cases anyway.

If your controller does velocity and aftertouch, the FM will recieve it. I use a Roland PC-200, which works great. If you need a USB on your controller, the PC-300 might be better for you.

As far as the sounds, this is FAT and SATURATED ANALOG. This is not smooth and it is not meant to be. This is pure raw analog. Bubbly and burly...burbly. Put an envelope filter after it for moog-like auto-filter sweeps and 303-like resonance squelch. I use a Q-Tron+, freakin' beautiful. My pal in Keyboard Controllers says the MoogerFooger Lowpass is way better though.

This might be a comment on my DiY skills, but mine is on its 3rd breakdown. Still most have no problems, so I would either consider this a freak happening or an Act of God telling me quit DiY electronics.

Scott Lee, tech support at Paia is the best I have come across. He will talk to you via phone, advise you on mods, etc. A real asset to the company. I don't know what they pay him, but it probably isn't what he is worth.

BTW, if you need to get your FM repaired (and I know this from experience...) repair is currently $30 an hour, and usually it is done within that time, though to get to it may take a month or so. Considering how expensive electronics repir can be, this is VERY reasonable.

I freakin' love this little thing. For what it does, I think it is the best value on the market. I am strongly considering getting at least one more, maybe two. I rub my hands together and fantasize about a bassline six oscillators thick via three MIDI-chained FMs.

If you want a great sounding synth that does a moog-quality bass for relatively cheap and LOVE burning your fingers with a soldering iron, this is your project.

Very straight forward synth module. It comes in a kit form and it took me about 14 hours to assemble. Everything is controlled via front panel control pots (Try that with a modern digital synth). The sound can be completly changed as fast as you can change patches on a modern synth. I'm looking at getting rid of all my 256+ patch digital synths at this point. How many sounds do you really need anyway? The manual is very straight forward. It even briefly touches on how VC analog synthesis works.

This synth is a monophonic lead/bass synth module so there is no keyboard. It uses CV/Gate but has a built in MIDI-CV converter so integrates right into any MIDI setup. There are no patches, memory, effects (after all, effects are added to digital synths to make up for their lack of rich sound), or expansion capabilities. The only limitation is that there is no LFO in the original kit. There are many modifications available for the unit, though, and one such mod is an LFO. The only thing I don't like is power adaptor is hardwired to the PCB. This can be changed and once I've added the LFO mod to the unit, I'm going to install a power supply jack on mine. The MIDI is velocity sensative and has pitch bend. It can be set to accept MIDI data on any of the 16 MIDI channels No sequencer

The FatMan doesn't do other instruments (If you want a piano or violin, get a REAL piano or violin.) It does classic monophonic analog sounds. The basses and pads are so thick that polyphony is not needed. The leads cut through anything digital. I play rock/hard rock and it is perfect for that type of music. No onboard effects are needed on this unit. If you want something stero sounding then an external doubling delay or chorus would do.

The unit is very reliable; I've had no typical analog synth tuning problems. The glide however does effect the pitch and the oscillators pitch must be adjusted when using the glide. I never use the glide so this is of no concern to me. I don't gig as this point in life but the FatMan can go anywhere.

Outstanding. I was in contact with several people at PAiA before the purchase to make sure this was the unit for me (my first true analog synth). I've been in contact with them numerous times since the purchase and assembly, to discuss modifications.

I'm looking at getting one or two more of these. I've got a couple of Yamaha CS1x synths that I'd like to replace with more PAiA synths. They just don't compare to the rich tone of analog.

very easy to use, pretty easy to put together. I had never really soldered before and had to go learn, I practiced about five times and then started building it, it was really simple. If you've ever put together a model car or airplane its kind of like that, dont be intimidated.

It is monophonic, there is no keyboard attached to it so you will have to rely on some sort of midi or cv controller... I think there are eighteen knobs, i only just finished it so i havent gotten a lot out of it yet but the sounds so far are promising. Theres no memory on it so you cant save any of the sounds you make and the knob movements dont get transmitted over midi. If you look around on the internet you can find a lot of modifications for this synth.

Pretty neat sounds, easy to make them sound how you want. The lower end sounds are the best, this will probably work better for bass and stuff than anything else, i think it only has a square wave so the sounds aren't incredible smooth, a little rough, but i like it a lot. I havent had a lot experience with other analog synths so i cant really compare the sounds to another keyboard, but these sounds could definately be used for a lot of different kinds of music.

I haven't had it for very long, so im not sure, its worked everytime so far.

very good costomer support. I had to call them right when i finished because it wasn't working, I got through to the company immediatly and talked to the tech support guy after that, I was never left on hold. He helped me and got it working over the phone in no time. I think his name was Steve, thank you.

if i lost it, id buy another one, building it was kind of time consuming though, i think thats just because im a begginer. I mainly bought it because i wanted a synth but didnt want to pay a lot of money, if your like i was and are interested in analog synthesizers but dont want to drop a lot of money, buy this. Its fun to build it and your pretty proud when its done and working. Plus, you get a neat synth out of it.

The Paia FatMan is controlled via 18 knobs and 3 switches. No LCD displays, no hidden modes; the FatMan is pure analog WYSIWYG. Perfect if you ask me since you never need to save any settings; just leave the synth as it was when you last shut it off while experimenting.

The manual is not thick, but sufficient. Much better than the manual for many digital synths. Perhaps it's because digital synths are a bit more complex(?) The FatMan is simple but beautiful!

The Paia FatMan is a monophonic bass synth and it doesn't pretend to be anything other than that. But what it's designed to do, it does well! The sound from the double oscillators together with the filters can be manipulated in such a way that it will sound like anything from a whisper in the willows to a cat that hasn't eaten for two weeks.

The FatMan does not have any factory-made expansion capabilities, but it's a popular project among the Do-It-Yourself synthesizer community and there are a lot of modifications for the FatMan available on the WWW.

The MIDI implementation on the FatMan is basic. It recognises on/off, modulation and velocity. That's it. But for me, that's quite sufficent. A dip-switch allows you to set which MIDI channel/channels the FatMan should respond to. Using it in my rack together with other machines have never been a problem.

If you're in to electronica, the FatMan is for you. If you prefer "playing the piano" you're better off with something less analog. The FatMan sounds somewhat like the TB-303. You can do anything from quirky bass sounds to thick bass carpets.

The reliability of the FatMan is high as far as I'm concerned. I have run my FatMan for a couple of weeks now and it has not gone out of tune. I would not hesitate to bring it to a live gig.

PAiA is a VERY personal company since not that many people are involved in their business. Just through my basic correspondance with them I learned the first name of the people responsible for my order. Their response time is short.

The setup that i bought included the chip, a desktop case and the shipment to Europe (Sweden). The price didn't scare me eventhough the shipment costs where quite expensive. I guess it's better if you order from the US.

I will admitt - I would not cry my heart out if my FatMan was stolen from me, but it's not because I don't love this synth, because I do, but it's because it's so cheap that I would always buy and build a new one.

Summary: If you are a DIY kind of person trying to figure out which project should be your first, try the FatMan. It's a simple but cool monophonic bass synth that is worth every hour with the soldering iron!

It's actually pretty easy to make. I don't know anything about electronics and it took me about 20 hours and worked first time. Having an extra pair of hands helps with some jobs, like wiring the circuit board to the controls. Once it's working it's all very intuitive - the 18 knobs and 2 switches are explained in the manual, but for someone who knows a little about subractive synthesis it's very straightforward.

The Fatman is controlled by a MIDI keyboard or sequencer, and understands pitch bend and velocity as well as pitch, note on/note off etc. You can link it up to other synths via the control voltage jacks, though I've never tested this. In general though, the Fatman is more about pure sound quality than gimmicky features.

The sounds are maybe a bit limited for pure electronic music, but the sweet sweet sound quality makes it perfect for acid jazz, thrash funk, R&B etc. The filter sounds great, glide is cool and two oscillators allow some fairly complex textures. Of course in an ideal world it'd have pulse waves, an LFO, ring mod, polyphony etc. but then if you want these for anywhere near this price then you'll have to turn to stealing... or go digital if you're desparate ;)

I guess this depends on how well you build it, but I've had no trouble with mine. Tuning is maybe a teensy bit unstable.

never needed to find out

If you want to get into analog synthesis and don't mind burning yourself on a soldering iron a couple of times, then this is the machine for you. Tons of character and a sweet sound that won't sound out of place next to your Warwick Thumb bass and K Zildian cymbals, plus really really good value for money. If it got lost, I might consider saving my cash and looking for an old Odyssey or Minimoog, but only because the Fatman got me hooked on analog in the first place. The otaku route to analog heaven :)

Since you have to build it...it is not as easy. Actually using it when it is built is easy. I built it with a friend who knew electronics better than I did and we had a good time.

Monophonic. Note on and off, velocity and pitch bend. Bare neccessities when it comes to analog sound tweaking. Glide can do spooky Moog Kluas Shultz/Snoop dog stuff. The res and freq are fun enough with some creativity (i.e. how you sequence, or process etc.). Extremely straightforward. The MIDI/VC Gate is a nice addition if you want to sequence an old CV unit like a SH101 or Moog Rogue on the same MIDI channel. I've done that and this is a great feature.

Very dry sounding so it takes some user ingenuity. It doesn't seem to have satiated my appetite for analogue sounds because: Mono, many units have wider filters, etc. But it can make some solid techno arppegios, can do low bass and like I said, some Moogy leads. I have never figured out what the "punch" switch does...doesn't seem to do anything as far as I can tell.

Because you have to build it yourself...
The chasis that you can order with it seems pretty mediocre to me and I have stuck note and release time problems so...
The blue panel with knobs looks cool in your rack though.

The order came relitively fast and PAiA is a pretty cool company to produce products like this that are fun to build and use. I haven't called them about anything yet and I don't want to.

Fun...good deal if you or your friends want to build a neat synth instead of trying to rebuild a Datson from a couple of parts cars in the yard. Good, straightforward deal.

I'm using the FatMop 1.9. I also ordered the front panel along with the rest of the kit. Literally all of the controls are on the front panel, including the MIDI, CV, and output jacks. It is a simple analog synthesizer that happens to respond to note on and off messages, their velocities, and pitch bend messages. What could be easier to use?
The operation part of the manual is not always written for the electronically uninitiated. Thankfully, you will only be needing it when you tune the FatMan, and this part of the manual is reasonable.

The FatMan is a monophonic analog synthesizer. It is controlled by 18 knobs and two switches (not counting the power switch), as well as by MIDI through a small MIDI to CV system built into the unit. The MIDI subsystem understands note on, note off, note velocity, and pitch bend messages. The front panel knobs and MIDI subsystem are not associated in any way, which brings the cost of the unit incredibly low.
Two saw VCOs are mixed and feed a low-pass resonant A(S)R VCF followed by the ADSR VCA. The sustain part of the VCF envelope can be eliminated with a switch. The VCA may be given additional attack punch with a switch.
One feature not to be ignored is that you have complete access to the innards of the thing. A large number of mods have been published, some quite easy to perform. The FatMan is a very popular choice among DIY types, and is also used as a "normaled section" in some modular rigs.

I find the number of sounds I can make with it quite limited, especially since I use MIDI to control everything.
There is no LFO, ring modulator, hard sync, or anything interesting like that. Pure bread and water here. Good bread and clean water, but bread and water nonetheless.
Why buy one? With a simple mod, it makes truly crushing bass.

You will rely on it as much as you have confidence in your own ability to put one together.
Also, there is no case: the PCB hangs off the back of the front panel with two L braces. This scares me more than a little.

PAiA is very good about fixing your FatMan after you fail to assemble it properly. Their repair rates are cheap and their warranties fair. I was a little worried that I'd spend four days putting it together, fail, and have to trash it. I did fail, but PAiA fixed it for me for US$19.01. They also sent me a very exact list of what I did wrong, which was heartening.

If I had the money (which, come to think of it, I do) I'd buy a BassStation instead. If you have time and a soldering iron, but can't justify spending upwards of US$600 just to experiment with analog bass, the FatMan may be your ticket. If you have a strong DIY ethic, or were thinking of designing and building your own analog synth, the FatMan is perfect.
There was a page "Zen and the Art of Kit Hacking" that was very helpful to me when I was assembling my FatMan, but I can't find it now.

Well, you have to put it together yourself. That knocks it down a few 'ease of use' numbers there. Otherwise, you get abour 20 knobs at your disposal. The kit-building manual is great, I mean that -- I've never soldered before I started the Fatman and I did it. Took me (complete novice) about 24 hours (not all at once!) to do it. The biggest pain is to get all the wires from the circuit board to the panel knobs. They remain my biggest problem as they are always getting caught on things and falling off.

One note at a time -- but who needs more? You get your two oscillators you can offset and pan between. It's got that sound, acutally maybe about 4 or 5 different main sounds, filters on, filters off, resosance and freq pots, and all that... nothing is midi controllable except note on, note off, pitch bend, and velocity.

I wouldn't use this as anyhting but a techno / noise kind of thing, but whatever you're into... so many knobs to play with, it actaully is more fun that way though. My model, probably my error, but my model sticks sometimes, I'll be playing a note and it'll stay there after I liftoff until I power down. Also it trips up sometimes if you hook it up to a fast arpeggiator.

I can't depend on it, but that's only because I made a mess of it when I built it. If I did it again, with the experience I have now, I'd make it more solid and then I'd have no problem depending on it. That's not Paia's fault, that's mine. :)

Excellent! Very helpful people. They'll fix it for you if you've got a problem, but they can usually answer most questions over email or phone for you. Real quick delivery too. Every single part (there were hundreds!!) was safely in the box when I got it.

If it were lost, I'd probably build a new one, sure. I've had it for 6 months now, and it fits in nicely to all my other midi gear; sound modules and arpegs, samplers, computer... It's great because it looks so homegrown and sounds so distinct and also is about $1000 cheaper than something that would sound similar. On the other hand, I wish I was a better solderer :( I say buy it if you're interested in delving into the DIY world.

It is a relatively simple analog synth kit that you assemble yourself so there are no presets. On the other hand it has 18 knobs so you have complete control of the sound and it is a breeze to use. The manual is pretty straight forward.

It is a classic 2VCO 1VCF lowpass with resonance and 1 ADSR. Its a monosynth so it has no polyphony but it is great as a sourse for those fat analog samples or basslines. It is a rackmount so you provide the controler but it responds to velocity and pitch bend. It has MIDI in and thru and outputs pitch velocity and gate control voltages. also it can recieve on any MIDI channel.

It's a perfect synth for techno, or those retro 70's sounds. Can create fat pads and good strings. The filter could be better though being only 12db. It reacts well to velocity. Can create some nice fx.

It seems very dependable.

The support was good. When I needed to do some repairs the guy was helpfull and did a good job.

Would buy it again. Its the best bang for the buck synth I can think of unless you get some old used synth. Don,t bother if you arent handy with a soldering iron. An LFO would be nice but it is easy to add one. Polyphony would be nice but for this price what more can you ask?