In February 1980 Charles Blakey launched the DIY Digisound 80 modular synthesizer in ETI magazine. He set out to provide an affordable, flexible synthesizer in modular form, the parts of which could be constructed as stand-alone units or as 9″x3″ panels in a larger case. Plans for many of the early modules appeared in the early to mid-1980s as construction articles in two British electronics magazines – ETI and E&MM.