[sdiy] Re : Ms. Minogue her knob related question

[Batz Goodfortune]

Y-ellow David.

>Say, that Bitch did it to me too! D'yur think she does this to all of her 
>dates?

You had a date with Kylie? Jeezzz. It was all I could do to escape. 
Fortunately Michael Hutchence came along at just the right time but look 
where he ended up. Hanging by the neck dead after trying to perfect one of 
Kylie's routines. She never told him you're spoze to shove a metal pipe 
down your throat first before masturbating at the end of a rope.

But anyway.

Knob placement and where to insert them has been something I've done quite 
a bit of thinking about over the years and I have no conclusions. You have 
to do what you have to do to make it all fit in the space you've allotted 
yourself. Either that or lose something. But it really pisses me off when 
designers mount switches and floppies and stuff on the sides or on the 
backs of devices. Sure, you may not access these things often but you curse 
the bastard who put them there every time.

I guess the best approach is to use the right knob for the right orifice. 
Err. That is to say; most knobs can be small and closely spaced. IF! you 
only need to access them one at a time. However if two knobs that must be 
placed together would require to be twiddled with both hands (Ah La Michael 
Hutchence style) then you have to leave extra spacing for them. Or 
alternatively  if you can, don't place them together.

If a knob that controls , say, a VCO needs more accurate adjustment, then 
make sure it's got plenty of space around it, is a big knob, (Just like 
mine but perhaps not in such a state of neglect.) and is comfortable to 
hold on to for long periods of time. You don't want your hand going to 
sleep while you're trying to make a sensitive adjustment now do you?

There is some merit in squeezing as many knobs as you can together. I think 
they call that DVDA in California? In that when you're dashing about 
adjusting them quickly to achieve that special moment, you don't have to 
move your hand too far backwards and forwards. However! In such cases good 
placement and alignment is essential to avoid confusion about which knob it 
is you're adjusting at any 1 time.

I've had some panels that, by necessity, were so small that nothing larger 
than a trim pot would fit. For example, I once built a noise gate system 
which, unfortunately required fitting 4 basic noise gates onto a panel just 
(approx) 1inch by 2inches. Each of the 4 gates required an attack control, 
a decay control and a trigger LED. These were built inside plug-in modules 
of which there were 5. The latter one being a dual stereo gate complete 
with the afore mentioned adjustments plus a 5 LED bargraph. There really 
was no other choice except to design them some other way but since this 
didn't fit in with the plans at the time, I was backed into a corner so to 
speak. To use the things you have to adjust them with a small plastic 
screwdriver blade which slotted into a receptacle on the main unit body.

Later we found some Bourns trim pots that had finger adjustments. Lower 
profile than I would have liked but they came complete with dial markings 
and a little arrow to show where the knob was pointing. (Much needed in the 
case of some people)

Korg. On one of their early drum machines used these ALPS pots which came 
in strips of 4. They were in fact designed as trim pots too but korg were 
trying to squeeze 32 pots onto a circuit board along with the mixer section 
and the audio generation stuff. I think you'd know the drum machine even 
though I can't remember the model number. It had no sequencer and the pots 
were offset on an angle. But what I'm saying here is that my use of trim 
pots isn't entirely without precedent in the natural world.

And of course there's the synthi VCS3 etc. With their big-ish, vernier dial 
for the VCOs. Pitty they couldn't have seen their way clear to put them on 
all the VC inputs as well where they were really needed.

The bottom line is that in any design the ergonomics are going to depend 
entirely on the situation and not on any strict knob spacing. The truth is, 
as no doubt Kylie will tell you. Sometimes size matters, some times it's 
just a pain in the ass.

Hope this helps.

Be absolutely Icebox.

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