Muff's Modules & More

jarvis · Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 9:25 pm Post subject:

At .5" center-to-center horizonal spacing there's just enough room to get the nuts on to the emerson/johnson banana jacks without them interfering with their neighbors, however it is probably too close to use a nut driver. I'm just going to tighten with a pair of pliers... it'll be a monotonous job but it's better than redesigning my panels for the bazillionth time!

dmitri · Last edited by dmitri on Sun Mar 11, 2012 3:02 am; edited 1 time in total

wrong thread.
panels not even close to ready.
removed.

sonicwarrior

Stiener?

dmitri · Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 12:19 pm Post subject:

did i spell it wrong ?
whoopsy
Steiner-Parker
thanks
d

rockmanrock · Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 10:14 pm Post subject:

Admittedly this is more of a design post, but we haven't got a sticky thread for that. I'm going through various options for my overall approach to my first designs and would appreciate any wisdom. These are for an MFOS VCO and the format is "Half Rast" - 6.75" tall panels.

Above you can see three layouts. The pots are all on a 1 inch grid which seems to me is bordering on cramped, but I've got a lot to fit in and I don't want to build a massive wall.

The first one is very straightforward, but my concern is with a big grid of knobs on a row of similar modules, everything merges together. The middle one breaks up this grid tyranny a bit but with the jacks in the middle you get cables drooping down obscuring the controls. With the third style I'm thinking about using a bigger knob for a 'feature' parameter, in this case tuning. (On a filter it would be the cut-off, for an LFO the speed and so on.) The idea is to improve ergonomics and playability. To fit these last two layouts in the same 2 inch panel width I've forgone the third CV attenuator.

These are only roughs really but any comments on these panel designs would be much appreciated.

emdot_ambient · Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 1:11 am Post subject:

I prefer the 3rd one. I always lean toward putting larger knobs on controls that will be used a lot. Makes it easier to grab on the fly 'cause it's more visible.

One nitpick on all of them, though, "Pulse Width" is one word, not two. And even run together, it's too long a word for your design in the current font size. I'd recommend changing it to simply PW or something shorter so as not to crowd the edge of the panel...or reducing the fonts on all text to accommodate the text.

I think you're OK dropping the attenuator on one of the CV inputs, or even dropping one altogether. I can't think of too many cases where you will actually use 4: V/Oct from a seq or keyboard, an attenuated one for a vibrato LFO, a second attenuated one for either an LFO or EG...At least w/me there's not that many times I do much more with pitch. A VCF would be more important to have many inputs, I'd think.

bleeps · Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 12:29 am Post subject:

This is the "works" version of Michael Barton's CV Arpeggiator in 18hp. Here's a list of the controls for proofing:
MOVEMENT - knob (no text, icons were made): Up/Down, Up Repeating, Down Repeating, Pendulum, Up and Stay, Down and Stay, Random
OCTAVES - knob: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
NOTE SET - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
3rd note - toggle switch: MAJOR, MINOR
7th note - toggle switch: MAJOR, MINOR
WIDTH - knob (no values)
TEMPO - knob (no values)
GATE/TRIGGER selector - toggle switch: GATE, TRIGGER
GATE LED - led
OUT JACKS - ARP, G/T
IN JACKS - CV, SET, 3RD, TEMPO, CLK, RESET, 7TH

This is my first panel design. I'll mock this up onto cardboard before doing a laminated paper on a panel.

emdot_ambient · Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 7:38 am Post subject:

Lovely work, bleeps! I was jealous until I realized I've got one of those PCBs in my backlog already! I haven't even looked at the docs enough to figure out what I'll need to include on my front panel...so you've just saved me a lot of work! thumbs up

e-grad · Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 7:41 am Post subject:

@dmitri

It's Serge VCF not Serg VCF.

bleeps · Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 10:46 am Post subject:

emdot_ambient
Thanks! It should be noted that this does deviate a bit from the panel and functionality suggested in the build doc. You may want to add some of this stuff back in:
1) I left off two pots as the panel is already crowded and I figure I could just attenuate signals prior to input.
2) I added switches to the 3rd and 7th note parameters. The switches will get defeated when a jack is plugged into the respective CV inputs.
3) CV input for PWM (Width) and the Gate Out were left off. The gate out was combined with the trigger out and is selected via the switch in the middle. I might add both of these jacks back in, but that would mean the stepped layout at the bottom will change.

I had to re-read the build doc several times to figure out what I wanted to do. There are a lot of features packed into the board.

Cheradenine · Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 6:36 am Post subject:

Here's a 4U M-class sized panel I'm about to order...but before doing so, maybe it's better if someone else could check it.

That's an ultra minimal design, no scale on the pot and the fewest possible text.
Bare anodized aluminium with black infilling for the engravings.
Holes are 8mm for bananas, 7mm for pots, 6,5mm for mini jacks (aux in on the mix, and the second input of the res-eq) and 6mm for the switch on the reverb (this one is a tight fit)

My main concern is the text : I never ordered panel with painted engravings, so I don't know how well it will render with this mix of font/size/engraving. Won't it be too small ?

rockmanrock · Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 10:23 am Post subject:

emdot_ambient · Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 9:17 am Post subject:

fluxmonkey · Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 9:44 am Post subject:

@Cheradenine--might have been intentional, but the decimals on the Res EQ freq pots look like commas, not dots?

Cheradenine · Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 3:01 pm Post subject:

Thanks for having checked it, guys !

@fluxmonkey : yes it's intentional, or more like a reflex...we french are using comma for decimal mark Mr. Green

@emdot_ambient : thanks fore the advice ! I vaguely remembered that, that's why the names/creators of the modules are already grouped...
I've done it for all what you suggested, make me save 7€ It's peanut butter jelly time!

emdot_ambient · Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 5:30 pm Post subject:

7€ is 7€!

(As my current sig says: "The future belongs to the efficient"!)

fluxmonkey · Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2012 8:15 pm Post subject:

Going over this w/ my finest toothed combs, since it'll come in at almost $300... my first full Sergish panal:

Wogglebug
2X 258 VCOs
Dual LFO (CGS)
Noise Cornucopia (MFOS)
Steiner VCF (CGS)
Mix/Proc
Dual RingMod (111)

any feedback greatly appreciated!

rico loverde · Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2012 8:56 pm Post subject:

very nice fluxmonkey. my serge panel with buchla clones should be here soon. epinasty etched one for me. i can't wait to get it in my grubby little hands. i really like your module choices. i don't see any mistakes but I'm horrible at catching them and this thread was a huge help when i started mine.

msprigings · Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2012 9:28 pm Post subject:

rico out of curiousity what is in your buchla serge style panel?