[linux-audio-dev] Knobs / widget design

[Dave Robillard]

On Wed, 2004-06-09 at 16:38, Thorsten Wilms wrote:
> And generaly about knobs:
> If you ask me, radial is the only right way of mouse control for 
> knobs. Gives the special advantage that you can have large value 
> changes with small pointer movement close to the knob, or more 
> precision if you move the pointer away.
> Not to forget that a knob says 'turn me'. Requiring linear  
> movement then means telling one thing while meaning something 
> else (bad communication practice).
> 
> ---
> Thorsten Wilms

I agree completely.  Maybe when you first use knobs like that it seems
annoying, but once you get used to it it's by far the best IMHO.

Sliders have the problem of the scale always being annoying (too slow or
too fast) and even if it is alright you can't make really fine
adjustments.  With radial knobs you can grab the knob and mouse faar
away from it and make really minute adjustments.  I do this in amSynth
for example, to detune one oscillator just a tiny bit to get nice
phasing without noticable beats.

I'd say somehow combining radially controlled knobs with a way of
entering exact values with the keyboard (which is incredibly
useful/necessary and way too overlooked) would be The Ideal
Solution(TM).

Without thinking too much about it, I think the best would be:

- Left button to turn knob (radially)
- Middle button to reset
- Right button for context menu
- Double click for text entry

-DR-