[LAU] another control surface question

[Will Godfrey]

On Thu, 3 Jul 2014 06:27:25 -0700 (PDT)
Len Ovens <len at ovenwerks.net> wrote:

> On Thu, 3 Jul 2014, Ralf Mardorf wrote:
> 
> > You would use belts to get "endless" faders, to avoid motorized restore?
> > I guess people who like it tactile, prefer to feel the position of a
> > fader knob and btw. we likely want that it appeals to all senses, IOW we
> > also want to see the fader knob positions.
> 
> I have been trying to think what things are about tactile feel are helpful 
> to doing the job and what parts are pure resistance to change. One of the 
> things I have seen more than once on this list is "use your ears not your 
> eyes". Fader positions can be represented as LEDs or on a screen. I note 
> that while control surfaces generally use motor faders, they do not use 
> motor pots, but rather encoders. Some control surfaces have no indicator 
> where the virtual pot is, but rather show the effects on a screen beside 
> all the pots, for example a picture of the frequency responce for a group 
> of pots used for eq. Others have a light ring, but the light ring even for 
> something with 128 or more values only has 12 LEDs to show position. Some 
> highend surfaces have a dial shaped led display that might have 20 or so 
> LEDs right above the encoder. It seems we can only tell aproximatly where 
> things are with our eyes anyway.
> 
> > Regarding to wheels also keep in mind, that faders could be very long
> > but for an "endless" wheel you perhaps can't do the whole fade by
> > keeping the finger on the wheel, you perhaps need to set back the finger
> > to continue turning the wheel.
> 
> Design and training. I would actually think it would be easier to do a 
> full fade with a wheel or belt because the user is not restricted to where 
> the fader knob is, they can actually put their finger above where the 
> virtual fader position is.
> 
> > would cost less. I wonder if longer faders would be useful for the 128
> > MIDI steps.
> 
> 1024 actually, 14 bits assigned, though not all are used.

Actually I was going to suggest the idea of a 'general purpose'
belt encoder generating MSB & LSB. Even though most kit can't handle both, it
gives you much finer resolution for anything that does.

As you say, have the belt toothed side up for grabability (tm) and simple
smooth pulleys top and bottom, but use a toothed pulley for the encoder, mounted
inside the casing *below* the belt. Mount it on a slotted bracket so you can
adjust tension.

I don't think you'd need anything either side of the belt. The pulleys will
keep it in line, and it would actually be easier to feel for the belt without
having to look at it.

As for not being able to get the full range in one sweep, you'd pretty quickly
learn how to 'walk' you fingers along the belt while moving it in the opposite
direction.

Damn! I wish *I* was doing this now :)

-- 
Will J Godfrey
http://www.musically.me.uk
Say you have a poem and I have a tune.
Exchange them and we can both have a poem, a tune, and a song.