[sdiy] Small Resistors and slider pots

[WeAreAs1 at aol.com]

In a message dated 4/2/01 9:20:30 PM, harrybissell at prodigy.net writes:

<< OK EVERYBODY LETS VOTE !!!

ROTARY... because no dirt can enter the fader through the hole
so they last about 1000 times longer than a linear pot !!! >>

Sliders ARE bitchen, and anyone who has ever spent time with an ARP 2600 
would agree, I'm sure.

Nevertheless, Harry's right.  Sliders will get noisy, get lumpy resolution, 
start feeling crappy, and just plain fail much much sooner than rotary pots.

Sliders are a hell of of lot more work for the DIY'er, unless you also have a 
machine shop in which to mill the slots into your panels.

Lastly, it's a lot easier to find a suitable substitute if a rotary pot ever 
goes bad and needs replacing, even if the original maker is nor longer 
sourcing the part.  There are no actual standard dimensions or pinout 
footprint for sliders and the manufacturers seem to be always changing their 
part profiles and designs, so you may have difficulty finding a workable 
replacement.  Especially if the manufacturer goes out of business, as did 
CTS, the maker of the pots used in all ARP synths.  

Mike B.

P.S. - Someone's going to have to find - or have made - some replacements for 
the CTS pots used in ARP synths.  There are THOUSANDS of ARPs out there, most 
of them highly loved by their owners, and ALL of them with sliders that are 
either bad now, or will be sometime all too soon.  They used only three 
values, 100K lin, 100K log, and 1Meg log, each of which was made in two sizes 
(one size for the Odyssey and most of their other synths, and another 
slightly larger size for the 2600).  Someone ought to step up to the plate on 
this, because there is certainly a market out there.