[sdiy] About pots, and other things...

[cheater cheater]

Perhaps somewhat different, but what about using hall sensors or
optical sensors or step motors to sense distance?
I could easily imagine how that could work with e.g. a string machine
- the further you press, the louder it gets, for example. For those
super-fluid attacks ;)
Just no shaky hands please ;)

On 7/1/08, Joe Grisso <jgrisso at det3.net> wrote:
> This brings up a question I've been looking for an answer to. Has
>  anyone found tact switch caps with built-in light pipes from anyone?
>  Even a simple transparent cap with diffused texturing on the top (a-la
>  the old M1 buttons) would be spiff.
>
>  Also, read below for comments regarding flight's queries...
>
>  --
>  Joe Grisso
>  Detachment 3 Engineering
>
>
>
>  On Tue, Jul 1, 2008 at 11:44 AM, flightofharmony
>  <flight at flightofharmony.com> wrote:
>  > 1) Has anybody here ever ordered custom pots or switches via
>  > Potentiometers.com? I've been looking at their Mod Pots, they have some nice
>  > options and the setup fee ($50.00) is pretty reasonable for modest
>  > quantities.
>
>
> Haven't used these gents... I use either alps, alpha, or chinese
>  knock-off parts depending on the client's budget. GH electronic comes
>  to mind (you buy pots in 1K quantity, they end up being $0.15 each or
>  so)
>
>
>  > 2) Any recommendations on getting panels silkscreened? I'm looking for
>  > multi-color graphics with decent resolution, like the back panels on my
>  > Plague Bearers: http://www.flightofharmony.com/Plague_Bearer.html, for my
>  > upcoming Parasite model if possible.
>
>
> Check your local YP for sheet metal houses. Call them, and ask if they
>  have any recommendations for a silkscreener. Some shops also have
>  internal painting and screening processes. The process will change
>  somewhat based on how you put your product together.
>
>
>  > 3) Theoretical musing (A.K.A. Has anybody done this?): Embed a small motor
>  > in a keyboard key for sensing velocity? I tested this out on some scavenged
>  > drive motors and a cell phone vibration motor and it seems to work nicely.
>  > Since the voltage induce in a winding is directly proportional to the
>  > velocity of the magnet's rotation, the generated voltage and/or current
>  > could be used almost directly. A scaling buffer would be all that is
>  > required to adapt the output to a given circuit. As a bonus, if the motor is
>  > large enough, it would also provide tactile feedback similar to the Moog
>  > keyboard patent which used magnets for that purpose alone. Upon release of
>  > the key, another circuit could provide a current to force the key back to
>  > the rest position - eliminating the need for springs.
>
>
> Interesting concept, but it seems that it would be hard to tune,
>  expensive to build, and consume some power if a lot of motors were
>  'in-flight' at one time. However, I'm tempted by the haptic feedback
>  gained by using the motors. I've seen a lot of front panel designs
>  using hall effect sensors lately (the Studer Vista console series
>  comes to mind), and there were a few keybed designs using hall effect
>  as well. Ensoniq particularly comes to mind, since their keybed's
>  inductors were etched directly on the PCB under the keys. This is what
>  gave them both velocity sensitivity *and* poly aftertouch in an
>  economical package.
>
>
>  > I also fixed my website link below (thanks for catching that!)
>  >
>  > ~flight
>  > flight at flightofharmony.com
>  > http://www.flightofharmony.com
>  >
>  >
>  > _______________________________________________
>  > Synth-diy mailing list
>  > Synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
>  > http://dropmix.xs4all.nl/mailman/listinfo/synth-diy
>  >
>  _______________________________________________
>  Synth-diy mailing list
>  Synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
>  http://dropmix.xs4all.nl/mailman/listinfo/synth-diy
>