[sdiy] Thoughts on sliders...

[Steve Carter]

There are sliders and sliders. The professional long throw 100mm ALPS  
type at £50 a time are superb, silky smooth and are used in the best  
mixing consoles.  Having said that, even the smaller and much cheaper  
types are worth using in a lot of applications.  The biggest problem  
with sliders is keeping the dust and dirt out especially when they are  
in a horizontal position.  I have stripped and inspected 100s of  
sliders and there are four problems that occur time after time:
1. Dust and dirt accumulation - sometimes abrasive causing track wear.
2. Mechanical problems - usually the housing partially parting company  
from the track due to undue pressure on the slider knob.
3. Wipers losing tension - this is usually due to the slight rocking  
of the shaft inherent in most designs.
4. Track deterioration - especially after inappropriate switch cleaner.

Sliders are great for envelope generators and give a more intuitive  
user interface. For synth use, especially in the upright position  
where you can't pour your tea or coffee in them,  I don't think they  
are any more or less reliable than a conventional pot.  The modern  
Alps or Panasonic budget sliders are reliable and have better dust  
protection than older designs - I suppose the only real headache is  
cutting out the slot in the front panel

I'm cringing at all those ARP Axxe synths with bad sliders but it was  
a good front panel for getting people started with synthesis.

Steve


On 27 Mar 2009, at 11:06, Tom Bugs wrote:

> Hi there, just seeking some opinions on sliders.
>
> We'll side step the interface / aesthetic details for now (how  
> people play them differently to knobs) - what I'm really asking  
> about is reliability.
>
> I brought up the possibility of sliders in conversation - thinking  
> on some interesting module & design ideas. While people were very  
> interested in the design possibilities, it was flagged up that  
> several people had had bad experiences with sliders, with examples  
> of dirty/unreliable on the SH101 and JD800. (Though it was  
> interesting to hear what people thought on what functions should  
> stick to knob usage -- seqs and mixing, good for sliders, osc tuning  
> maybe not (I think it'd be ok?!))
>
> The ones I've been looking at are quite standard Alpha types - the  
> datasheets quote a life of 15000 cylces, which is the same as their  
> rotary pots (which I've always been happy with) and, interestingly,  
> the same as various other slide pot manufacturers such as Alps &  
> Bourns (again from datasheets).
>
> What people were saying was that they we more prone to dust problems  
> - this seems obvious as the travel is much more 'open' to the  
> environment than on regular pots, but I'd appreciate other opinions.  
> Sliders in general seem to be used less widely - perhaps due to the  
> mechanical difficulty of slot cutting or perhaps as they're not  
> quite as readily available as rotary types. One thing that struck me  
> was the possibility that machines like the SH101 used somewhat  
> inferior sliders to cut costs -- who knows?! Alpha products have  
> always seemed to me to offer a great balance between cost and  
> quality - solid, but not too pricey.
>
> Opinions - please!
> Cheers & best,
> Tom / BugBrand
> _______________________________________________
> Synth-diy mailing list
> Synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
> http://dropmix.xs4all.nl/mailman/listinfo/synth-diy