[sdiy] Multi-voice architecture without CV parameters: mechanical replication of settings?

[Oren Leavitt]

How about several "digital potentiometer" ICs (Maxim et al) driven by 
one encoder?

- Oren

cheater cheater wrote:
> Hi guys,
> it seems bourns has something as well:
> http://www.bourns.com/ProductLine.aspx?name=rotary_position_sensors
> but this is even better:
> http://www.bourns.com/data/global/pdfs/0473.pdf
> shaftless potentiometers. It seems you can stack them. all sorts of
> resistances, but unfortunately only linear. And it's carbon too..
> 
> They also have shaftless encoders if someone's twisted this way.
> 
> BTW, bourns have nice turn-counting dials.
> This makes me wonder if it would be possible to take a digital
> counter, of the style used in casette playback time counters, and
> control it with voltage... e.g. to show the frequency of an oscillator
> or something like that.
> Or maybe this:
> http://sensing.honeywell.com/index.cfm?Ne=2308&ci_id=154327&N=3698&la_id=1
> They're hour meters but maybe they sell just the analog digital
> displays (see what i did there?)
> 
> Honeywell also have some nicepressure sensors and hall position
> sensors, but the datasheets are not available for the ones I looked at
> so I'm not sure if they'd be usable for keyboards..
> 
> As far as stackable pots, there's also this thing from alps:
> http://www.alps.com/WebObjects/catalog.woa/E/HTML/Potentiometer/Automotive/RK39A/RK39A_list.html
> and a bigger 45 mm one.
> 
> Novotechnik/variohm also have a (single) hollow shaft potentiometer,
> but the datasheet sucks, and it's not 'through hole', which means that
> the shaft comes in through a hole, but the hole does not go through
> the potentiometer. So the pot could be the last one in a series, but
> that's all.
> not exactly designed for this, but it seems like it's doable
> 
> btw,
> those modular pots here that Steve suggested are probably the coolest
> ones, unless you need more than 8 units or something:
> http://potentiometers.com/select_custom.cfm?session_num=2010040404481984
> the 388 and 389 take up to 8 'modules' which means they would be great
> for 8-voice synths :-) and there's a motorized version. It even has a
> clutch to make it adjustable by hand. Unfortunately it's only up to 4
> modules. Maybe they could make an 8-module version, who knows, maybe
> it's up to 4 modules only because the motor and clutch are too weak to
> handle 8? Maybe they're working on getting a new 8 module version :-)
> 
> last but not least, panasonic:
> 
> http://industrial.panasonic.com/www-cgi/jvcr13pz.cgi?E+PZ+2+AOK0013+0+4+WW
> 
> btw, I noticed that many of those potentiometers are called 'GS' by
> different makers. So I wonder why.
> 
> Cheers :-)
> D.
> 
> On Sat, Apr 3, 2010 at 17:23, Steve Galle <stevegalle at me.com> wrote:
> 
>>Maybe something like
>>
>>http://www.potentiometers.com/series388.cfm ?
>>
>>Probably expensive, but probably less expensive and less trouble than manufacturing some intricate external mechanical linkage. One cool thing you could do with a linkage on the other hand is get fancy and allow for fine tuning of each individual pot... sounds like a nightmare to build and service though.
>>
>>Steve
>>
>>On Apr 3, 2010, at 5:45 AM, cheater cheater wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Hi guys,
>>>I was recently considering older synthesizers, such as the SEM, and
>>>also other designs where a lot of the settings are not
>>>voltage-controlled. One problem many people mention is having toturn 8
>>>knobs (in an 8-voice system) to change one sound parameter.
>>>
>>>I was wondering what ideas you guys had for solving this problem?
>>
>>
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