[sdiy] Pot panel scales

[David G. Dixon]

Neil, I agree wholeheartedly.  I put little numbers below all my pots, but
mostly out of tradition.  I never look at them.  In fact, I rarely ever look
at any of the panel graphics after the first few minutes using a module.

One way to distinguish monopolar and bipolar pots is with a vertical line
emanating from the top of the latter to indicated a "zero" position.  This
is also useful for actually zeroing the pot (presuming it is properly
adjusted, which most of mine are not).


> On a modular synth, many pots have an arbitrary 0 to 10 or -10 to +10
> scale.  I'm not counting specific scales, such as on a pitch pot that
> might indicate semitones, for example.
> 
> The question being: how important are the numbers?  How often do
> really need to know, for example, that CV1 is set to 5.4?  Is it
> really that useful for recording patch data, or do you take a photo or
> simply use your memory and ears to recreate a patch?
> 
> Looking at the plethora of modules on the market, practically every
> pot has a numbered scale.  But how many people actually use the
> numbers on the these pot scales?  Is it simply tradition that dictates
> that pots MUST have numbered scales?  Do you cling to the numbers for
> comfort or security?  Or is it all simply a waste of ink?
> 
> Me: I don't care much for arbitrary scales.  I think by now I can work
> out how a knob's position relates to its scale position.  I just need
> to know where the physical endpoints are, and whether its unipolar (0
> to 10) or bipolar (-ve to 0 to +ve).  But I'd be interested to hear
> from the wider community :)