[sdiy] Standard markings for modular I/O & CV versus Audio?

[Quincas Moreira]

Brian, Befaco were kind enough to send me a free set of bananuts and a
tool, but I don't know what it's called. I prefer Roman Sowa's tool as it
has a guide in the middle, the Befaco ones are kind of hard to keep in
place as you turn. But alas, Roman's is the wrong size for the bananuts
(hint hint Roman!)

John, I agree that color should not be the only indication, but if
understand correctly these panels have already been made, so changing the
graphics may not be an option.  If its the standard seems to be the
inverting thing you mentioned. Greyscale, Sonic Potions, North Coast, Moog
and Joranalogue are some examples I see in my system where the writing gets
inverted for outputs, sometimes with even the jack surrounding square
included in the color swap.


On Fri, Dec 20, 2019 at 5:07 AM john slee <indigoid at oldcorollas.org> wrote:

> Colour as an additional, optional signal, sure. I like the Bananuts a
> bunch. But not as the only signal. Think of your users! What if they can't
> distinguish colours as reliably as you can?
>
> With that out of the way, some things this amateur likes on panels, with
> names named because I think concrete examples help:
>
> * input and output jacks clearly indicated as such. Intellijel does this
> by inverting the background and text colours for output jacks.
> Nonlinearcircuits puts subtle but clearly visible rings around the output
> jacks. I don't really care what, as long as it's consistent (yes I'm
> glaring at YOU, Make Noise, your stuff isn't even consistent within a
> single module!)
>
> * for knobs that attenuate/attenuvert an input signal, an indication of
> which type it is — perhaps by using -/+ (attenuvert) or 0/+ (attenuate)
> indicators a la Doepfer
>
> * avoid overly precise indicators for knobs if tolerances are going to
> noticeable
>
> * sometimes *extremely simple* pictures are the best way. Doepfer's
> A-149-1, A-171-2, A-143-1 and A-143-2 are all examples I like
>
> * no irritating knobs that change behaviour from "provide CV" when no
> corresponding input cable is connected to "attenuate input CV" when you
> plug a cable in. I realise lots of people want modules with tiny cramped
> unusable panels, but ... extremely no.
>
> * Layout variety. A system full of modules with extremely similar layouts
> can be super annoying to navigate. I'm not sure how much awareness there
> was of this when the major systems (Roland, Moog, Buchla, etc) were
> designed, but you can often identify at a surprising distance which module
> is which, purely based on the control layout. ie. don't be like this
> example:
> https://www.matrixsynth.com/2013/09/rob-hordijk-modular-at-electro-music.html
>
> John
>
> On Fri, 20 Dec 2019 at 15:52, Quincas Moreira <quincas at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Brian, use color coded nuts! Befaco sells them, look for Bananuts. I use
>> something like the Serge code. Blue for cv, black for audio, red for logic.
>> if i want to diferentiate between ins and outs, green for cv out, blue in.
>> Gold for audio out and black in.
>>
>> I did this to my FCUK Product, check it:
>> https://youtu.be/iRDa3DMeReQ
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Dec 19, 2019, at 22:34, rsdio at audiobanshee.com wrote:
>>
>> Hello all,
>>
>> I seem to recall that some brands of modular utilize a consistent set of
>> markings for Inputs, Outputs, CV (DC) & Audio (AC or DC). There’s also
>> sometimes the convention that inputs are on top, and outputs are on the
>> bottom, but that seems difficult to stick to for all kinds of modules.
>>
>> It seems nice to be able to glance at a front panel and know right away
>> which jacks are outputs, which are inputs, which can accept CV and/or audio.
>>
>> What conventions exist? Are there conflicting conventions? Is it hopeless?
>>
>> Thanks for any input (as long as you label the inputs),
>>
>> Brian Willoughby
>>
>> p.s. I just designed a one-off module that I thought was going to include
>> a set of multiples. However, I’ve now learned that I need to make these
>> active, so I have to designate which jacks are inputs versus outputs. I’ve
>> already ordered the face plate for this one, but I’m still thinking of how
>> I might have changed the labeling to reflect active versus passive.
>>
>>
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>

-- 
[image: QMA]

Quincas Moreira
Director | QMA
mobile:  5534988825
site:  quincasmoreira.com
email:  quincas at gmail.com
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