[sdiy] Designing front panels for synths

Tue Oct 13 23:52:04 CEST 2020

David, did you mean "Mattias"? Or did I loose the plot already?
Colin

On Tue, Oct 13, 2020, 2:48 PM David G Dixon, <dixon at mail.ubc.ca> wrote:

> Yeah, Colin, that never bothered me in the slightest.  In fact, I have
> never noticed it until you mentioned it, and I must confess that the
> "deficiency" is so subtle that I would never have noticed it.  Again, if I
> were making a product that I wanted to sell to thousands of people, I might
> take a more considered approach to panel design, but my main goal is to get
> a workable panel in the shortest possible time, and FPD + baked-on
> Lazertran fits that bill very well.  I believe that Danjel always used
> Illustrator for the Intellijel panels, and that software handles text much
> better.  FPD is a bit of a blunt instrument, but it suits me.
>
> One guy who makes stunningly beautiful panels is J3RK (also known as Stroh
> Modular).  If I were really interested in making nice panels, I'd ask him
> for advice.
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Mattias Rickardsson [mailto:mr at analogue.org]
> *Sent:* Tuesday, October 13, 2020 2:33 PM
> *To:* David G Dixon
> *Cc:* ColinMuirDorward; Gordonjcp; *SYNTH DIY
> *Subject:* Re: [sdiy] Designing front panels for synths
>
> [*CAUTION:* Non-UBC Email]
> Ahh, a bit of stretching and shoulder-to-shoulder headbending is just what
> my spine needed. ;-)
>
> Some kerning would be nice, to avoid the "OCT A VE" and "W ARP". It seems
> like every other frontpanel design tool have these basic flaws, how is it
> even possible? Anyway, it makes the original question more relevant I guess.
> A graphic designer's panel doesn't have to be more "artistic" than the
> panel "designed by engineer", it can be wonderfully stiff and boring but
> with deep understanding of readability and typesetting. Some designs out
> there are really really good compared to what we ordinary people are
> capable of. Mutable Instruments, Xaoc Devices and Aemit are some
> manufacturers that come to mind, but many others would deserve a mention as
> well.
>
> /mr
>
>
> Den tis 13 okt. 2020 22:59David G Dixon <dixon at mail.ubc.ca> skrev:
>
>> First of all, sorry for the "CAUTION: Non-UBC Email" message that now
>> accompanies most or all of my responses -- I usually forget to remove it
>> before I reply.  It is something that our IT people decided we just had to
>> have to warn us of the dangers of incoming email.  After 30 or more years
>> of using email, I figure I was pretty well aware of the dangers, and I
>> begged them (twice) to remove this "feature" from the system.  They did
>> reduce it (it was originally a yellow banner across the top of the whole
>> email message extolling the various dangers of phishing, etc), but they
>> won't eliminate it unless, I guess, we storm their building and take them
>> all hostage and threaten bodily harm, but, really, who has the time?
>>
>> Anyway, about panels.  My panels are all, more or less, inspired by DJ
>> Thomas White.  Many years ago, I was very impressed with the clean look of
>> his panels, so I asked him how he made them, and he gave me all of his FPD
>> files.  Ever since, I have used his font choices.  Whenever I want to make
>> a panel, I simply copy the file for the last panel I made in FPD to a new
>> filename and alter it accordingly.  As far as pot and switch placements, I
>> now almost always lay out panel PCBs for all the panel components, and this
>> is in Excel, like all of my layouts, and I do it on a strict 0.1" grid.
>> This is very convenient for FPD, where the components can be moved
>> precisely where you want them on an X-Y grid.  So, now, in addition to
>> having nice readable graphics, my panels are all compatible with my panel
>> PCBs.  This makes panel assembly a snap, since all of the components are
>> already soldered in place, and just have to be poked through the holes and
>> have the nuts installed.  Plus, these panel PCBs require little or no
>> wiring.  As far as spacing, I just try to make things evenly spaced to make
>> everything accessible.  I also largely conform to the MOTM standard of
>> having all the jacks along the bottom, since I don't like reaching through
>> a bunch of cords to access knobs and switches.  Plus, this allows me to
>> make jack PCBs (which are separate from the panel PCBs, since the jacks are
>> a lot taller, so the PCBs are on different levels).
>>
>> Here's a picture of my best panels -- the challenge was to get 18 jacks
>> onto it without taking up too much space.  I think it turned out pretty
>> well.
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* Synth-diy [mailto:synth-diy-bounces at synth-diy.org] *On Behalf Of
>> *ColinMuirDorward
>> *Sent:* Tuesday, October 13, 2020 1:10 PM
>> *To:* Gordonjcp
>> *Cc:* *SYNTH DIY
>> *Subject:* Re: [sdiy] Designing front panels for synths
>>
>> [*CAUTION:* Non-UBC Email]
>> My best panels were made by cutting out a piece of graph paper to panel
>> size, and then playing "chess" with knobs and jacks till I found an
>> ergonomically optimal layout.
>> But that only gets you the controls/io positioning.
>> As for surface treatment, I think this is so subjective that it would be
>> impossible to come up with any guidelines to suit all tastes.
>> For me, despite that I'm an artist (painter), I still go for a "designed
>> by engineer" look. I just want my modules to be legible, without a lot of
>> noisy distractions to make them harder for me to use/see.
>> Why not just choose an existing style you already like, and copy it? If
>> it's just for personal use, I don't see the harm in following a good
>> example.
>> Curious to hear how others approach panel design.
>> Cheers,
>> Colin
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Oct 13, 2020 at 12:41 PM Gordonjcp <gordonjcp at gjcp.net> wrote:
>>
>>> No, no, not whether you should use Inkscape or Excel or some CAD
>>> package, actually designing them so they look good.
>>>
>>> There's got to be some overlap on this list with people skilled in the
>>> visual arts.  How do you lay out the controls, connectors etc. on a panel
>>> so they look good, and don't look like the nightmarish "designed by
>>> engineer" crap that a lot of stuff seems to be?
>>>
>>> I'm guessing there's some simple but non-obvious principles at work that
>>> could be explained if you could get past all the forum discussion of
>>> whether toner transfer is better than photoresist or Eagle is better than
>>> Illustrator or whatever.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Gordonjcp
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Synth-diy mailing list
>>> Synth-diy at synth-diy.org
>>> http://synth-diy.org/mailman/listinfo/synth-diy
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> https://www.instagram.com/colinmuirdorward/
>> -
>> <https://www.instagram.com/colinmuirdorward/>
>> https://www.instagram.com/ssdp_synthesis/
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