[sdiy] Designing front panels for synths

Tue Oct 13 23:55:19 CEST 2020

Oh yeah, also David, I forgot to ask: those mini pots that seem to be tied
to a bigger one, is that coarse and fine control? Which is which?
C

On Tue, Oct 13, 2020, 2:52 PM ColinMuirDorward, <colindorward at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> https://www.instagram.com/colinmuirdorward/
>>> -
>>> <https://www.instagram.com/colinmuirdorward/>
>>> https://www.instagram.com/ssdp_synthesis/
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>>
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