[sdiy] Designing front panels for synths

Wed Oct 14 00:01:31 CEST 2020

The assumption that makes most sense to me is Coarse is the bigger knob,
the small knobless pots typically are "trimmers" per Mouser nomenclature,
for example.  David may surprise me though :D

For personal use/prototype panels I typically just use the font in the CAD
package, it's monospace and doesn't look too wacky viz kerning.

If I want something a little bit nicer I'll generally use photoshop but
that's mostly because I don't have a license for Illustrator and I know
photoshop FAR better than I've ever learned illustrator.  The type tools in
either should handle kerning etc just fine though.

Pete

On Tue, Oct 13, 2020 at 4:56 PM ColinMuirDorward <colindorward at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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
>>>>> 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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