I really, truly should have known better. But I promise it was not
intended as a mean-spirited joke.
I love the uniformity of the MOTM, knob-wise and jack-wise. But I
also really dig Jurgen's newest synth with that Vernier (sp?) knob.
And full disclosure: the closest I've been to frequency shifter to
the best of my knowledge if the MOTM 110 ring modulator.
So sorry about the post, I'l behave from now on.
Mike
PS - The Brits in the crowd must really be getting a laugh regarding
all this BIG KNOB business.
Oops, I did it again...
m
--- In motm@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Brewster" <pugix@n...> wrote:
> > I wonder how much a big knob will move if you blow on it?
> >
> > Mike
> >
>
> Ok, I read the jokey responses. But was anyone here ever a ham
radio
> operator? Now ∗there∗ is a need for coarse/fine frequency
tuning. Mike's
> comment reminded me of a knob I became intimate with, many years
ago. No
> one mentioned the big tuning knobs used on some of the old radio
receivers.
> I actually owned one of these:
>
> http://www.qsl.net/ab0cw/nc303.htm
>
> Now there's a big knob! Next to that huge wheel, low, and to the
side
> perches a fine tuning knob about 3/8 inch in diameter. This
little machined
> knob had a flange for your fingertips, and was merely a gear that
engaged
> the big wheel to give fine, smooth movement with plenty of
control. A
> mechanical engineer's handiwork! The little knob snapped in for
traction
> when in use (as well as to keep the big one from moving when you
blew on it
> ;-), and snapped out when you wanted to sweep. You got the best
of both
> worlds: a big wheel for smooth, large sweeps, plus the ability to
do really
> fine tuning. Admittedly the application is different. Sweeping a
radio
> knob is usually to get to another spot quickly, whereas when
sweeping a VCO
> or frequency shifter, it's the journey that's more important.
(The radio
> knob was hooked to a variable capacitor. How many of you even
know what one
> of those looked like? Three-ganged monsters. That sort of
capacitor no
> doubt has a finer resolution than an ordinary potentiometer. The
resolution
> of a pot attached to such a knob would have to be considered. Most
> fine-resolution pots are multi-turn, which would seem to defeat
the sweeping
> ablility.)
>
> Such a specialized knob would be expensive or hard to get, I
expect. But it
> might find application to synthesizers.
>
> Ok, resume the debate. This was sort of a side comment.
>
> -Richard Brewster