Rotary switches?
1999-07-16 by Paul Schreiber
I will be the fisrt to agree there is a need in some cases for using a rotary switch on a VCO to rapidly "find" a certain pitch. However, the reason I didn't do this initially is as follows: a) couldn't locate a good, sealed switch! Really! 99% of switches are "open-frame" types a la' Minimoog. Can you say "oxidize"? Can you say "noisy, drifty". b) you would need say 8-10 0.1% 20ppm resistors to solder which is another $20 c) then you need 10-13 wires back to the pcb. Yuck! I would have to have a custom harness made. More $$$ BUT.... let's say there was this module that had 4 DC voltage outputs that was 12-bit accurate. ZERO drift. With 50 presets (each of 4 outputs can be set from say -4V to +4V) that you can call up by a pushbutton, or a trigger pulse (advance to next preset), etc etc ..........You then set the VCO's COARSE to 12 o'clock (the zero volt spot) then using a mixer (or maybe the module has 1 input that adds it to the preset out voltage: ie your 1V/oct keyboard voltage is added to the preset voltage) and poof! You got 4ea "rotary switch" but it has 50 positions with memory! I am in the $159 kit arena here. Paul S. always thinking ahead. You guys are spoiling my secret module plans :(