Help with front panels

Wild Zebra

Hey Y'all,
I desparetly need to get my butt in gear and make panels and get a PSU for some modules I've had forever. And need your help. I've never designed any panels before so I was hoping some of you might already have some of these. Then I can do some tweaking and customize them alittle to suit my needs. So here are the modules:

Signal to gate converter (I think I can handle this one)
Sample and hold with white noise
Versitile multiwaveform LFO ("Ray's cool new LFO")
VC State Variable Filter
Voltage Controlled Low Pass Filter (Four Pole 24db/Octave)

hope thats not asking too much. So if you have any of those in your rig or something similiar I'd like to see em'

Thanks

fonik · Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:22 pm Post subject:

which format? and are you in need for the frontpanels or for layouts (say schaeffer files)?

numbernone · Joined: Aug 16, 2006 Posts: 477 Location: new york city

Try tons of different layouts before you commit I think. I have changed my mind so many times since starting to slide down this slippery slope. Just now after 3 months I am hopefully finalizing my style, and will order some panels. I try lots of ways on good old cardboard first to determine spacing and so forth, then I draw it all on REAL OLD FASHIONED graph paper, oftentimes laying the pots right on the paper. But then I am very old fashioned and LOVE to draft in a decidedly NON CYBER fashion. Then transfer my drawings into the schaeffer program. In the spirit of keeping costs down most of my modules will be at 2-3 on a single panel, first will be 3 XR VCOs in a block, 2 CGS LFOs, 2 Wave Multipliers and so forth. Anything worth having is worth having 3 of!!

Mikmo · Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 12:00 am Post subject:

I have some info on how i make frontpanels for my synth here :

http://www.mikmo.dk/synthpanels.html

some of the modules are MFOS modules you mention.
There's also a list of the stupid errors i made while making them Smile

And finally here's a link to the software i use for designing my panels :

http://www.abacom-online.de/uk/html/frontdesigner.html

It costs 40 Euros, and is more than worth it

Wild Zebra · Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 8:39 am Post subject:

Well I guess I could have been a little clearer. I'm interested in more how they are "laid out" on the panel (switches, pots, jacks) Then I'll probably go into photoshop or something and design them. I work in a print shop and for my sequencer and Soundlab I just print on some full color glossy and spayglue it on sheet metal or plexiglass, then lacquer. It works pretty well and well it's practically free. So I figure I'd use this approach. I have a old wood speaker case to use for my first rack. Pro's and cons. Pro-free, Con-I have to custom fit the modules so there'll be no swapping in the future. So I think I'm going to stick to a guiitar processing set up for this one.

Mikmo · Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 3:18 pm Post subject:

Well i went through a lot of different layouts before i setteld on the style i ended up with. It's heavily inspired by the MOTM modules. All the potentiometers in the top and all the jacks in the bottom of each panel.

In this way the patch cables are not in the way when you tweak knobs, but on the downside, the jacks are not right next to the knob controlling the in/output.

Try to browse around and look at some of the commercial modules, and be inspired, and think about "ergonomics / tweakability"

As for the size of each panel i chos two, single and double, 45mm and 90 mm wide, both 220 mm high. With the (relatively small) knobs i use, this makes room for 4 pots and 4 jacks on a 45 mm panel.

amos_joseph · Joined: May 09, 2005 Posts: 50 Location: Lincoln, NE

Here is the layout I did for Ray's Lowpass filter:

Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.

And here's the one I did for his State Variable filter, which is pretty much the same:

Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.

I use frac racks, so I really have to pay attention to spacing. Before I started designing my panels I came up with a photoshop template for switches, jacks, and knobs. That made designing panel layouts very easy because I didn't have to worry about checking the spacing to make sure my pots weren't too close together, etc. I still print out my final design and lay all my panel mount components on top just to make sure everything fits before I label and drill the panel.

Wild Zebra · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:44 am Post subject:

Thanks, but this poses another question. Which I bet has a simple answer. How do I add pots to the input to control level?

fonik · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:46 am Post subject:

some call it attenuation. easy: just connect the input to the 1st lag of the potentiometer, the wiper to the input of the filter and the 3rd lag of the potentiometer to ground.

Wild Zebra · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:50 am Post subject:

SWEET thanks. I assume I still need the input resistor 270K. This does not replace that correct? It is additional. knew it had to be simple. Thanks much.

Mikmo · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:03 am Post subject:

You are right, the input resistor stays the same

Wild Zebra · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 1:01 pm Post subject:

Thanks ya'll

Tat ought to get me started. glad you posted those layouts with the "attenuators" Amos seems to be a simple and useful application I may have missed out on.