Nice Knobs

[Tony Scharf]

I have to agree with Jay, and building a softsynth that used space
hardware as an inspiration would be an excellent starting point.

What I think it boils down to, is that (and this may be obvious) you
should never use a knob where a button or switch will do.

Tony

On Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 5:08 AM, ibi sum <ibisum at gmail.com> wrote:
> It might surprise you but I have done a lot of personal research on
> this subject over the last 10 years, and have made my own conclusions.
>  I will share the details with you, but I am not religious about it -
> this is only on the basis of my own personal requirements: easy to
> use, provide visual feedback easily, allow context between parameters
> to be incorporated into the design.
>
> The best knobs I have ever seen were in the Lunar Lander Module.  All
> other knobs pale in comparison.  In fact the whole Lunar Landor Module
> is an exercise in brilliant interface design, and I encourage you to
> examine the details closely:
>
> http://www.spaceaholic.com/lunar_module_saturn_v.htm
>
> http://www.corbisimages.com/Enlargement/Enlargement.aspx?id=RR022344&ext=1
>
> http://www.corbisimages.com/Enlargement/Enlargement.aspx?id=RR032207&ext=1
>
> Also, the Russians have done a lot of interesting work on this subject:
>
> http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/mwade/graphics/e/ensotm2.jpg
>
> http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/mwade/graphics/e/ensotm1.jpg
>
> http://www.astronaut.ru/bookcase/article/article150.htm
> http://web.mit.edu/slava/space/essays/essay-tiapchenko1.htm
>
>
> You might notice that there are *very* few knobs in these instruments
> that are simply round with a little notch - nearly all knobs used in
> space are the pointer type, and for fine and coarse adjustment the
> user can decide, quite easily, which part of the knob to grab and get
> different speeds of rotation.  For this the 'skirted' knob is quite
> popular - at least in the modular world - so a combination of 'skirted
> pointer' would be my personal recommendation.  This has the advantage
> that knobs can provide context to and with each other - you can look
> at a field of settings and see where they are - in relation to each
> other - with very little focus required.
>
> If * = knob
> and ^ V = pointer dial
> then:
>
> * * * * * * versus V v ^ / \ ... provides a lot more context between
> related parameters.
>
>
>
> On 11/11/09, Jonny Stutters <jstutters at jeremah.co.uk> wrote:
>> 2009/11/11 Matt Picone <matman at mysticworks.com>:
>>> Hello -barians
>>>
>>> I'm designing knobs for a new audio software application.
>>>
>>> What are some of your favorites? Why?
>>
>> I'm not going to pick on any particular examples.  I think you'll
>> probably find that for every knob system there are a group of people
>> who religiously believe that their way is the one true path to
>> rotational goodness.  The main things that occur to me are:
>> - Don't make 'em fiddly to click on
>> - Make sure that gross and fine movement are possible
>> - Stepped selector knobs can often be implemented better with buttons
>> - No faux hardware graphics
>> - Make the most of being on a computer - provide lots of graphical
>> feedback (e.g. Tony's example of the knobs in Massive showing
>> modulation ranges.
>>
>> Jonny
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