Motorized knobs

[rodneon]

Has anyone tried using a motorized knob in their MIDIbox? Alps is the only manufacturer I could find that makes them:

http://www.potentiometers.com/alps_rotary.cfm#motor (look at the RK25T model)

Would that kind be compatible with the MIDIbox? If so, how could it be implemented?

I could be wrong, but it doesn't seem like those are available to hobbyists. Bummer! Would it be possible/viable to make one "home-made", using a stepper motor?

[arumblack]

most motorized knobs I've ever seen ( volume knobs on stereo's) move quite slowly, so probably not so use full on a midi box. they are availible from some surpluss outlets, like all electronics i think....I know I have seen them in some catalogs.

[rodneon]

You're right. Even the one I pointed out would be too slow (300 degrees/sec).

[shed]

i think using encoders is far more sensible for midi box

[JR]

What about a servo motor just like in a model car. The poti, motor and gear could be reused. The electronics could be replaced through midibox  :)

Would that be worth a try?

JR

[rodneon]

What about a servo motor just like in a model car.

That's kind of what I was thinking. It's pointless though, since you can use encoders. The thing I don't like about encoders is not being able to actually see and feel where the parameters are when you change patches. LEDrings take care of the visual part of the problem, but it seems like they use too many physical resources (i.e. 12 DOUT pins for 11 LEDs, and that's only one parameter). It appears to me that, while a motorized knob would be costly, it would require less resources from the DOUT or AOUT modules.

Implementing a motorized knob should actually be fairly simple, conceptually anyway. The code would be "knob is at x. new value is y. motor turns counter/clockwise, until knob is at y". Sounds simple to me, but being new at this and never having built a MIDIbox myself, I wouldn't know how to implement such feature.

It sure would be neat to see a MIDI-controlled Minimoog, driven by a MIDIbox, have all its knobs move to their correct position when a patch is called upon. :)

[arumblack]

Well, the motorfader module can only support a mf's per core, so this would be a similar concept, and probably run into the same limitations. and the motors would increase the size of the project. Just some things to think about.Perhaps you should check out the mf driver code....