The definitive Knob

[unkargherth]

unkargherth, I think I mentioned #1 & 5, but I'm sure others were thinking it. For #1, it would really be best that the value range be definable, either by giving max & min, or triggering presets (eg 0-10, -10-+10, 0-255, 0-15, 0-F, 00-FF...). I guess a pop-up box can be added to #5, but I was hoping that one can tab between fields so you don't have to reach for the mouse.

cheers

Well. Whe i set that requirements the idea was: Have really open knob engine that could be programed with the aid of a "Designer module" to set it up. Polar or bipolar is more a question on how the leds swith on than how the value output is set, In a Bipolar, default value is 0.5 but all ledsa are off if you move to the right leds shwicth on from center to right and invers for left turning. On the value range i think is easy and less confusing to doit outside teh knob itself. (Anyway to build a module with defaults conversions is trivial)

Also, some switchable options ( bitmap or not, color or not,etc) could seem a nsense. But take this way. I could like all the options of a real knob without a knob, ie only leds , readout and output value ( one of my favorite designs), while you could want a colorable stripped bitmap knob, and would be nice that both of us could use the same "knob engine"
only with two switches and one bitmap of diference

[Nu Audio Science]

Do you think it would be easy or not to make the designer have a choice for knob or slider ?
I was just thinking that this could be used as a single module for any animated control.

[unkargherth]

I think you're thinking in slider standard component of SE

IMHO. I hate sliders. To imprecise if they're small and TOO space consuming if they 're large. Anyway, the diferences in management are so high that making twoin same engine seems, at least, too time consuming ( at worst could be a total nightmare)

anyway, this makes me thing.... another good feature foru the knob would be to be "Quantizable".Some way to tell that it produces only n results instead of a continuous range. This way you can easily convert a knob into a rotating selector frontend

If nobody against, i include this in the list of requirements

[infuzion]

In a Bipolar, default value is 0.5 but all ledsa are off if you move to the right leds shwicth on from center to right and invers for left turning. On the value range i think is easy and less confusing to doit outside teh knob itself. (Anyway to build a module with defaults conversions is trivial)

Ahh, quite right about the bipolar LED thing, forgot about that! I moved the range conversion on the inside of the knob for this version, but now thinking about it, it might be better to have it on the outside, perhaps in a sub-module that could also handle rounding, because you will have the knob, number readout, an input (MIDI In) & presets be able to input values...

BTW, sorry if I didn't give you due credit.

I'm not sure if I'm a fan of an "all-in-one" design; I prefer streamlined code over lots of features. A wizard to help build/choose a particular model is a cool idea though.

[Nu Audio Science]

A slight addendum to the BMP ability
The ability to load a single frame BMP or Multi frame vertical strip BMP

cheers

[unkargherth]

Well. Things are going on. I got the last LATK and started some mods

First of all i cleaned up a bit, deleted "debuggin tokens and so on

Modifications:

.- Number of leds changed to 15
.- Now the value is setable externally ( animated modulation, isn't nice? )
.- Made the readout editable
.- Also i started a small "Knob designer module. By now you could switch on/off the background, the readout, the knob itself and the leds
.- Also started something for Fine Tunning. Use horizontal drag to do it.Still Beta
Here is a small "Knob show room"



Notes: If you deactivate all in designer you get a nice INVISIBLE Knob ( although you still can drag and change the value)

Get it here

Waiting for your comments

To Shif: the finetuning is far from perfect, but it's a start

To All: Any idea on how to create mouse hotspots for Min/center/max) without interfering drag funtion?

[stefan]

FWIW, I think this knob looks totally awesome (the gradient one (with the bitmap) does not imo )

[Shifrin]

To Shif: the finetuning is far from perfect, but it's a start

Here's a link to the thread about horizontal fine-tuning (in case you hadn't seen it) :- http://www.synthmaker.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=322

I'll take a look and see if I can help out with it!

Shif.

[unkargherth]

Thanks Shif. I misse dthis one

Finally i implemented the second sugestion from malc. Horizontal draggin increment or decrements the scalin of vertical dragging

This, and another new features, in the upcoming beta

[unkargherth]

Version 0.2 changelog

.- Changed the alternate drag method for finetuning. Horizontal drag sets the scale for vertical drag

.- Changed type of comunication between designer and knob. Now it use a Bus

.- NEW !! Now you can set the 11 colors used (and its blendings) from the designer

.- Added switch for quantize mode ( still no implemented in knob )

.- More cleaning and reordering

Download Version 0.2 here.


TODO LIST

.- Implement the bitmap mode
.- Implement the quantization
.- Maybe implement a switchable Caption?
.- Find a way to store designer output ( so you don't need a designer for every knob in your synth)
.- Still to implement some requirements of the initial list ( bipolarity,etc)

Waiting your feedback.....

[infuzion]

It's getting there unkargherth! The external & click-type value editing works great. Draging the knob with the mouse isn't so great though; it shakes while dragging & when the mouse button is released, the knob (and value) jumps a bit. I had the same problem last night when I was reworking the knob to "click" on certain values; a refresh issue that I couldn't corner. Using the external slider doesn't have such a problem though.

I was thinking of adding the ability to have the knob "click" to certain values, so you can choose say 0-15 MIDI channels, & the knob & values won't move untill you go from 0-1, 1-2, etc...

cheers

[unkargherth]

I was thinking of adding the ability to have the knob "click" to certain values, so you can choose say 0-15 MIDI channels, & the knob & values won't move untill you go from 0-1, 1-2, etc...
cheers

Thats what i'm trying to achieve with the Quantize option. Make that the knob return only N values equally spaced. Then multiply output by your top range, convert to an int and you have a rotating selector for everything you could needed

[Shifrin]

Unk, couldn't d/l the file was told it was 'Not Found' when I tried to! Good to hear about the quantization. That's something I'd forgotten about although funnily enough had already written for myself! My memory is not good

Shif.

[unkargherth]

Sorry to all. My provider keeps deleting everything bigger than 500 kb
Zipped now. Download Version 0.2 here.

[infuzion]

Version 0.2 changelog
.- Changed the alternate drag method for finetuning. Horizontal drag sets the scale for vertical drag

So, the further to the left/right to the knob you are, the less the up/down will be? Awsome idea!! Unfortunally, it doesn't seem to work here :/

Changed type of comunication between designer and knob. Now it use a Bus

Aaaahh, now I know how to use the bus! cheers

NEW !! Now you can set the 11 colors used (and its blendings) from the designer

Another awsome idea... LOL the defaults are giving me 80s flashbacks:

Added switch for quantize mode ( still no implemented in knob )

I figured out to do this, the value range needs to be calculated inside the module, which becomes the new value for the knob, readout, & output, but not the LEDs. I'm not sure where to go from there; I think you can have the GUI to update only when there is a calculated value change, or have the value range connect with the knob arc. Here's the schematic for my FloatRounding module:

Ratio=0-1, ValueMax=0-chosen range (eg 16, 255...), ValueRounding=what you want to "Round off" too, (eg 1, .01, .2)

Find a way to store designer output ( so you don't need a designer for every knob in your synth)

Could you have 2 seperately saving preset modules in the same VST, eg 1 presets for GUI, another for synth values?
.

Got the smooth knob back, thanks.
Keep going; you're on the right path!