Here's a FLYING POT!!!
In my tin can synth, many of my modules need a knob AND a button, so back when I was still building tin can modules, I'd often build up a structure with my 3D printing pen (writing pen?) and get a little pushbutton underneath a pot. I even have one module with two pushbuttons under a hinged pot so push the knob up or down? That controls two parameters on one of my modules.
Well, I guess pushbutton pots DO exist (buttenuators is a good word combining button and attenuator. Also potenswitchometer? maybe not) but they're rare. I haven't seen any. Mouser has $13 pots that apparently are mounted to a slide switch, which is pretty cool, but a) expensive b) they mount in a very non-Eurorack way.
Okay so anyway, this widget goofball bit of PCB will mount on my main PCB with those pins (probably gonna use stranded copper wire for reliable flexibility) and the lower left bit of PCB will press against a tactile switch. This way, I can have a knob AND a switch in the panel footprint of just a knob!
The module it's going in to is HorseDebt, a three-voice percussion module that also has the feature of accepting a clock trigger (16th notes, for example) and going "tic-tic-tic... tic-tic-tic..." right? Like a horse? The "DEBT" knob will skip triggers randomly, and of course the module can play every trigger if you want it to, duh.
The three voices: 1) a wood block/bongo/kick. It's a simple twin-T analog voice with adjustable pitch and decay 2) a gated noise sound. Just "KSHHH" with adjustable dwell length 3) A voltage-controllable beep noise that's a bone-simple square wave using just one of the features on a CD4046 PLL chip.
The noise and beep voices are gated by a timer which ignores incoming triggers when the timer is active. I love this feature. I have these two voices in my tin can synth, and it's such an expressive option to have while performing. The knob can go from little tiny snare or bip sounds to hisses or boooops that sound across multiple triggers, and twisting back and forth between the options can be so fun and sound really good.
I've got the prototype laid out and routed, I'll design a panel, and order five PCBs! Updates when they arrive!
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