Would it be possible to connect a wire to the sliding post and connect that to the touch circuit of the Midibox? If the connection is solid enough and the wire is flexible enough, it should move with the slider without failure and maintain a good connection for the touch circuitry to work.
Is there any other way to modify the slider so that there is another conductor that is always in contact with the post while it moves?
Has anyone tried this? It seems worth trying for the price advantage of the Panasonics!
I have an idea. Not sure if it will work… the slider is mounted with spacers so there is a gap under the front panel. a piece of pcb is mounted somehow (using same mounting holes as the fader body?) alongside the slot, but facing upwards. (maybe the gap won’t be big enough for this) And a flat metal spring is attached somehow to the slider ‘T’ shaft (the T shaped bit) that wipes on the new piece of PCB. (would have to be a special shape spring)
But now we need metallised knobs… Nickel aerosol spray pack?
How much room is there inside the body of the fader? I haven’t purchased any yet, but it seems like you could use this same approach, but mount a very thin, long spring inside that makes contact with the side of the handle as it moves.
By the way, anyone know a US source for the metal knobs to use with these faders?
Very good idea, though I can’t have a look and check, as I’m away for a few days. (not for holiday, unfortunately :'() It may be possible to make a spring from stainless steel wire, mounted on plastic posts or something… The top part of the fader (where the toothed belt is) is open, so it should be possible to use mounting spacers to make this open part even bigger. DJ Segler, I think we are finally onto something here
source of stainless steel wire… trolling wire for fishing… but it can’t be soldered to… but wire could be attached under a screw on one of the mounting points!:
maybe nichrome wire… Can that be soldered to? (Nickel/Chromium) This stuff is certainly cheap enough…
This idea looks promising!!! ;D
BTW I think that you can get conductive plastic knobs, as well as metal coated plastic ones, but I don’t know where from.
I was thinking of a conductive metal rod (in insulated spacers) parallel to fader and a spring (like ones found from a certain ballpoint pens).
Small portion of one side of the spring is twisted 90 degrees, and metal rod is put through that part, other end of the string is twisted around faders shaft. This should be made with a tiny tension, so contact is secured, but doesn’t affect faders movements.
Then the rod is connected to the touch sensor input
what about mounting an infrared led and photodiode for each fader, so that every time you approach your hand near the fader, it deactivates the automation ?
could be a nice idea if done properly
i’m figuring , detector must be placed in some kind of a little tube so that it behaves more unidirectionally
I think you can’t work like this. It would activate touch write not controllable enough. Every time you get to close to the fader, it would overwrite your present automation track. - But just go on, letting your ideas out. A lot of inventions came out this way in the world! :)
I’m close to ordering some faders and might consider buying one of the Panasonics just to try something - but if someone’s already figured it out - I’ll go on ahead and order a bunch and modify them all!
The P&G use conductive sensing. Just as I suspected.
If you want to emulate that:
Try looking at http://www.qprox.com/ . They have an IC that allows you to create conductive switches. You would need a conductive metal knob, which makes contact with the fader’s wiper & - hopefully - can carry a signal through to a stationary point on the housing (that’s where the spring comes in).
In theory, every time you touch the circuit (the conductive knob and qtprox switch) it would send a signal readable by the DIN module (digital high or low). That would be your touch sensor.
If you can’t find conduction from the knob you could still set up such a system that could sense your body from an inch away. That circuit could simply use the fader casing as an antenna to sense your proximity. I believe that a qtprox chip would work for that as well. The great thing about the chips is that they compare 6 or more signals and only choose the strongest. Thus you would only trip the switch on the fader your hand is touching – not those next to it.
Anyway, this sort of sensing is how a theremin works as well as fancy touch panels.
I would say get a few panasonics and see what they look like. One of these solutions will most likely work - worst case scenario: you’ll need to press a button with you thumb or palm when you grab the fader…
