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Post by FM77 on May 16, 2024 11:58:53 GMT -6
The term detented pots is often used by Mastering gear manufacture even when referring to the function of a rotary switche. I think it is simply for ease of communication. Its a nomenclature that we all live with. But it's true, they are not the same thing.
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Post by ironinthepath on May 16, 2024 12:30:21 GMT -6
I see, didn't realize we were saying the same things - some of the warm audio products I own have the pots with the "bumps" which I assumed we called detented pots, unlike my Jensen Twin Servo "Sony edition" which has rotary switches to match/recall channel gains easily...I'm not really sure what to call those pots on the warm audio (and similar) stuff now.
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Post by FM77 on May 16, 2024 14:19:21 GMT -6
I see, didn't realize we were saying the same things - some of the warm audio products I own have the pots with the "bumps" which I assumed we called detented pots, unlike my Jensen Twin Servo "Sony edition" which has rotary switches to match/recall channel gains easily...I'm not really sure what to call those pots on the warm audio (and similar) stuff now. 'Stepped' seems correct for the switches and 'detented' for variable sweep pots, but who knows. They seem to have been interchangeable for a long time. I just found this on Manleys site: "The Mastering Version of our Variable Mu® Limiter Compressor incorporating detented and logable steps built with 1% metal film resistors on sealed gold-contact Grayhill switches is available" Manley doesn't care either. It is a bit like a tremolo arm. It just isn't, its a vibrato arm. But we still don't call it that. |
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Post by russellcreekps on May 16, 2024 19:11:48 GMT -6
"...may be coming out with stepped pots in the near future..." Just a quick one: I am not sure why stepped pots are considered a benefit - when trying to match the settings between two different channels the little notches are essentially just creating quantized stair-step positions on a pot that are not generally matched to another pot of the same type. A standard pot is "smooth" (or is supposed to be) so any particular in-range resistance setting is achievable with some careful tuning (you're not "locked-out" of the optimum value by a step or "bump" that forces you somewhat above or below the target as you could be with a stepped pot). If you like "the feel" of stepped-pots, I can understand that, but in terms of absolute precise matching of channel settings I don't see how they help (as opposed to mechanical switches with tight tolerance discrete resistors being used to set the gain, etc., which match as well as the tolerances allow.) I also think that for the non-linear stuff (i.e. compressors) nominal matching of gain isn't the hard part - it's the precise matching of non-linear compression behavior that has much more to do with side chain matching, etc. - totally outside the control of the end user (aside from maybe attempting a fresh calibration). Just my unsolicited thoughts on this Interesting, thanks for the clarification. I always thought if they were matched units then the pots would be identical in each position…good to know! And as I understand, it’s not always a bad thing when there are slight differences between the R and L channels…potentially more perceived width, as long as there’s no noticeable phase issues. |
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