KVR Audio

Hi!

I would like to start this topic to talk about Linnstrument modifications ... I'm think the Linnstrument is a great device for playing and I'm very happy with it, but one thing that I don't like that much (I didn't like it even before buying it ... ) is the huge amount of information printed in the front plate. I mean, is great to have all that info there but this is something that I would have prefered to be just in the manual and not printed in the instrument itself. However, the nice thing is that the front panel is symmetrical and can be unscrewed and reversed without any marks.
I have thought about going further, and even adhering a cut sheet of wood to said surface. Close to home there is a workshop where they sell sheets of all kinds of wood, from 0.3 mm thick and up, so you could adhere a cut sheet to the plate once it has been rotated, or even make a cut wood panel with the dimensions of the original.
The idea is to get this:
What do you think?

Cheers!

An important consideration is that the top panel also presses the electrical contacts of the touch sensor against the mating contacts on the circuit board. So the top panel must be made from steel, so that the screws every few columns press all columns between evenly. A wood top panel wouldn't do this, resulting in the columns between the screws not working. The other thing is that it would be very difficult to operate LinnStrument without any printed settings.

An intermediate solution would be to make your own custom wood side pieces. If you like, I could post the dimension drawings for the wood pieces, making it easier for you to fabricate them from your favorite wood and finish.

Hi Roger!

Thanks for your fast response! Yes, I totally understand what you say about the top panel being of steel to press the contacts bellow ... That's what I think the custom wood panel is not going to work unless it's is stick to a much rigid surface.

I don't however need the info in the panel all the time. Since the instrument arrived I've changed only once certain parameters. This is not something I'm going to be doing live performances, so no problem with it. I'm going for a more "Soundplane A" design I guess ... I've been using a Monome 256 grid for controlling different parameters within Ableton and also using it as a matrix mixer without any marks or tapes on it, so I guess I'm used to be "blind" ...

By the way, great device so far ...

If you do it, please post a picture here for all to see.

I had a daydream of a custom buchla style silver and blue brushed ally faceplate once... I ultimately decided that, at least for the 200 version Linnstrument I had, it was overkill.

Out of interest, could pcb material be something that could be used for a faceplate as opposed to steel? Maybe it bows?

I don't think it would be rigid enough but you could try it. The other issue is thickness. If any material is thicker than the 1/16" thickness of the 16 gauge steel top panel, it won't match up well with the height of the wood sides.

Thanks for the info Roger, appreciated.

You can buy rolls of wood veneer with adhesive backing. This sheet is just 0.25mm thick. Maybe you can stick it to the top panel (1.6mm) without noticeably affecting the thickness. You could have wood on one side of the panel and the original text labels on the other side.

https://www.amazon.com/Edge-Supply-Mapl ... 77&sr=8-15

I bet if you went to a place that does car vinyl, you might come up with some very interesting looks. They do vans and food trucks and such for companies.

The skies the limit with fake wood grains, rocks, textures, outer space, electronic components, or your face looking back!

All else fails, you could repaint the panel, they have textured paints now, like hand hammered looks.

That said I don't even notice the text on mine, if I'm looking at all I'm looking at the playing surface anyway. And the text just fades bokeh style.

Or turn around the existing plate and sand brush it… (or paint it…)