So am I understanding correctly that it’s like a mechanical step-sequencer for rotating between a series of inputs?

Or am I still confused?

Also, after reading a few paragraphs earlier about the “glowpot”, that seems pretty roundabout; wouldn’t there have been a simpler way to “lowpass” the fader with a capacitor or something?

I guess I’m taking for granted that mixing boards have existed in their present form since the big bang, and didn’t have to “evolve” like other facets of recording technology. I didn’t think faders would have still presented a problem in the 1960s; I thought they were just potentiometers, like ordinary volume knobs, and I assumed that the click-ridden panning effects on Interstellar Overdrive were the result of not using the right tool for the job.

See Section 2 of Ray White’s “BBC Radiophonic Workshop: An Engineering Perspective” for more details on the ‘Crystal Palace’: http://whitefiles.org/rws/r02.htm

I got a chance to sneak around the Radiophonic workshop when I did a Peel session once. Like visiting Mecca !