Sub Phatty: What is "Activate Panel" for?

[dswo]

I'm a little puzzled by the "Activate Panel" button. Here's what the manual says:

ACTIVATE PANEL
Pressing the ACTIVATE PANEL button puts the Sub Phatty in panel mode. Pressing it again returns the Sub Phatty to preset mode. In panel mode, the front-panel settings determine the sound rather than a stored preset. The current position of each knob and the status of four buttons determine the sound coming out of the Sub Phatty. Dialing up sounds in panel mode is exactly like dialing up sounds in a classic synth without patch memory, but when you’re finished sculpting your sound, you can save your work.

That's clear enough. My questions is, why have this button at all? The other Phatties both have presets, but don't require a extra button to activate the panel. Why the extra step?

[ricknboogie]

It's not really any different on the Little Phatty. If you're in panel active mode, and want to return to the "preset", you have to push the preset button. The difference is, SubPhatty has no LCD screen, so when you want to go back to "panel active", you press a button. I don't understand the confusion.

[dswo]

It seems I'm being obtuse.* I'm sure it will all make sense when I have the real thing in front of me.

* I had a Slim Phatty for about three weeks, but apparently I've forgotten how it really worked. I loved the sound and interface, but joy leaked out through a tuning hole. When the Sub Phatty was announced, what really grabbed my attention was: oscillators that stay in tune with each other! To some, I realize, that's missing the point of analogue. But I wasn't enjoying it. This I will enjoy.

[stiiiiiiive]

On the Little Phatty, when you change of preset, you immediately know where you are in terms of settings since the potentiometers have LEDs.

On the Sub Phatty, only the ones you touched since you changed your preset are certainly showing the actual value. The PANEL ACTIVE button is useful if you want to be sure the panel reflects the actual sound you are listening to.

[dswo]

Thank you, stiiiiiiive.