Thanks for the advise.I think you have given me a history lesson as an extra bonus.
Regards
Dmanx
> DMANX@... said:
>
> Hi,
> Can someone please explain what the ribbon controller is used for, and how to
> use it,assign it,programe it etc. I found nothing in the hand book for the
> plg150an or in an1x edit.
>
> Regards
> Dmanx
>
>Well, I'm not an expert, but I'll give it a bash.
>
>A ribbon controller is a form of expression device that originated on the
>early Moog modular synthesizers, although variations of the design go all the
>way back to historical instruments like the Ondes Martenot. The idea is very
>simple: a length of inductive or resistive material is touched by the
>fingertip, elbow, nose, or other bodily protuberance, and changes the current
>through a circuit by a certain amount based on where it's touched. This is
>then used as a control voltage to alter the sound of a synthesizer.
>
>The original ribbon controller was a springy length of fabric ribbon suspended
>slightly above a block of wood with a cable that ran to a Moog synth. It was
>about a foot long, and is best known for its use as a rocket launcher (see any
>film footage of Keith Emerson in concert). Later, Moog figured out a way to
>make a ribbon controller as a short length of sealed material that could be
>easily mounted in a keyboard case and wired to a synth as a control source.
>Moog's Micromoog used a ribbon as a pitch bender: up for sharp, down for flat.
>It was also used on the Liberation portable keyboard and some other designs.
>
>While this was going on, Yamaha made a large horizontal ribbon controller that
>they mounted above the keys on their CS-60 and CS-80 analog synths. The
>controller, unlike Moog's model, could remember where it was last touched, and
>thus became not only a hands-on controller but also a set and forget tweaking
>device. It was very comfortable to use and had a lot of proponents.
>
>Fast forward 20 years, during which time only two instruments anywhere had a
>ribbon controller: the KX1 and KX5 MIDI strap-ons from Yamaha used them for
>pitch control. The technology was advancing like crazy but no one was putting
>it into keyboards.
>
>Things changed in a flash in the mid-1990s. I'm not sure who did it first, but
>suddenly there were keyboards with Moog-style vertical short ribbons for use
>as pitch or modulation controls (a current example is the Kurzweil SP series
>of MIDI controller/pianos), keyboards with Yamaha-style horizontal ribbons
>above the keyboard for assignable use (the Kurzweil K2500 series and the
>Alesis Andromeda), and a new variant: short horizontal ribbon controllers
>added as "extra" modulation devices to go with the conventional pitch and mod
>controllers. Examples of this type include the Korg Prophecy ("I
>want...LOG!!!") and practically every Trinity and Triton that came after it,
>but not the Karma, boo hoo, the Kurzweil K2500s (yes they had one of these
>too), the Roland JP-8000, and of course the AN1x.
>
>These mini-ribbons were nice because they were not only position sensitive
>(meaning they knew where they were being touched) but could also sometimes be
>pressure sensitive (meaning they knew how hard they were being pushed). This
>provided a separate source of control, so one appendage on a ribbon could do
>more than one thing.
>
>The original idea was that you could touch the ribbon and slide your finger
>along it lightly to get one type of control, then dig in harder to add a
>second type. The Korg Prophecy ("I want...LOG!!!") was the first machine to
>offer this, and called the two types of controls Ribbon X and Ribbon Z. The
>problem with the Prophecy was that the ribbon was too sensitive to touch; if
>you touched it enough to get a usable X signal, you also got a Z signal that
>wobbled around all over the place. As a result, users of the Prophecy ("I
>want...LOG!!!") tended to set the Z sensitivity via its outside trimpot to all
>the way UP, so that any touch of the ribbon sent Z to maximum, basically
>making it a switch. Touch the ribbon at its center, get Z alone; touch the
>ribbon and move around, get Z followed by X.
>
>Yamaha, whose parent corporation has a part financial interest in Korg,
>learned from this mistake, and used a much better design for the ribbon on the
>AN1x...making it, in fact, the best ribbon of its type ever to be put on a
>keyboard. On the AN1x, it's possible to touch the ribbon and get an X signal,
>even move your finger around and change it... and THEN dig in hard, wherever
>you are, to get a smoothly varying Z signal as well. Exceptional, and amazing
>on a keyboard this cheap.
>
>Ribbon X and Ribbon Z are available as two separate modulation control sources
>in the AN1x's control matrix; you can assign them to a variety of parameters
>in the same menu pages where you set up the front-panel knobs and pitch and
>mod wheels and foot controllers. When you assign a parameter to be controlled
>by Ribbon X, you should experiment with positive and negative values; some
>parameters can be set up in such a way that moving your finger left of center
>does nothing but right of center does something, or vice versa. I would
>imagine that with some clever programming you could get the ribbon to do one
>thing when you move left and another when you move right.
>
>I recommend setting up a simple tutorial patch, nothing to use on a song but
>just to learn how the ribbon works. Program the ribbon to control really
>obvious things like oscillator pitch or overall volume, and discover how much
>or little modulation leads to how much or little change. It won't take you
>long to get a feel for how to use the ribbon.
>
>In my work, I use the ribbon for unusual effects that are "momentary" and can
>be shaded in with a touch of a hand, like resonant bleeps or tweaks to the
>onboard effects processor. One thing that totally ticks me off, though, is
>that effects control is very limited--I'm trying to remember the limitation I
>ran into. I think it was that you can control return level but not send level,
>so you can't feed a tone into the reverb and let it decay after you let go of
>the ribbon.
>
>Anyway, sorry I couldn't have been more help. Hope this gets you started.
>
>mike
>
>--
"Your trials and tribulations always remind me of one of those little
>plastic sliding block puzzles - the picture never quite emerges,
>all that happens is that the hole moves around... " (cassiel)
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