I disagree slightly with Stooge Barlow on a couple of points.
1. The Moog ribbon controllers have two narrow metal bands that run
the length of the ribbon, slightly to one side. You bridge the gap
between the tracks anywhere along its length to generate a gate. I
like the option of generating gates manually instead of
automatically. Maybe Barlow and I could compromise and have a mode
switch that handles both.
2. The single most important useability feature would be to adopt the
Yamaha convention of having the zero point be where you first put
your finger down. That way you can touch down anywhere on the ribbon
and do finger vibrato, or smooth sweeps away from the current control
voltage. You could have another mode switch that allows it to operate
the other way as well.
Moe
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I also think gate and trigger should be generated with each touch of \
the ribbon.
Two things which I'd add as ideas are: 1) a rotary (Paul gasps) range
switch to reduce the range to as little as one octave. 2) a scale
switch to cause the mid point of the ribbon to generate zero volts
with the right side positive, and the left side negative.
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