ribbon controller-day 2
2003-03-24 by osthelder
So far so good... The diff amps actually drift far less than I had thought they would and the battery supply is not heavily taxed. There are some niggles but the fun factor makes up for them. Niggle #1- You can actually hear a stair stepping effect from the carbon fiber weave of the ribbon coming into contact with the copper tape. This is really only noticed with slow glissandos-using a larger finger print gets rid of it. For the price (free), I can work with this. Niggle #2- The ribbon length makes it difficult to do modulation that is both wide AND fast. There are ways around this-I've been using the shorter element of my design to control the V/oct input of the '320. This gives me a fast trill when needed, though it may not be responsive enough for the keyboard players. If you're are thinking about using this system in place of a modulation wheel/pot/joystick, I would advise against it. If, you want to play Keith Emerson in the privacy of your studio, however. this really is the ticket! That's all I can offer at this point. If anyone has a test they would like me to try, let me know and I'll post the results. A handful of people actually built these (a couple are even daring enough to use it on stage!) and I'd like to hear about your experiences. With the Doepfer ribbon in the hands of some of our capable MOTM'ers. an update on that unit may be useful as well. Dave Bradley may well have his completely re-done by now...Dave? I'll keep working with my controller-mmmm,walnut! Chub-gliss up...gliss down...