DIY ribbon controller

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Mr_-G-
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Re: DIY ribbon controller

Post by Mr_-G- »

mon8169 wrote:Quite an old thread, but I had to share that I just did your project (in 10 minutes !!)!!!!
I used magnetic rubber sheet to fix the ribbon to my NS. So far it works great!!
It's a pitty it can just control the tone and the filter frequency in the Nord stage Synth.
Very good! :-)
Well, you can do also this: set the synth filter resonance into oscillation (max resonance) then map the morph to the filter frequency. The frequency now controls the pitch of the oscillation :idea: and so you have a pitch-ribbon or threremin-like device. Add a tiny bit of LFO modulation to the filter frequency too.
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Re: DIY ribbon controller

Post by Mr_-G- »

maxpiano wrote: I am not OK though with using it in parallel with an expression pedal, as discussed earlier im tne thread, because of the behaviour of 2 resistors in parallel (if they have the same value, the total resistance halves and so it may overload the NS2 input + the variation is governed by the non linear relationship 1/Rpar = 1/R1 + 1/R2)
I do not think it matters. Since the nominal voltage is provided by the synth and when the pedal is fully down you have a 0 resistance, having 2 of those in parallel makes no difference. It does however shorten the range we can modulate when you move one or the other, but it will not be overloading anything. I have used it endless times.

What I would never do is to put 2 keyboards Expression outputs through the same expression pedal with a Y cable because in that situation you end up with 2 voltages coming in. Maybe it does not damage anything, but I will leave it to somebody else to experiment. :facepalm:
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maxpiano
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Re: DIY ribbon controller

Post by maxpiano »

Mr_-G- wrote:
maxpiano wrote: I am not OK though with using it in parallel with an expression pedal, as discussed earlier im tne thread, because of the behaviour of 2 resistors in parallel (if they have the same value, the total resistance halves and so it may overload the NS2 input + the variation is governed by the non linear relationship 1/Rpar = 1/R1 + 1/R2)
I do not think it matters. Since the nominal voltage is provided by the synth and when the pedal is fully down you have a 0 resistance, having 2 of those in parallel makes no difference. It does however shorten the range we can modulate when you move one or the other, but it will not be overloading anything. I have used it endless times.

What I would never do is to put 2 keyboards Expression outputs through the same expression pedal with a Y cable because in that situation you end up with 2 voltages coming in. Maybe it does not damage anything, but I will leave it to somebody else to experiment. :facepalm:
Yes, actually you're right about overloading, thinking twice the risk is not there, but still the problem of the non linear interaction between the two, maybe a matter of pinciple but not a big issue for the player.... I think I'll buy one of those ribbons and try ;)

PS: Y cable to connect 1 expression pedal to 2 different inputs?? No way!
Last edited by maxpiano on 27 Nov 2015, 21:01, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: DIY ribbon controller

Post by mon8169 »

I don't use the Pedal and the Ribbon in parallel. Volume Pedal goes now to the Organ Swell input to control the volume of the organ. If I need to adjust the volume of the other instruments , I'll use the Level knob.
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Nord Stage Classic 76, Cantabile with Pianoteq, IK Hammond B-3X, NI B4-II and others.
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Re: DIY ribbon controller

Post by mon8169 »

Mr_-G- wrote:
mon8169 wrote:Quite an old thread, but I had to share that I just did your project (in 10 minutes !!)!!!!
I used magnetic rubber sheet to fix the ribbon to my NS. So far it works great!!
It's a pitty it can just control the tone and the filter frequency in the Nord stage Synth.
Very good! :-)
Well, you can do also this: set the synth filter resonance into oscillation (max resonance) then map the morph to the filter frequency. The frequency now controls the pitch of the oscillation :idea: and so you have a pitch-ribbon or threremin-like device. Add a tiny bit of LFO modulation to the filter frequency too.
Already did it!!
:yourock:
Cheers!
Ramon

Nord Stage Classic 76, Cantabile with Pianoteq, IK Hammond B-3X, NI B4-II and others.
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Re: DIY ribbon controller

Post by beetleprofessor »

Hey...I know this thread is a bit old, but I need some help. I'm a musician with no electrical engineering knowledge, and I'm trying to build a simple CV ribbon controller for a few of my synths. Will this controller work that way without any other modifications? It seems like I would need to do something to adjust the scaling of the ribbon so it would be proportional to the size of a standard keyboard, but I have such a lack of electrical engineering knowledge that I'm having trouble figuring out how to even start doing that.
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Re: DIY ribbon controller

Post by mon8169 »

there's no need to do any adjustment. Just solder the cable terminals with the pins of the ribbon resistance.

Ramon
Cheers!
Ramon

Nord Stage Classic 76, Cantabile with Pianoteq, IK Hammond B-3X, NI B4-II and others.
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