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Andromeda Ribbon Controller question


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Hi,

 

I have a quick question which I hope someone formerly involved with the creation of the A6 can answer, without worrying about breaking an NDA or anything: how is the A6's ribbon controller constructed? Info on materials, theory, is it touch or pressure sensitive, or both, appreciated. Not trying to make my own, just one of those little things I've always wondered about, like how do spiders lay eggs and can you eat them afterwards.

 

Thanks!

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how is the A6's ribbon controller constructed? Info on materials, theory

 

 

Wiki sez:

A ribbon controller is a user interface used to control parameters of electronic musical instruments, primarily used with analog synthesizers. (See fingerboard synthesizer). A ribbon controller is similar to a touchpad, but a ribbon controller only registers linear motion.

 

Although it could be used to operate any parameter that is powered by control voltages, a ribbon controller is most commonly associated with pitch bending.

 

The ribbon controller has no moving parts. Instead, a finger pressed down and moved along it creates an electrical contact at some point along a pair of thin, flexible longitudinal strips whose electric potential varies from one end to the other.

 

 

is it touch or pressure sensitive, or both, appreciated.

Neither; however, it could be argued that depending on how big your fingers are and how hard you pressed, the amount of resistance might be able to be slightly varied.

 

dB

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There has to be enough pressure to 'close the switch', so that you could say it's pressure sensitive.

Beyond that, it's position sensitive.

 

The small ribbon on my K2600 is position sensitive, and pressure sensitive (like aftertouch) ,in that the harder you press down, the more modulation you get.

 

Pretty sure the AN1X ribbon is like that too.

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ya, that's what I would say too. Just touching it activates it.

 

 

What I was trying to get at is that on the A6, the ribbon is not pressure sensitive, in the sense that the harder you press down, the more modulation is applied (like aftertouch).

 

Some other keyboards have ribbons that work that way.

 

I like that you can split the A6 ribbon to control 2 sources. On the K2600, you can divide the ribbon into 3 sections.

 

All ribbon controllers are cool. :thu:

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Wouldn't that kinda fall under linear motion? Placing your finger down anywhere on it moves it's value, yes?

 

It's a semantics thing. Motion, to me, implies velocity -- the rate of change of position, but not position itself. If the ribbon detected only motion, then moving your finger at a particular speed and direction should cause the same modulation regardless of where you are actually touching the ribbon. A good example of a motion-only interface is a hand-crank electric generator. It makes no difference what position the crank is at; rather, all you care about is how fast you are turning the crank.

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The ribbon can be made to sense starting position, just like the Yamaha CS-80. This is very powerful, as you can touch it anyplace and all further modulation will reference that point as the zero modulation point until you lift your finger again. All ribbon controllers should have this option.

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I don't know about the Andromeda, but I know that the main element in the Moog ribbon controller is a length of conductive metal with known resistance per inch. You just apply a fixed voltage at one end and ground the other, and at any point in between is any voltage between the fixed value and ground - effectively a voltage divider. When you apply pressure to this element, you are shorting a single point of a flexible conductive plate to this element. When you move your finger you are moving the point of contact to a new position on the element, thus changing the voltage. Basically a potentiometer where you finger is the "wiper".

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