Ribbon Controller Question

[Teedotyyz]

Does anyone know of an external ribbon controller that either Korg sells/sold or any other manufacturer that would work with the Radias?

I have been researching this and the only one I can find is located in Europe and is more money then what I would like to pay.

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2004/ ... ontroller/

http://www.doepfer.de/home_e.htmurl

There is some DIY instructions out there so I may be forced to try and make my own but my electronic skills are limited and the ones I have looked at seem to be CV and I believe CV is for older synths and would have to be converted to MIDI.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

[xmlguy]

The Korg padKontrol will do the job. Think of it as a Tall, Square Ribbon. Or you could think of it as 4 ribbons stacked-on each other with an invisible line between them. Or you could squint real hard until it looks like a ribbon through your eyelids. Regardless, when you press it, you can program it to send midi events.

[Citizen Klaus]

The padKontrol, though, won't have the easy, precise 5-octave pitch bend range of that Doepfer ribbon. If that's the primary reason why OP wants a ribbon, I'd say the best option is to cowboy up and pay the $400.

Kurzweil has a cheaper ribbon controller, but it uses an RJ45 connector, perhaps with some sort of proprietary transmission format. Maybe there are some modifications that could be done, but the Doepfer looks like the best bet.

[xmlguy]

I think it's worth buying the padKontrol anyways, since the XY pad is also accompanied by those cool, big, lighted velocity pads, and a couple knobs thrown in too. I see them selling used for around $100 or less.

[Citizen Klaus]

Fair enough. Before I bought my M3, I was seriously considering the RADIAS + padKontrol combo. It's a pretty versatile setup, especially if you're interested in exploring alternative control methods.

[Savante]

Does anyone know of an external ribbon controller that either Korg sells/sold or any other manufacturer that would work with the Radias?

I have been researching this and the only one I can find is located in Europe and is more money then what I would like to pay.

I use the Doepfer R2M ribbon controller with my Radias all the time. See this example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Pmp3sR91ak

I hope you can manage to afford the Doepfer. It's the only thing I know of that works. It has both MIDI and CV/Gate. I use only the MIDI.

As for the PadKontrol -- I have a similar X-Y pad on my Korg Z1. It's great for a lot of things but doesn't control pitch nearly as well as the Doepfer. And the Kurzweil ribbon now available will not work at all with the Radias. It requires a dedicated input which is found only on Kurzweil keyboards (or on the long out-of-production, expensive, ExpressionMate.)

[X-Trade]

If you want to use it to send note-on data for playing, then you may want to consider the Kaossilator Pro. It has a bunch of features you won't be using, but in its external MIDI mode it can send note-on messages whilst keeping in a set scale or key.

[pillbug]

You can buy a Korg Prophecy on eBay right now for $350 and use it's ribbon controller

[Teedotyyz]

Thanks for all your input guys.

I guess I should have stated at the beginning that my primary focus would be for changing pitch.

I didn't look at the padcontrol as I was not interested in the drum feature as finger drumming really doesn't appeal to me but after watching the demo on You Tube I see it has lots of other features that I could incorporate. The trigger function might come in handy for jamming as well.

I still may "cowboy" up and get the Doepfer ribbon. I did not know it was available in the states so I will have to talk to my CFO and see what she says.

Cheers.

Edit: Savante is that your You Tube video? I just checked it out. Great song BTW.

Nice set up. I see why you are such a fan of the ribbon

[Savante]

Edit: Savante is that your You Tube video? I just checked it out. Great song BTW.

Nice set up. I see why you are such a fan of the ribbon

Yeah, that's me. Thanks for the nice comment. You can't see the Radias in the video, but it's being used. Unfortunately the audio was recorded through the tiny mic on my cheapo Canon camera. I have a good audio recording of that performance, but at the time I didn't know how to sync it to the video. I do now.

The video shows my "early" ribbon technique. I've made a number of improvements since then. I am committed to this technique of melody playing with pitchbend (and just intonation) and I'm continuing to develop the technique. I'll have another video (with good sound!) up on YouTube in the next couple weeks.

I originally used the Kurzweil ExpressionMate, but switched to the Doepfer when I found it to be more sensitive and controllable. It's a great piece of equipment, though expensive.

There are some issues with pitchbend that you should know about. Most of the controllers mentioned above will only give you 7-bit pitchbend resolution, which is rather coarse.. This includes the PadKontrol, Kaossilator, Prophecy (ribbon), and Z1 (X-Y pad). For high-resolution pitchbend, you will need to use the Doepfer R2M or Kurzweil ExpressionMate. Even using the Kurzweil ribbon with the dedicated inputs on selected Kurzweil keyboards only gives 7-bit pitchbend.

The MIDI spec supports 14-bit pitchbend (high resolution), and most pro synths, including the Radias, support this. However, your ribbon controller must output high-resolution pitchbend data in order to take advantage of this. I have been researching this intensively for years, and so far the only ribbons I've discovered that put out high-resolution pitchbend data are the Doepfer R2M and the Kurzweil ExpressionMate.

The Doepfer puts out true 12-bit resolution, evenly and consistently across the pitch spectrum, which I find excellent. The Kurzweil ExpressionMate claims full14-bit resolution, but when meansured in MIDI-OX, only delivers about 10-bit or 11-bit, unevenly across the pitch spectrum.

[Teedotyyz]

Thank you Savante.

I am just a novice when it comes to music but I appreciate your sound advice (pun intended).

Since I last read these posts I have been viewing padcontrol videos on You Tube as well as reading reviews. To tell you the truth I don't think my wife will let me spend 400.00 USD (plus shipping) on the Doepfer so I will continue to look for alternatives.

Please let me know when you post another video.

Tim.

[Savante]

Please let me know when you post another video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak2eL_0r ... re=channel

New video posted to YouTube. This time the audio is much better. This video features the use of a 5-limit just intonation scale and the use of the Doepfer R2M ribbon controller for pitch bend. The video demonstrates the extent to which slide guitar-type solos can be accomplished on the keyboard with the use of the ribbon controller.

The "pedal steel" lead was played on the Korg Radias. The backing tracks were played on the Korg M3.

Savante