Korg Forums

I'm kind of new to Korg ribbon controllers. I've noticed that there are differences on the pressure needed to play it between manufacturers.

Anyway, I noticed that it is hard to me play the Kronos ribbon controller very smoothly. Too often the sound "studders", especially if I move my finger close to the edges.

I have to apply quite a hard pressure to the ribbon controller to get smooth sound trasitions. I don't know if this is normal or is my technique bad? So:

Is there a way to calibrate the ribbon controller to make it more sensitive to touch, thus making it sound smoother? I guess laptop touchpad-sensitivity is out of question ;D

At the Oasys forum there was a mention of AMS-programming, which could help.

http://www.korgforums.com/forum_archive ... 42&t=25842

So is this possible on the Kronos as well?

I don't have an answer, but I didn't know about the usage of an AMS mixer for this. Thanks for sharing the article.

I don't use the ribbon controller much, I use a pedal to set the ribbon controller, and yes I also think the ribbon controller needs to be pressed hard.

If you think about it, your finger is touching at multiple points on the ribbon. A you move, your finger probably "rolls"a bit. Try putting your index finger on its right "edge" and roll it to its left "edge" without actually moving you finger from right to left (even though you actually are). You are still moving the contact surface. So it only makes sense that when you are using extreme pressure you are maximizing this amount of surface contact yet theoretically you should only be making contact at one point. I don't think any amount of sensitivity adjustment will help compensate for this. Try using you fingernail and see what happens. Like any technique on any musical instrument I think with time and practice you may get a result you are happy with. I use the ribbon mainly for filter sweeps so that is not as demanding as pitch changes, etc.

I find the Ribbon controller more annoying (producing unwanted effects while using the stick) than useful, and I can't use it without hiccups either.
I would like to turn it off globally or per patch.

Does any of you know a fast answer for the two procedures?
If not, I will try to find it in the menu structure or the manual.

Thanks for all the suggestions! This evening I'll try to improve my technique and if it doesn't help, look into the AMS-programming. Sure it's possible to use other controllers instead, but my philosophy is: if it's there, why not use it?

jimknopf wrote:I find the Ribbon controller more annoying (producing unwanted effects while using the stick) than useful, and I can't use it without hiccups either.
I would like to turn it off globally or per patch.

Does any of you know a fast answer for the two procedures?
If not, I will try to find it in the menu structure or the manual.

In combis, you can switch it off per timbre ... what I did was put one of my Behringer pedals assigned to Ribbon Controller, so it has by default a lot of interesting functionality without having to touch the real ribbon controller (you can also use a normal expression pedal of course).

I find the ribbon much more usable if you set it to remember position rather than revert to the center when you remove your finger. Most of that glitching (at least the way I use it) comes from it periodically jumping back to the center position if you don't maintain enough pressure, then back to where you are actually pressing when it notices your finger again. Preserving the position when no finger is down avoids that sudden jump.

Unfortunately the only way to make ribbon remember position is to set one of the switch buttons to ribbon hold mode, then leave that switch constantly turned on. So you lose one of the switches when you configure a program this way. But it does make the ribbon much more usable for me.

In one or more of Stephen Kay's, videos he has used the Ribbon controller very successfully. I'd like to think there is something we're missing.
It's a great controller, but extremely glitchy. So many times I attempt to use it and pass it up.
I've used other ribbon controllers in the past, (Andromeda) and from what I recall, not being so sensitive.

Thanks Shawnhar for the tip! I guess using lock mode is the way to go, until someone comes up with an even better solution!

jimknopf wrote:I find the Ribbon controller more annoying (producing unwanted effects while using the stick) than useful, and I can't use it without hiccups either.
I would like to turn it off globally or per patch.

Does any of you know a fast answer for the two procedures?
If not, I will try to find it in the menu structure or the manual.

I don't really see a reason to turn it globally off if you don't want to use it. It doesn't really stand in your way if you don't use it. Just leave it as it is.
The biggest problem with it is that on Korg keyboards it lacks some useful functions about how it operates. There should be a mode where the ribbon should pick up the point where you press it as a starting position and change a value from there up. It would prevent those radical and unwanted changes.

There is one application where I find the ribbon extremely good: it's very easy to apply very fast bendings with it: when you hold a key on a program where the ribbon is programmed as a pitch bend controller, just by taping on the right end produces a very fast pitch bending, like a triller. It works good on some ethnic patches but also on most synth leads and it's easier and often faster than moving the joystick.

I would like to turn it off, because more than once while using the stick I touch the ribbon and get unwanted effects.

So no global switch off? Hmm...

sani wrote: There is one application where I find the ribbon extremely good: it's very easy to apply very fast bendings with it: when you hold a key on a program where the ribbon is programmed as a pitch bend controller, just by taping on the right end produces a very fast pitch bending, like a triller.

A similar technique I like is to assign ribbon to filter cutoff, then play filter gate effects by tapping rhythmically on different parts of the ribbon.

I've noticed similar problems with the ribbon controller on my new ESX. Requires a fair amount of force to produce results and at the ends it drops out completely.
I think this is because (like the touchscreen), it uses relatively ancient resistive-touch technology.

I find that I can use this to my advantage for certain performance aspects. However, the ends dropping out is the most annoying problem.

shawnhar wrote:I find the ribbon much more usable if you set it to remember position rather than revert to the center when you remove your finger. Most of that glitching (at least the way I use it) comes from it periodically jumping back to the center position if you don't maintain enough pressure, then back to where you are actually pressing when it notices your finger again. Preserving the position when no finger is down avoids that sudden jump.

Unfortunately the only way to make ribbon remember position is to set one of the switch buttons to ribbon hold mode, then leave that switch constantly turned on. So you lose one of the switches when you configure a program this way. But it does make the ribbon much more usable for me.

Thanks for this tip, sounds like a good idea because the glitching to center position is what happens to me too occasionally (when not using the pedal as ribbon).