• Hardware
  • Standalone ribbon controllers?
2012/11/24 03:33:27
Kenneth
Tried a couple keyboards with ribbon controllers and I really liked that over mod wheel.

  I already have my nice weighted keyboard and a bunch of controller keyboards so I'd like to to just get a midi/usb standalone ribbon controller. 

Anyone know if there's such a thing?
2012/11/24 06:55:46
Kenneth
Wahey... lookit this thing:

http://www.doepfer.de/R2M.htm

Anyone got any experience with this contraption?

Early xmass present methinks 
2012/11/24 12:33:00
Kenneth
Okay that's it, I'm getting one, check out this vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXeTPPRXxMY

Can you imagine this hooked up to a duduk library in kontakt? Magic.
2012/11/24 14:38:09
tlw
2012/11/25 03:25:22
Kenneth
That one looks cool to thanks, but I think I'm going with the Doepfer as it has many more features like fully adjustable note quantization and pressure sensitivity built in under length of the ribbon controller, so you can play it with one finger controlling both the ribbon and then just pressing to get the pressure, using the other hand for keyboards. It's also metal where the eowave is Plexiglas.

Can't wait to try it out, only thing that makes me nervous is how hard it is to control, They have lots of videos of people playing with it, and the video I linked up there was the only one I found that didn't sound like someone kicking a seal.

EDIT: Adding some more info I've dug up in case others are interested.

The note quantize mode can be set to 16 different scale and chord types + a user mode so you can set zones up on it yourself for things like exotic scales/tuning. Once the scale mode has been set you can stretch the area that is covered, this is cool because you can then set the R2M on top your keyboard and match it so the area of the ribbon matches the keys on your keyboard, press it where the C is on your keyboard and you get a C on the R2 where you can slide from.

It's monophonic, so if you press somewhere with one finger, then press somewhere above it jumps to that point, release the second finger and it jumps back to where your first finger is for slide guitar and blues bends tricks.

"Trautonium" mode, in this mode instead of the ribbon just functioning as a slider you set it to whatever scale you want. As soon as you press somewhere it sends a note value, and then immediately switches to free pitchbend mode, lift the finger and it's ready for another note, like a violin.

The latest versions also has a mode like the kurzweil ribbon controller, where ever you press is the zero point for pitch bend, then just slide from there so you don't have to know exactly where a pitch on the ribbon is located.
2012/11/26 10:09:50
tlw
Yeah, the Doepfer strikes me as the more capable of the two, and Doepfer synths have a good reputation.

I've been considering a ribbon controller for a while, though as a controller for a voltage controlled synth rather than as a MIDI source, to make seamless slides/filter movements etc. possible, without the stepping MIDI control generally creates.

I'd be interested in what you think of it when/if you get one.
2012/11/26 13:47:43
Kenneth
Yeah the Doepfer has that German engineering look to it, I personally love that big and bulky look, big buttons and knobs that goes CLACK when you use them

I'm definitely getting the R2M, probably before xmass.

I'll post up a little review after I've gotten to grips with it, apart from a few vids on youtube that sounds like someone murdering a seal by beating it with a cat, there's almost no personal experiences written about it.
2012/11/29 07:22:48
Kenneth
Welp, that's why I shouldn't have a CC

It's on its way now from thoman.de...

Anyone else check their tracking numbers like 500 times a day? 
2012/12/01 08:53:21
Kenneth
FFS, didn't arrive yesterday and DHL doesn't deliver on weekends unless you paid extra.

Come on Monday...
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