Hey, so I’ve been running my Prophet Rev2 into the Kinotone Ribbons pedal and I’ve noticed that once I trigger the pedal to use effects, the volume is significantly quieter.
Is there no volume match or is the threshold on the pedal lower?
When I raise the volume on my synth I start to get natural distortion, so I assume theres a threshold?
I’ve been using the pedal live and the engineer has noticed as well that the keyboard gets significantly quieter once the pedal is activated.
I’ve changed the mixing options all around and stick with Mono-Mono because I use mono cables. So I don’t think it’s because of that. Any tips for the volume to remain a higher level + without distortion?
It depends on your settings. If you load up the Init Preset (Preset 1), you shouldn’t notice any major attenuation in the output when turning the pedal on and off unless the volume on your synth is turned up high. I know the Korg Minilogue has a really hot output and can overdrive Ribbons input, so I typically turn down the master volume to on the synth to ~noon.
I looked up the specs on the Prophet Rev2 and it doesn’t seem like the main “A” output should be able to overdrive Ribbons input jack. Some questions:
Are you running something in-between the Prophet Rev 2 and Ribbons?
Or are you using the headphone out on the Rev2?
Also, what comes next in the signal chain after Ribbons?
I’m working on adding a MIDI CC option to increase the output level for those that need a boost but it won’t be ready until sometime after we finish shipping all the pre-order units.
Here are a couple ideas to try in the meantime:
If you are using the headphone out on the Prophet, switch to the Main A Output and configure it for Mono Output.
Set Ribbons to buffered bypass mode (Bypass Option 2) and see if that makes things more consistent.
Find a level on the Prophet Rev2 that sounds good through Ribbons with minimal distortion. Note the master volume setting. Then bypass Ribbons and turn down the volume on the Prophet Rev2 until it sounds like it’s at about the same level as when Ribbons is activated. You could mentally or physically note those two spots on the Prophet master volume dial and then use it to balance the output level during your performance.
If you don’t mind getting a cleaner sound, you could try using the compression parameter instead of saturation. When compression is enabled, the pedal has more headroom / less distortion. This can be enabled or disabled using MIDI/M4L device or by performing a factory reset. If setting it via MIDI, make sure to toggle the page at least once and wait 10 seconds for Ribbons to save state so that it remembers your compression setting between power cycles.
Just got my ribbons and love it. I was having the same exact issue as iamsaintlewis. I changed the bypass mode form true to buffered and that fixed the issue. Curious if the Kinotone team has gotten around to implanting that midi output attenuation function? Could be great!
We haven’t implemented this feature yet but it’s planned for the next Ribbons firmware update. We are about to launch our new pedal and then we’ll be back in the Ribbons code to add and improve a couple features. Should be out in the next couple months. Thanks for your patience!
