I decided to finally sit down and try to learn Ribbons better today. At first, I was getting effects. I started tweaking things and at some point, the only noticeable changes I seemed to be able to get were compression and mix. When I cycle through the four modes, I do not hear any changes as I adjust the knobs. I’ve tried to load the factory reset patch with no success. I have also tried powering down and back up a couple times. I am sure I did something silly and got into a mode not realizing it, but I am wondering if you have any suggestions to resuscitate the pedal. I will continue to read through the manual here and see if I can figure out what I did, but if you have any suggestions, I am all ears.
Is it possible the filters are closed all the way? On page 1 (Green page), the filters can be used to completely filter out your audio. This is different from the typical Tone knob or Bass/Treble controls on an amp.
The Low Pass Filter (Top left knob on page 1) is wide open when turned fully clockwise.
The High Pass Filter (Bottom left knob on page 1) is wide open when turned fully counter clockwise.
When I say open, I mean that the filter is not removing any treble or bass from your incoming audio.
As you turn the Low Pass Filter counter clock-wise, it will subtract treble from your signal.
As you turn the High Pass Filter clockwise, it will subtract bass from your signal.
Oh nice! I’m glad to hear you may have sorted that out. If you’re not familiar with the kind of filters that are on Ribbons (synthesizer-style filters) then it may take some getting used to.
If the filters were set up to only remove some of your bass and treble, I would get complaints – using the filters to completely filter out your audio can be a great effect during live performances.
Remember that Ribbons doesn’t have “four modes” - it has four pages of parameters (basically… 16 knobs) that all work together to give you numerous options for fidelity, degradation, modulation, etc.
It does have four Touch Modes - but that’s another topic.
No worries, totally my fault! I am getting a much better sense of the controls now and I’m loving the versatility and depth of all the settings and modes. I haven’t even dug into the looper yet! Just wanted to commend you on making an amazingly deep and flexible tool in a very small package. You did a great job with the UX, especially considering how much functionality is crammed in there!
I actually bet that what happened is that you switched it into looper mode without realizing, with the result that you were switching through the four looper tracks instead of through the four pages of settings, which would explain why none of them did anything if you hadn’t recorded any loops. To switch looper mode on and off, tap Push + Bypass, and the bypass light turns green for accessing regular controls, blue for accessing looper controls.
Dang, thank you! That means a lot.
