Ribbons feature request: automatic, envelope-based, Magnetic Dance re-trigger

Pedals
1

Hi Jaak! Long time Ribbons user here. I’m a fan of Magnetic Dance and I have a request that would be a huge game-changer for me and I think it would put the touch mode on par with some other pedals that offer just that feature (or a similar one) alone.

Is it possible to add a mode/setting in which the touch is re-triggered by a note/sound onset detection/envelope?

That would mean that every new note/chord played would be automatically “frozen” in the Magnetic Dance as if I touched the TOUCH button after playing it. I feel I don’t use the Magnetic Dance as much as I would like because I have to manually trigger it (and my pedalboard is table-top, not on the floor).

An example of how to control it: holding bypass while turning the T1 knob to the first half would disable it (default) and turning it to the right half would enable it. Holding bypass while turning the T2 knob would adjust sensitivity for the input detection.

That would be an ambient bliss.

4 Likes
2

I agree that would be a cool thing to add to the Magnetic Dance, in line with how the repeater works.

But there would have to be a different way of controlling it: as the current firmware stands, if you were to hold the bypass and turn the T1 knob you’d adjust the overall volume and the T2 knob would change from compressor to saturation since those global settings can be done from any page.

Maybe a “hold bypass, tap touch” to toggle envelope detection on/off, ala the Unreal Player? This could also be indicated by a brighter/dimmer light for each mode?

1 Like
3

I’ve not tried it with Ribbons yet, but I was experimenting with generating MIDI commands from playing dynamics.

One way to do it is to use the CV/Expression envelope follower, such as, for instance, Fairfield Circuitry Conflict of Interest, to get variable CV output from playing dynamics.

I would then convert CV to MIDI commands, there are different ways to do it, but I use the cheap “hack”: a MIDI controller with Expression input plus a passive attenuator to keep the CV voltage range within the safe limits. The FF Conflict of Interest will output CV in 0 to +5VDC, most expression inputs will be limited to 3.3VDC, so a very simple passive potentiometer works well as a voltage divider. Takes some time to dial it properly, but once you get it, you can set and forget.

The next step is to map the wanted level of expression signal to the appropriate MIDI command. A relatively advanced MIDI controller (Pirate MIDI, Morningstar) will allow you to do that.

It sounds a bit convoluted, but the advantage is I can use my playing dynamics to control virtually anything that is controllable via MIDI.

Ribbons itself can respond to CV, but for this purpose (retriggering the Touch footswitch) it’s a bit useless, because if you map the Touch footswitch to CV, it will only trigger at exactly the mid point (2.5v), and there’s no way to adjust it, so instead of Ribbons following your playing dynamics, you’ll have to adjust your playing dynamics to Ribbons’ requirements ))

Another very simple option would be to just use an external footswitch with a long cable, to retrigger the Touch with you foot, while the setup remains tabletop. There are instructions on this forum as to how to wire the DIY footswitch to work with Kinotone pedals.

Adding the input level sensitivity to Ribbons sounds fantastic, but I am affraid it’s a bit more complicated than simply finding the “free” knob + footswitch combo to turn it on or off. It’s a whole separate algorythm to detect the input signal level and then to provide tools to map it to certain parameters.

1 Like
4

I agree that this would be an awesome feature.

1 Like
5

@SV_huMMer I see what you mean re CV, but I don’t have any CV-emitting device plus it seems quite a complex setup you describe. I also think that having an external footswitch defeats the magic of automatically detecting the sound and getting it triggered in the pedal, which some other “freezing” pedals do. In my case, I use a volume pedal a lot for my playing, so I already have one foot unavailable. Regarding the “algorithm” to detect the input signal level is not actually an algorithm, but you can just measure the input level in the audio buffer when processing the signal and if the value is above a certain threshold (that would be controlled with a certain combination of switch(es)+knob) it would re-trigger the touch action in the code. Sounds easy without having looked at the Ribbons firmware code, but that’s how I think I would do it if I programmed it myself. The tricky part would be finding an free combination of switches + knobs to enable/disable and adjust the sensitivity that is also coherent with the rest of the pedal. I think it can be implemented faster in the firmware code than in your CV to MIDI solution :sweat_smile:
Cheers!

1 Like
6

Maybe. But my cumbersome (agree) Dynamics → CV → MIDI method already exists )