Page 1 of 1

Ribbon controllers with Megadrum

PostPosted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 3:26 am
by glenn.szymanski
Greetings,

Am I able to connect ribbon controllers to the megadrum inputs, or do I need a 2nd arduino type board for that?

Thank you,
Glenn

Re: Ribbon controllers with Megadrum

PostPosted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 10:32 am
by dmitri
What is a "ribbon controller"?

Re: Ribbon controllers with Megadrum

PostPosted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 11:41 pm
by glenn.szymanski
From Wikiaudio:

"A ribbon controller is a user interface used to control parameters of electronic musical instruments, primarily used with analogue synthesizers. (See fingerboard synthesizer). A ribbon controller is similar to a touchpad, but a ribbon controller only registers linear motion.

Although it could be used to operate any parameter that is affected by control voltages, a ribbon controller is most commonly associated with pitch bending.

The ribbon controller has no moving parts. Instead, a finger pressed down and moved along it creates an electrical contact at some point along a pair of thin, flexible longitudinal strips whose electric potential varies from one end to the other."

here's a link to a product that I wish was still available...

http://www.kilpatrickaudio.com/?p=striptease

Re: Ribbon controllers with Megadrum

PostPosted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 11:40 am
by dmitri
MegaDrum is a "drum trigger to MIDI" controller. Drum triggers are usually piezos or switches. In MegaDrum you can use a variable resistor (e.g. a ribbon controller) only on the HiHat controller input.

Re: Ribbon controllers with Megadrum

PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 2:50 pm
by glenn.szymanski
dmitri wrote:MegaDrum is a "drum trigger to MIDI" controller. Drum triggers are usually piezos or switches. In MegaDrum you can use a variable resistor (e.g. a ribbon controller) only on the HiHat controller input.


That's what I figured. I don't know much about electronics and circuit boards, I wasn't sure how similar it was to an arduino.

Looks like I'll have to create a 2nd box to handle the extra variable resistor controllers that I'd like to add to my pads and cymbals.

Does Megadrum's midi out also act as a thru/merge from the midi input? If not, how difficult would this be to change?

Re: Ribbon controllers with Megadrum

PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 3:40 pm
by dmitri

Re: Ribbon controllers with Megadrum

PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 6:28 pm
by glenn.szymanski
Got it! Sorry, I'll start checking the FAQ more.

Next screen is MIDIThru Enbld:
<MIDIThru Enbld>
< No >

Enable/disable MIDI Thru. By default it is set to No (disabled). When enabled MegaDrum will send out all MIDI messages it receives over MIDI.