MOTM

Ribbon controller aficianados:

FWIW, Sam Ash is blowing out the Kurzweil Expression Mate midi ribbon 
controller/processor for $299.99 in their current Nov 2000 catalog.

Some enterprising engineering type needs to buy one and figure out 
how to hack into the system to get CVs out.

(not me)
Moe

That shouldn't be too hard considering it uses A/D converters to get the
MIDI/digital values from the ribbon controller.  Just find the appropriate
points to pull off the analog voltages and add some buffering.  However, my
understanding is that the long ribbon uses three 8 bit sections, so to make
it one continuous ribbon some simple voltage summing would need to be done
for the three corresponding analog voltage sections.

(Not me either, I've got plenty of other DIY projects to take care of.)

John Loffink
microtonal@...


----- Original Message -----

From: "Dave Bradley" <daveb@...>
To: <motm@egroups.com>
Sent: Friday, November 24, 2000 4:35 PM
Subject: [motm] Kurzweil Expression Mate blowout


> Ribbon controller aficianados:
>
> FWIW, Sam Ash is blowing out the Kurzweil Expression Mate midi ribbon
> controller/processor for $299.99 in their current Nov 2000 catalog.
>
> Some enterprising engineering type needs to buy one and figure out
> how to hack into the system to get CVs out.
>
> (not me)
> Moe
>
>
>
>
>

Did anyone get one of these yet? Does anyone has one that they might 
recommend (or not) as an instrument? Any more ideas about getting a CV out of 
it? Moe, are they online?

JB

In a message dated 11/24/2000 3:56:54 PM, daveb@... writes:

>Ribbon controller aficianados:
>
>FWIW, Sam Ash is blowing out the Kurzweil Expression Mate midi ribbon 
>controller/processor for $299.99 in their current Nov 2000 catalog.
>
>Some enterprising engineering type needs to buy one and figure out 
>how to hack into the system to get CVs out.
>
>(not me)
>Moe

I obtained one of the EM about a month or so ago for the same price on 
Ebay.  It was brand new, tape on the carton never opened.  One of the 
problems with it being a midi controller, is that it has to send out 
individual midi note on and off as you glide up the ribbon.  This produces 
a note by note glide up the scale sounding rather like a harp or a run up a 
piano keyboard.  Controlling pitch bend with it produces a smooth glide, 
but it does not send a note on, so you have to hit a key on the 
keyboard.  I have managed by running the CV through a 820 Lag, adding a 
little portemento, delaying the envelope start a bit and having a fairly 
long release, to produce a nice glide similar to a Moog ribbon.  Once I 
figured this out, I've found that it produces a nice control over the 
synth.  It is a very complex midi controller that can do much more than 
glides, I just haven't had the time to delve into it yet.  I'm going to 
keeo it.

Dave


At 08:50 PM 11/27/00 -0500, you wrote:

>Did anyone get one of these yet? Does anyone has one that they might
>recommend (or not) as an instrument? Any more ideas about getting a CV out of
>it? Moe, are they online?
>
>JB

Hi,
 Just received my Expression Mate today. Been experimenting with it for the past
couple of hours. I have no idea how to program it yet, but that's the fun of
learning a new instrument. It seems like a very different MIDI controller indeed.
Purchased this solely for the CS-80 effect, which it does quite well. Factory
progs are set to GM/XG type MIDI synths.(whatever that is?) Won't take me long to
get a few mono-synth setups on it. Seems limited only by your imagination.
 For anyone interested there is a download-able user manual at the Kurzweil web
site.
ftp://ftp.youngchang.com/pub/Kurzweil/Pro_Products/Other_Pro_Products/Manuals/

Terry

jwbarlow@... wrote:

> Did anyone get one of these yet? Does anyone has one that they might
> recommend (or not) as an instrument? Any more ideas about getting a CV out of
> it? Moe, are they online?
>
> JB
>
> In a message dated 11/24/2000 3:56:54 PM, daveb@... writes:
>
> >Ribbon controller aficianados:
> >
> >FWIW, Sam Ash is blowing out the Kurzweil Expression Mate midi ribbon
> >controller/processor for $299.99 in their current Nov 2000 catalog.
> >
> >Some enterprising engineering type needs to buy one and figure out
> >how to hack into the system to get CVs out.
> >
> >(not me)
> >Moe
>