Questions for synthesists with ribbon controllers

[Wonks]

Unfortunately the green reels indicates lead-free solder. You’d want red reels for 60/40 (or at least non-green).

[Folderol]

This is true... My reels are not green

P.S. The only reason I have two is that I couldn't find one and thought I must have left it somewhere. Of course as soon as I bought another the first one magically reappeared!

[BJG145]

The only reason I have two is that I couldn't find one and thought I must have left it somewhere. Of course as soon as I bought another the first one magically reappeared!

Not magic. Solder reels have feelings too.

[adrian_k]

Well it was intended as a joke, but I do have some if you fancy a bit of lead poisoning (although I've not come across anyone who eats it). How much do you need and where are you? I wouldn't charge for it unless you want a lot.

Haha no you’re alright, I somehow imagined a situation where you had accidentally ordered 100 reels instead of 1 and was trying to get rid.

[BJG145]

I made ridiculously heavy weather of assembling this trivial circuit on a breadboard this evening. All it takes is:

FSR - two pins, +5V and analog input (1) with pull-down resistor
Membrane - three pins; +5V, GND, analog input (2) with pull-down resistor

All working now, the FSR giving readings of zero to a few hundred on pressure, and the membrane potentiometer with readings on a similar scale based on position. Make a sandwich with them and you have finger pressure/position. With Arduino/Teensy it's fairly straightforward to generate note-on and pitchbend from this, and there are various projects to adapt, like this one.

Those ribbon connectors are small and delicate though; I'm not going to attempt any more soldering with them, so I've ordered a few of those clinchers, and another ribbon. I'm planning to build a couple of these and sell one to cover the cost of the parts. That's the theory anyway.

Time to start learning OnShape now while I'm waiting for the clinchers...

[Folderol]

Now you've got it working. Have you had another try at using it with Yoshimi?
If so, and if you get sensible results, hows about bringing one along to Synthfest?

[BJG145]

So far I only have sensor readings, but I'll document the next stages in the DIY section and post up a Yoshimi demo when it's done. (I was hoping to try that sooner, but I can't get a reliable connection without the clinchers and I've had to order those from the US.)

(If you and Elf are both at Synthfest, maybe you could test the Roli...? I've never tried one, but I'm optimistic it would work straight away.)

[Folderol]

Well that would certainly be fun to try, but I thought the Roli was MPE - which we haven't found any way to support yet on Yoshimi.

Having said that, I'd like to see what (if anything) we can do with it

[BJG145]

I don't know much about MPE, but I would imagine that it would also be possible to use the Roli as a controller for non-MPE instruments...? The Rise manual notes that:

"The receiving instruments that you use must be multi-timbral for you to experience the full expressive capabilities of the RISE. They should have a pitch-bend range of at least +/- one octave and be able to respond to aftertouch."

I'd have thought it may be possible to play notes and slide them around on Yoshimi with the pitchbend set to 1200 cents.

[Folderol]

Yes. That sounds quite promising.
Paging the Elf