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Related Manuals for Kinotone ribbons
Summary of Contents for Kinotone ribbons
- Page 1 Lo - F i M e d i u m E m u l a t o r...
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Page 2: About Ribbons
MP3s and early digital media. The Touch Modes and onboard 4-track looper really bring Ribbons to life. It’s an immersive device that rewards curiosity and play. It might seem a little intimidating at rst, but with only 4 knobs and 3 buttons, how complicated could it be? Hint: it’s quite simple! There are just a few basic controls... - Page 3 Online manual and help The purpose of this guide is to cover Ribbons’ core features and help you learn its basic controls. Content re ects rmware version 2.0. Our online manual covers advanced topics, including MIDI control, CV / EXP control, and hidden options.
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Page 4: Table Of Contents
Contents Getting Started Tape E ects Page 1 Mix and Utility Page 2 Wow and Flutter Page 3 Degradation Page 4 Reverb, Touch Modes Presets Touch Modes Magnetic Dance Tape Stop Broken Machine Repeater Crushed Cassette Disintegration Loop UnrealPlayer 4-Track Looper Other Topics Input Level, Mixing, Bypass Options MIDI, CV, EXP Control... -
Page 5: Getting Started
TRS input and output jacks. To use it in stereo you will need TRS style cables. The default setting will also work with TS cables for a mono setup. To split a mono signal into stereo, you can set Ribbons to mono in / stereo out. Controls Knobs... -
Page 6: Tape E Ects
Tape E ects When you power on Ribbons, its default mode allows you to edit the tape e ects, which broadly refers to the di erent parameters abbreviated on the front panel. 4 knobs have unique controls across 4 pages. - Page 7 Transparent settings You don’t lose your settings when jumping from one page to another. All of Ribbons’ parameters work together, so dialing in your desired e ect is a matter of adjusting the knobs on each page. Feel like starting over? No worries.
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Page 8: Mix And Utility
HIGH-PASS COMPRESSION SATURATION MIX (MX) — Ribbons has a dedicated mix knob for all of its sounds and e ects. This is designed so that you can blend dry and wet signals without phasing issues. The main use case for this knob is to use it in conjunc- tion with the di erent modulation settings. - Page 9 Sculpting harmonics with the lters is essential to achieving many classic lo- sounds. Ribbons’ lters are modeled after the lter from a very famous 1970s synthesizer. By design, you can completely silence incoming audio by turning the LP knob all the way to the left, or the HP knob all the way to the right.
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Page 10: Wow And Flutter
Page 2 Wow and Flutter WOW DEPTH FLUTTER DEPTH FLUTTER FREQUENCY FREQUENCY Wow emulates slower pitch modulation caused by malfunctioning components in a tape transport. So something like a worn out belt or deformed rubber rollers. WOW DEPTH (WD) — By turning up depth, your audio’s pitch will start to randomly wobble. -
Page 11: Degradation
FLUTTER FREQUENCY (FF) — As you increase frequency, these variations become more chaotic. Ribbons’ random wow and utter parameters are modeled after spectral and waveform data collected from all kinds of tape players, ranging from perfectly functioning to completely broken —... - Page 12 DROPOUTS DEPTH (DD) — Controls the max intensity of a dropout when it occurs. DROPOUTS FREQUENCY (DF) — Controls the probabili- ty of a dropout occurring. CRINKLE (CR) — Emulates surface-level imperfections on a wrinkly piece of cassette tape. By turning up this knob you crumple up the tape more and more.
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Page 13: Reverb, Touch Modes
Modes. A good way to remember this last page is: red for reverb, hand for touch. Ribbons’ reverb algorithm draws inspiration from famous rack reverb units of the 70s and 80s. We carefully studied many of these designs and came up with our own unique structure that’s simple, elegant,... - Page 14 0% REVERB MIX 100% MIX, 100% MIX, PRE TAPE EFFECTS POST TAPE EFFECTS You can change the character of the reverb by playing with the placement setting. Putting the reverb before the e ects creates more of a haunting and aged sound, whereas putting it after allows it to ring out nice and clear.
- Page 15 Those are all of the primary controls on Ribbons. As you might imagine, this opens up lots of possibilities for customizing unique sounds and textures. A little goes a long way When creating a lo- patch, simplicity often yields the most convincing results. Try blending just a few e ects to start, keeping things subtle.
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Page 16: Presets
Presets Try out the factory presets to hear some sounds Ribbons is capable of. There are 8 presets on the pedal, and you can save up to 32 with MIDI. Loading presets Hold the push button for 3 seconds to enter the Presets Menu. -
Page 17: Saving Your Settings
A Touch Mode that complements the preset is assigned to each one. Broken Telephone Madness, the Touch Mode is integral to the sound. After loading either of these presets, engage the Touch footswitch again to hear the intended e ect. (Touch LED should be ON.) If you’re jamming with a preset and want to load a di erent preset, hold the push button again for 3... -
Page 18: Touch Modes
The Touch Modes interact with all of the di erent e ects and can be saved into a preset. When we rst launched Ribbons there were 4 Touch Modes and now there are 7. We don’t expect people to use or even try all of them, but they’re a lot of fun and you might nd a couple that you connect with. -
Page 19: Magnetic Dance
Magnetic Dance is a chordal looper that can capture a segment of audio and turn it into a stunning drone. You can record anything from a micro-loop up to 20 seconds. Upon playback, 4 stereo tape heads start dancing around the loop. When each head reaches the end of the loop, it resets and jumps to a random starting point. - Page 20 Unity, octaves, and fths sound great on almost all material. The rest generally sound best with single notes, or chords made up of octaves, perfect fourths, or perfect fths. m7 m9 sus4 unity DIRECTION & VOLUME (T2) — Controls the playback direction and volume of the tape heads.
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Page 21: Tape Stop
Tape Stop slows down and drops the pitch of your audio, then picks it back up, with exible timing controls. It’s not a one-shot tape stop though — it’s responsive as if you were physically touching a reel of tape. For example it can be slowed way down, then picked back up, then slowed just a bit, then picked back up, and so on. -
Page 22: Broken Machine
Can Ribbons shoegaze? We think so! With a fuzz after Ribbons, set reverb mix to 100% pre-fx and add lots of compression or saturation. You can use Tape Stop to create shoegaze-y pitch bends with your foot. We prefer this over a tremolo... -
Page 23: Repeater
INPUT: Touch Pressed OUTPUT: Repeated Repeater endlessly repeats a tiny slice of audio that you can subdivide for CD skipping sounds. This Touch Mode is inspired by classic DJ mixer-style roll and slip roll e ects. First, use Touch as a tap tempo to set your loop length. This has to be short —... - Page 24 1/16 FULL RANDOM LOOP Increasing probability of smaller subdivisions Within the RANDOM region, rotating T1 clockwise increases the probability of smaller subdivisions being used. Depending on your loop length, 1/8 and 1/16 can sound a little harsh, so by keeping this knob slightly shy of 100% you can easily dial them out if you want to.
- Page 25 RESAMPLING REPEATER — Allows you to resample audio hands-free. With this option, new audio is automatically sampled every time Ribbons detects a transient, like a snare hit or a pick attack. With STANDARD, the RANDOM region of T1 picks a random subdivision when the Touch footswitch is pressed.
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Page 26: Crushed Cassette
Crushed Cassette provides sample rate reduction and bit depth reduction with -law companding. Use this mode to emulate the sound of your favorite vintage sampler or lo- telecoms of decades past. • For momentary e ects — Hold down Touch to engage, then release to stop. - Page 27 BIT DEPTH (T2) — Controls the number of bits used to reproduce your signal, from 32 bits (hi- ) down to 4 bits. Bit Depth Most bit-crushers have a gated quality where your signal abruptly disappears when it gets too quiet. -law companding prioritizes quiet parts of your signal, resulting in a bit-crushed sound with lots of haunting distortion, but without the gating e ect, so your signal...
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Page 28: Disintegration Loop
• Your loop disintegrates. Each time your loop repeats, it gets re-run through all of the e ects you have dialed in on Ribbons. Try experimenting with some subtle settings to hear how they impact things. Double tap Touch to stop playback and erase your loop. - Page 29 NO REPEATS, UNITY, NO DECAY INSTANT DECAY SPEED & DIRECTION (T2) — Can be used to time stretch and reverse your loop. Try setting T2 around 9 or 3 o’clock when you record, that way you have room to both speed up or slow down. 0x SPEED, LOOP STOPPED (LOW QUALITY) 2x SPEED,...
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Page 30: Unrealplayer
UnrealPlayer is a spectral processor that emulates artifacts and imperfections of early audio streaming and le-sharing eras. Blurry, grainy, bubbly, and strangely reverberous. This Touch Mode feels unmistakably modern. It’s basically the sound of Windowlicker in a pedal. • For momentary e ects — Hold down Touch to engage, then release to stop. -
Page 31: 4-Track Looper
4-Track Looper Ribbons also features a 4-track looper. You can record up to 4 separate stereo loops and overdub in nitely. Each track has its own controls for loop speed, speed scale, direction, and volume. This lets you craft intricate, evolving soundscapes. - Page 32 Default settings for each track are normal speed, continuous speed scale, forward direction, and 100% volume. Since Ribbons’ knobs are relative, when you switch looper tracks you may need to sweep the knob to get it tracking with the LED.
- Page 33 0% to 100% brightness as your loop plays from start to nish. If you exceed the max loop length during the rst write, Ribbons automatically switches from recording to overdubbing. Create layers of sound by overdubbing on a single track or recording to a new one.
- Page 34 Track Speed (bottom-left knob) Speed can vary continuously from approx. 0.5x to 2x. Your speed setting impacts the max loop length: 1x SPEED, 20 SEC MAX LOOP ~2x SPEED, ~0.5x SPEED, 10 SEC MAX LOOP 40 SEC MAX LOOP Adjust the Speed knob to pitch shift your loops. Right after recording, the sound will play back at the same pitch.
- Page 35 How Speed responds depends on the Speed Scale. Ribbons provides 5 di erent scale options that you can experiment with: • Continuous (+/- 12 semitones; not quantized) •...
- Page 36 Try recording to a loop, then change its direction. It will play in reverse. Now if you overdub, the new audio plays forward while the original loop still plays in reverse. If you switch directions again, the original loop will play forward while the new audio plays in reverse.
- Page 37 Hands-free track selection There is an alternate way to change looper tracks that you can do with your foot, which is useful for some setups. • While in the 4-track looper mode (blue Bypass LED), hold Bypass for 3 seconds until the LED starts to glow.
- Page 38 4-Track Looper + Tape E ects You can switch between editing looper controls and tape e ects while your 4-track loops are playing back. Simply hold the push button and tap Bypass. The Bypass LED indicates looper controls tape e ects.
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Page 39: Other Topics
Instrument level is ideal for guitars, basses, and other low-output instruments. Line level provides more headroom and is ideal for synthesizers, drum machines, and DAWs. If you are using Ribbons with a mono setup, the SISO options will work by default. - Page 40 • To save a new setting press Touch. • To exit without saving press Bypass. After saving or exiting Ribbons will boot up normally. 1. ANALOG BYPASS (default) Uses an analog switch to completely bypass Ribbons’ audio converter. Your audio stays analog when the pedal is bypassed.
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Page 41: Midi, Cv, Exp Control
• Map the Touch footswitch to CV / EXP. If Ribbons is at your ngertips but you wish you could engage Touch hands-free, try controlling it with an expression pedal on the oor. -
Page 42: Firmware And Documentation
Updating the rmware is fast and easy — you just play an audio le into the device. If any updates or changes are made to Ribbons, our online manual is the source of truth and will be kept up-to-date.
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