At Knobcon 2017, ZORX Electronics introduced two CV controllers – the Ribbon Controller & the Ring Leader.
Both controllers let you play any control voltage-compatible analog gear, and use control voltages to modify settings on your synth.
We talked with ZORX’ Diabolical Leader Ellison Wolf, and he gave us a hands-on demo of the two controllers.
The ZORX Ribbon Controller is an analog CV controller that features a 500mm touch-sensitive ribbon that controls pitch, filter, etc., a pressure sensor with an attenuator, a N/O or N/C gate function with a momentary push button, and an ancillary knob for LFO rate, filter, or whatever you’d like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Va4PK9RJdk
The ZORX Ring Leader is an analog CV controller that features a ring that controls pitch, filter, etc., a pressure sensor, a N/O or N/C gate function with a momentary push button, and an ancillary knob for LFO rate, filter, or whatever you’d like:
See the ZORX site for details.
Love it! Definitely want that ribbon strip! But rings are much more expressive, harder to play though!
Hey Garak,
I tried both at Knobcon, and I liked both, but I was really surprised by how easy the ring one was to play melodies on. I was not planning on making any purchases there, but I wound up picking up a green Ring Leader after testing it out for a while, and I’m really happy with it. It’s a lot of fun.
Ring Leader was pretty cool. The height of the table made it awkward for me to play (I’m tall) but at the right level I can see how it’d be pretty great. I wish the FSR was something mechnical too though, like the Expressive E Touche’ — maybe it was just the way it was patched, but it seemed more like a binary on/off gate than an expressive control.
I wasn’t as happy with the ribbon. Trying to do trills on it didn’t work too well, like it just can’t handle multiple touches. It felt a lot less natural than I would have expected, too.
Eowave ribbon is already existing with almost the same enclosure and lighting !?!
But the Eowave has only one output, and every adjustments has to be done inside a Max patch on a computer. The Eowave also has an on-board synth and can be played on its own. I own a few Eowave (MK1 and MK2) and I love them, but I think there is a lot of space for new players in the ribbon market, and I think the Zorx may be more interesting for the people who have a modular system.
Is it just me or did the Mother always sound a bit distorted in all the videos? Is it the output from the controller or just how he has it set? Maybe just the video quality? I know the Mother can sound just about perfect as fas as oscillators are concerned.
I think it’s just the way he has it set up. I have both the Ribbon and the Ring Leader and the Mother, and the output doesn’t change the sound at all.