Kinotone ribbons User manual

Magnetic Tape Emulator

About Ribbons
You can think of Ribbons like a build-your-own tape
machine. It gives you a high degree of control to dial in
sounds ranging from pristine and hi-, to warbley, aged
and haunting.
Most of its parameters are tape inspired, but you’ll also
nd nods to other imperfect mediums, like crackling vinyl,
skipping CDs, and lo- telecom systems.
We wanted Ribbons to be a playful and powerful tool all
on its own, so it’s packed with other features too, includ-
ing a stereo reverb, some wild Touch Modes, a four-track
looper, and a sine wave synth.
This opens up lots of possibilities for creating textures,
soundscapes, and experimental compositions. So take it
slow, have fun exploring, and we hope that you connect
with something inside this strange and magical little box.
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 1.3.
Our online manual covers more advanced topics, like
controlling Ribbons using MIDI or CV. You can nd this at
kinotoneaudio.com/ribbons-manual
Have questions? Join the Kinotone community to connect
with us and other users at forum.kinotoneaudio.com
For direct support email [e-mail]

Contents
3
4
6
8
9
11
13
14
15
16
17
17
20
21
23
28
28
29
29
30
30
31
Mixing options
Bypass options
Factory reset
Firmware updates
MIDI, CV, expression control
Documentation updates
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Magnetic Dance
Tape Stop
Broken Machine
Repeater
Crushed Cassette
Disintegration Loop
Mix and Utility
Wow and Flutter
Degradation
Reverb, Touch Modes
Getting Started
Tape Eects
Presets
Touch Modes
Four-Track Looper
Additional Topics

Getting Started
Take care to use an isolated +9VDC center-negative
power supply rated for at least 160 mA.
Ribbons passes a stereo in / stereo out signal by default
via TRS input and output jacks. To use it in stereo you will
need to use TRS style cables.
It also defaults to true bypass, with a mechanical relay
completely bypassing the pedal’s electronics when it’s
disengaged. There are a few other mixing and bypass
options though, which you can learn about on page 28.
J
C
F
G
K
MIDI
CV/EXP IN
OUT
TOUCH BYPASS
L
P
•
W
D
•
D
D
•
R
M
M
X
•
F
D
•
C
R
•
T
1
C
P
•
F
F
•
N
O
•
T
2
H
P
•
W
F
•
D
F
•
R
D
I
B
E
D
H
L
AA
AA
3
Knobs
Push button
Page and
parameter LEDs
Bypass footswitch
Bypass LED
Touch footswitch
Touch LED
Power input
TRS stereo input
TRS stereo output
MIDI input
CV / EXP input
Controls
Inputs and
Outputs

Visual feedback
The page and parameter LEDs track which page you’re
on, and show you the value of your parameters.
When you switch to a new page, the LED beneath the icon
lights up briey to indicate which page you’re on. Then,
all 4 LEDs settle to show you how your parameters are
currently set for that page.
Dotted lines illustrate how each knob connects with
an LED. As you turn a knob clockwise, the color intensity
changes from its base color to glowing white, with some
white introduced right at 12 noon.
The LEDs are a visual guide. By not only listening, but also
monitoring the intensity of the LEDs, you can easily track
your settings when jumping from page to page.
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.
Each page is color-coded with a thematic icon.
Press the push button to toggle between the pages.
4

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.
If you’re ever not sure what the heck is going on and
just wish you could start over — no worries.
Load up preset 1 to reset the tape eects to a
completely transparent state (see page 13).
Powering o and on won’t help, since Ribbons
Remembers your last used settings between power
cycles, including which page you were on.
Relative knobs
When you switch pages, the physical position of a knob
and its parameter may be momentarily misaligned.
When this occurs, controls are responsive in a relative
way, meaning that the knob will attenuate or increase
the parameter based on the actual amount of space
that’s available. Once they match up, the knob will start
tracking again as you'd expect.
This sounds a bit complicated but it’s actually really
simple, and you should get a feel for it pretty quickly by
watching the LEDs.
!
5

MIX (MX) — Ribbons has a dedicated mix knob for all of
its sounds and eects. This is thoughtfully designed so
that so you can blend dry and wet signals without any
phasing issues.
The main use case for this knob is to use it in conjunc-
tion with the dierent modulation settings. For example,
at 100% mix you can get a tape-like vibrato, at 50% a
lush chorus, and at zero you’ll get no eects at all —
just your dry signal.
LOW-PASS MIX
COMPRESSION
SATURATION
HIGH-PASS
Mix and UtilityPage 1
LOW-PASS (LP) — A slightly resonant four-pole virtual
analog low-pass lter. Rotating the knob counter-
clockwise removes treble and brightness from your
signal.
HIGH-PASS (HP) — A symmetrical and opposite high-
pass lter. Rotating the knob clockwise removes bass
and boominess from your signal.
6

There is also TAPE SATURATION if you’d prefer that here
instead of compression. You can swap out the CP knob
for a saturation parameter by sending MIDI CC 52,
value >0. This change is persistent between power
cycles unless you switch it back.
Ribbons’ compression algorithm is modeled after a
vinyl simulator found in a sampler that was used to
make a number of classic hip hop records.
COMPRESSION (CP) — Controls the dynamics of your
incoming audio and attenuates the loudest sounds.
As you increase it, your audio will feel warmer and more
balanced.
When used on guitar it can add some amazing sustain
to your notes, and on full mixes it has a magical way of
gluing your sounds together without distorting them.
Ribbons’ lters are modeled after the lter from a
very famous 1970’s synthesizer.
If you have suddenly lost eects and are unsure
why, double check your page 1 settings.
By design you can completely lter out incoming
audio by turning the LP knob all the way to the left,
or the HP knob all the way to the right. You will also
of course lose eects by turning the MIX knob down.
7

Wow is meant to emulate slower pitch variations
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. As you increase it,
the intensity of the variation gets more dramatic.
WOW FREQUENCY (WF) — Changes the max speed at
which these variations occur.
Flutter emulates faster and more jittery pitch
variations sometimes found on tape players. This can
be caused by things like bent capstans, backlash from
worn out gears, or other obstructions in the tape path
that create unexpected friction.
Wow and FlutterPage 2
WOW DEPTH FLUTTER DEPTH
FLUTTER
FREQUENCY
WOW
FREQUENCY
8

Dropouts emulate tape getting stuck momentarily and
then catching up. So think physical interruptions, like
tape getting snagged on an object, or intentionally
manipulating a tape during playback.
DegradationPage 3
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 — four-track
cassette machines, reel-to-reels, dictaphones,
mangled cassette loops, tape delays, and more.
FLUTTER DEPTH (FD) — Turning up depth will start to
introduce subtle, stuttery pitch variations in your signal.
FLUTTER FREQUENCY (FF) — As you increase
frequency, the variations become more chaotic.
DROPOUTS
DEPTH
CRINKLE
NOISEDROPOUTS
FREQUENCY
9

VINYL CRACKLESTAPE HISS
EQUAL MIX
NOISE (NO) — This knob gives you the ability to cross-
fade between two avors of noise: static hiss like you’d
nd on an old tape player, and clicks & pops reminis-
cent of a dusty, crackly record. You can easily dial in one
or both using a single twist of the knob.
Dropouts and crinkle provide separate processing
on the left and right channels, making them a great
way to introduce some interesting variety across the
stereo eld.
DROPOUTS DEPTH (DD) — Controls the max intensity of
a dropout when it occurs.
DROPOUTS FRQUENCY (DF) — Controls the probability
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. You’ll
hear brief moments of signal loss as the tape separates
from the tape head.
10

Page 4 has controls for the reverb, as well as the Touch
Modes. A good way to remember this last page is:
red for reverb, hand for touch.
Ribbons’ reverb algorithm draws inspiration from the
famous rack reverb units of the 70’s and 80’s. We
carefully studied many of these designs and came up
with our own unique structure that’s simple, elegant,
and modern sounding. It’s a versatile tool, especially
when used in combination with the other tape eects.
REVERB MIX & PLACEMENT (RM) — Both mix and
placement are on the top-left knob, so you can control
the amount of reverb applied, and where it goes in your
signal chain, either before or after the other eects.
Reverb, Touch ModesPage 4
REVERB MIX
& PLACEMENT
TOUCH 1
TOUCH 2REVERB DECAY
11

We’ll cover Touch Modes soon, but rst up — presets.
We once ran a test where we set the decay time to
innite and strummed a chord. A week later you could
still hear that ghostly reverb tail droning along...
REVERB DECAY (RD) — At its minimum decay time, the
reverb sounds springy and echoey. As you increase it,
the reverb tail becomes smoother and more diuse.
At max decay it will ring out innitely, creating a
never-ending wash of ambient sound.
You can really change the character of the reverb by
playing with the placement setting.
Putting the reverb before the tape eects creates
more of a haunting and aged sound, whereas putting
it after allows it to ring out nice and clear.
0% REVERB MIX
100% MIX,
POST TAPE EFFECTS
100% MIX,
PRE TAPE EFFECTS
12

13
Presets
Presets are a quick way to queue up some core sounds
Ribbons is capable of. To enter the Presets Menu, hold
down the push button for 3 seconds. A single LED will
light up, and now you can toggle through 8 preset slots:
1, 2, 3, 4 are red, and 5, 6, 7, 8 are blue.
To load a preset, hover over a slot and press Touch.
The LEDs will all glow, and now you can hear the sounds
of that preset aecting your incoming audio.
Factory presets:
If you load up a preset and then press the push button
or turn a knob, you are back to editing tape eects
with that preset as the starting point. So if you’re
jamming with one preset and want to try out a dierent
one, you rst have to re-enter the Presets Menu.
To overwrite a preset with your current settings, enter
the menu and hover over the slot you want to use. Press
Bypass twice to conrm and save. To exit without
loading or saving, simply hold down the push button
again for 3 seconds.
Our online manual describes settings for each factory
preset. If you ever nd yourself wanting to restore them,
check out the factory reset option on page 29.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Init (no eects; transparent)
Chaotic Vibrato
Chaotic Chorus
A Bit Lo-Fi
Crushed and Mangled
Really Nice Compression
Lo-Fi Ambient
Endless Reverb

Touch Modes
Ribbons has a number of playful Touch Modes that can
be activated momentarily or latched. Touch Modes can
interact with all of the other stereo tape eects.
The functionality of the Touch footswitch depends on
which mode is selected. The T1 and T2 knobs on
page 4 provide controls. To change between Touch
Modes, hold down the push button and press Touch.
The Touch LED lights up to indicate your Touch Mode:
•Magnetic Dance (green) — A granular micro-looper
that you can tune to chords and play forward or
backwards. You can use it to freeze a grain of audio or
create stunning drones to play along with.
•Tape Stop (dark blue) —Slows down and bends the
pitch of your audio, then picks it back up, with controls
for stop and start times up to 10 seconds.
•Broken Machine (light blue) — Makes a garbled mess
of your incoming audio. Use it subtly for some
added tape modulation or at extreme settings for
rewind eects.
•Repeater (ickering green) — Endlessly repeats a tiny
loop that you can divide into smaller subdivisions for
glitchy eects. Includes a Resampling option that can
sample new audio when transients are detected.
•Crushed Cassette (ickering dark blue) — Provides
continuously variable sample rate reduction as well as
bit crushing down to 4-bits with μ-law companding.
•Disintegration Loop (ickering light blue) — An
experimental looper that disintegrates and
transforms your sounds over time.
14

unity
oct
5
sus4
mm7 m9 m11
69
M9
M7
M
In this mode the pedal is constantly recording to a one
second micro-loop in the background. When you press
Touch, four 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.
T1 —Controls the rate at which the tape heads move,
with rates tuned to four note chords. The rst three:
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.
MAGNETIC DANCE (green LED)
Touch engages your Touch Mode.
•For momentary eects — keep Touch held down.
•For latched eects — tap Touch briey to engage,
and tap again to disengage.
15

TAPE STOP (dark blue LED)
Tape Stop does exactly what you might expect —
it slows down and drops the pitch in real-time. It
doesn’t just come to a complete stop in one go though;
it can be slowed slightly then picked back up mid-stop,
allowing for some creative use cases and pitch bending
eects.
T1 — Controls how long it takes for your audio to reach a
complete stop, ranging from 100 msecs to 10 seconds.
T2— Controls how long it takes to catch back up,
ranging from 100 msecs to 10 seconds.
MIN VOLUME
MAX VOLUME
MIN VOLUME
R
E
V
E
R
S
E
F
O
R
W
A
R
D
T2 —Controls the playback direction and volume of
the tape heads.
16

BROKEN MACHINE (light blue LED)
You can use Broken Machine to add even more random
tape modulation to your signal. At its minimum it can
be used in subtle ways, similar to the wow and utter
parameters, then at its maximum you can get some
really intense rewind eects or abrasive and totally
unpredictable sounds.
T1 — Controls the depth or intensity of the eect.
T2 — Controls the chaos of the machine, so how often
it does something random.
REPEATER (ickering green LED)
Repeater is an audio slicer that can be used to capture
a tiny loop and divide it into smaller subdivisions for
rhythmic or glitchy eects.
INPUT:
OUTPUT:
Repeated
Touch
Pressed
17

FULL
LOOP RANDOM
1/2
1/4 1/8
1/16
*
Increasing probability
of smaller subdivisions
*
T1 — Controls the division of the loop length. Use
longer subdivisions for more rhythmic sounds and
shorter ones for glitchy eects in the vein of a
skipping CD.
Keep Touch held down to maintain playback.
If you let go the eect will stop.
If you want to latch your Repeater loop, tap bypass
while the Touch footswitch is being held down.
It’s great with full mixes and is a lot of fun to play along
with using a drum machine. You have the option to sync
Repeater to your other devices using MIDI clock (see our
online manual for more info).
First use Touch as a tap tempo to set the max length of
your loop. Max is 1.2 secs and min is 166 msecs.
Hold down Touch to start recording audio. When the
next tempo downbeat is reached, your loop will auto-
matically start playing back and endlessly repeat itself.
18

As you turn the T1 knob clockwise within that
random section, it 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 the knob slightly counter-clockwise from
100% you can dial them out if you want to.
Standard Repeater — Only samples new audio when the
Touch footswitch is being pressed.
Resampling Repeater — Can sample audio by detecting
transients, like a snare hit or a pick attack. Hands-free!
With Standard Repeater, the random section of T1
picks a random subdivision each time the Touch
footswitch is pressed. With Resampling, it picks a
random subdivision each time a transient is detected.
S
T
A
N
D
A
R
D
R
E
S
A
M
P
L
N
G
100% LOOP,
NO DRY SIGNAL
EQUAL MIX INPUT
AUDIO AND LOOP
100% LOOP,
NO DRY SIGNAL
T2 — Controls the wet/dry mix of repeated audio and
toggles between Standard or Resampling options.
19