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I am experiencing the same thing. The ribbon controller is really not usable in any meaningful way musically. I'm using the Windows OS version fo EigenD and was thinking it may be related to it.

Peace.

I agree! I have a lot of problems with the strip controller, sometimes it doesn't seem to work at all, but other times it's fine it's very temperamental to say the least. I'm using it on Mac and am about to try on Windows to see if it makes a difference.

The Strip Controller on the Pico is a resistive sensor, not capacitive, as natcl pointed out. We looked hard at capacitive sensors when designing the Eigenharps, which are much more sensitive to light touch, but they did not have the resolution that we can achieve with the resistive type, despite having advantages in sensitivity and cost (they are in fact cheaper as a general rule). The resolution issue was a real deal breaker for us at the time as we knew from early playing on prototype Alpha's that the immediate use for the strip was large pitchbends, and sensor resolution was key to making these playable. The capacitive sensors then in use were not quite good enough. Things have moved on since then for capacitive sensors and it is possible that we may switch to them in a future version of the Pico, but it won't be for a while yet. We'd certainly like to for a variety of reasons, if it becomes possible, if for no other reason than that people are now becoming more used to capacitive sensors and expect the strip to trigger with a much lighter touch.

In the meantime, you should find the Pico strip to be quite consistent and playable. It should not be at all inconsistent if you are applying enough pressure. It does require a firm and consistent press in the center to activate though, so please have a go at pressing harder, and keeping the press to the middle of the strip not to the sides. If you're still having trouble after doing this then it's possible that you have faulty controller and we will do our best to get this fixed for you as quickly as possible. Please give Aaron a call in customer services and he can arrange collection of your instrument. You should not experience any difference at all between software versions either, I cannot imagine how this would happen outside of some extremely esoteric bug (which is of course possible if unlikely).

I would say though that of the three instruments we have picked up so far for this fault, all were actually fine and were returned unchanged, it was the player expecting a lighter touch in the end, not a faulty strip. Those sensors generally work well or not at all in our experience, and our outgoing final quality check does include a fairly extensive test of the strip performance, so we haven't yet seen many actual field failures (at which point I am grasping for the nearest piece of wood!) ..

Please let me know how you get on...

John

Hi Again

Many thanks to John and Geert for the practical advice. I have discovered that the problem with the Cello model is a hold over from playing stringed instruments including arco on the double bass. I have found that i need to apply more pressure on the key when playing with the strip.

This is realistic in one sense as on the actual instruments, a certain amount of pressure is required to hold the string to the fret board.

I think that in my case though, I have always trained myself to use only enough effort to produce the sound and no more. In other words, to be as efficient with technique as possible. I guess I just need more practice....

I have also discovered that I can play tremolo notes by simply keeping the finger in one place on the strip and wiggling it back and forth like vibrato on a guitar or bass string. This is interesting as the attack on the note sounds exactly like the 'chirrup' of the string starting under the bow.

I am constantly surprised that this behavior changes with the clarinet model, which is extremely touch sensitive, and then to the piano, which is reactive to input on the keys. This makes the Pico feel like a different instrument every time you switch models. Very cool.

I will keep experimenting!

Mark