Expression pedal (question for midi gurus)

King Korg · Post by **King Korg** » Sat May 21, 2011 9:02 pm

Hi guys,
I have a question for anybody knows the answer.
I have a Yamaha FC-7 expression pedal and I use it with a Korg PA2x (and ONLY for right hand expression).
What I want is to avoid somehow completely closing the sound when the pedal is raised to zero point. To hear at least 60% from sound even I have the pedal up.

LESSISMORE · Post by **LESSISMORE** » Sat May 21, 2011 10:35 pm

Hi
The FC7 is no Midi-Pedal. You can set the Zero=60% function
by justifying the assignable connector.
Hold the 60% position and set it to 1 end-position.

King Korg · Post by **King Korg** » Sun May 22, 2011 10:55 am

LESSISMORE wrote:Hi
The FC7 is no Midi-Pedal. You can set the Zero=60% function
by justifying the assignable connector.
Hold the 60% position and set it to 1 end-position.

Thanks for the answer, but I try to explain better what I want:

There are some pedals like Korg EXP-2 (which is a combo volume/expression pedal) where you can set the minimum volume to be heard with a slider pot but ONLY when you use it like volume pedal (for general output).
Yamaha FC-7 is only an expressin pedal but you can acces some parameters (master volume,expression,cutoff...etc).
What I want is to set the minimum volume for upper 1,2,3 and low (in the same way like Korg EXP-2 but using my expression pedal).
I was thinking for a pedal modding because from the PA2x OS I don't think is possible.
And another question for Korg pedals owners (Korg EXP-2 and Korg EVP-10): if anybody knows the values of the pots ( kohm..lin....log??) ,because I want to replace the pot on my Yamaha FC-7 (50 kohm log) with one with the same value like Korg. Sure, you will ask me why I didn't buy a Korg pedal. Because FC-7 is solid,and has a long throw (although the last advantage is useless - you must to press the pedal half a way to start to hear something,so only the last part is really working).

karmathanever · Post by **karmathanever** » Sun May 22, 2011 4:49 pm

The FC7 has a physical angle adjustment on the base. This may partly solve your problem. I actually wanted the reverse - my FC7 was not setting volume to zero so I adjusted the pedal to do so. I am not sure if there will be enough adjustment to suit your needs though - give it a try...

Pete

King Korg · Post by **King Korg** » Sun May 22, 2011 7:23 pm

karmathanever wrote:The FC7 has a physical angle adjustment on the base. This may partly solve your problem. I actually wanted the reverse - my FC7 was not setting volume to zero so I adjusted the pedal to do so. I am not sure if there will be enough adjustment to suit your needs though - give it a try...

Pete

There are two kind of mechanical adjustments you can do it for FC-7:

1.Angle adjustment for player position (sat or standing)
2.So called "fortissimo function" - you press the pedal all the way and it returns alone to normal position when you release it.

None of these can do what I want.I'm pretty shure this will be possible only with a softare update for PA2x but I don't think we will ever see any.Anyway I want to do something with FC-7 range (because I want to work all the way not only half) so anybody has already experienced pedal moddings is free to post.
Just curios, what instrument do you use with FC-7,where you connected it and how much volume you have with pedal at zero?

Kauser · Post by **Kauser** » Sun May 22, 2011 7:25 pm

I also have a Yamaha FC7 and have the same problem. A lot of travel but not all usable. I see no change when I perform the calibration in the global mode. I wanted to have some low volume ( ~ 50%) when pedal is raised all the way up.

So I bought a Korg expression pedal thinking it will be more compatible with Korg products, but still the same issue.

I have also been thinking of experimenting with other pots to see if problem can be fixed.

Regards,

ozy · Post by **ozy** » Sun May 22, 2011 7:47 pm

why not just stopping the pedal's run with some physical obstacle (like a small wood or rubber wedge under the "heel" side of the pedal)?

It would just stop the pedal from rising to the "zero" position, and it would be far simpler than messing with the pot.

There are other more complex solutions (a midi remapper, setting a pedal scale on the synth), but this is cheap and obvious.

Finally: did yiu try using EXPRESSION [cc#11] instead of volume [cc#7?], and map it?

I don't use the PA series, so I can't help you in detail with the synth settings.

Expression can be set to start from a different point than zero in several synths though (like it happens on an organ).

Did you check if cc#11 on the PAs can be set this way?

In the meantime, few cents of rubber, wood and superglue could solve the problem elegantly IMHO.

Kauser · Post by **Kauser** » Sun May 22, 2011 7:55 pm

Very good and common sense solution Ozzy.

I will certainly experiment with it. The only issue I see with it is that it cuts down the range of pedal travel. More throw will give you more control over volume/expression which is often needed. But it is definitely worth the try.

Sincerely,

King Korg · Post by **King Korg** » Mon May 23, 2011 8:57 am

ozy wrote:why not just stopping the pedal's run with some physical obstacle (like a small wood or rubber wedge under the "heel" side of the pedal)?

It would just stop the pedal from rising to the "zero" position, and it would be far simpler than messing with the pot.

There are other more complex solutions (a midi remapper, setting a pedal scale on the synth), but this is cheap and obvious.

Finally: did yiu try using EXPRESSION [cc#11] instead of volume [cc#7?], and map it?

I don't use the PA series, so I can't help you in detail with the synth settings.

Expression can be set to start from a different point than zero in several synths though (like it happens on an organ).

Did you check if cc#11 on the PAs can be set this way?

In the meantime, few cents of rubber, wood and superglue could solve the problem elegantly IMHO.

I have thought to stop the pedal's run but I want to use all the run of pedal,that's the mainly reason I 've bought it.
As I said, I use the pedal with the expression not with volume preset (in Korg PA2x there are some kind of "presets" for pedal where you can choose from: expression, master volume,cutoff,resonance...etc but there are no any settings to set the zero point.At least I don't know,and I know the instrument pretty well)
Anyway this is an issue from Korg. IMHO"'expression" is used to give more feeling to the instrument (in the same way you push more air in an accordion or flute,bagpipe...etc...who want to stop completely the sound ?

ozy · Post by **ozy** » Mon May 23, 2011 9:08 am

In this case [full range, no synth setting] you need to use a midi mapper

(check the midisolution catalogue)

http://www.midisolutions.com/prodped.htm

the little nice box allows for curve programming (check the link),

and that's far more hygienic than fiddling with a 80 bucks pedal's pot

King Korg · Post by **King Korg** » Mon May 23, 2011 11:25 am

ozy wrote:In this case [full range, no synth setting] you need to use a midi mapper

(check the midisolution catalogue)

http://www.midisolutions.com/prodped.htm

the little nice box allows for curve programming (check the link),

and that's far more hygienic than fiddling with a 80 bucks pedal's pot

Thanks for the tip ozy I didn't know about this box.