Pedal assign issue

[CarbonLifeForm]

Hi, everyone! Hopefully someone can help. I’m having an issue with the pedal assignment on the XWP1 when switching in and out of performance mode. 

 

I downloaded a bunch of user sounds from this site and loaded them onto my board. To my delight, I discovered that some of the organ patches utilize the sustain pedal as an on off switch for the rotary speed function, allowing you to play the organ with both hands and switch the speed with your foot pedal.  After some digging I found that you set up this parameter from a dropdown in the data editor. I couldn’t find a way to do this on the board itself, only with the editor. But I was really happy to discover it since the XWP1 doesn’t have a dedicated input for a midi cc/expression pedal. 

 

The problem I’m having is when I switch away from one of the performances set up like this (pedal assigned to rotary rather than hold) and into the tone mode. If I select a PCM patch like a piano or electric piano that is set up to use the sustain pedal as a hold/sustain rather than rotary, the pedal doesn’t work at all. It’s like the board doesn’t load the pedal assignment for the newly selected patch. It seems to retain its previous pedal assign setting from the performance mode even though you are now playing a PCM tone that is saved to use the pedal as a sustain pedal.  

 

If I switch back into performance mode and select a performance that is set up to use the pedal as a sustain/hold function, then switch to a PCM piano, then the sustain pedal will work correctly as sustain pedal.  So at least it appears consistent that the board is remembering the previous pedal assign even after switching to a new tone, but  it would be better if it loaded the pedal assign that was saved with the patch you have just selected. It is frustrating because it involves several extra steps to get the pedal assign correct when switching patches. 

 

Can anyone else recreate this? Am I doing something wrong? I’m on firmware 1.11. Thanks so much!

[AlenK]

Contrary to what it seems you assume, the function of the footpedal is not saved within a Tone (Casio's term for what you are calling a patch). It is, rather, saved within a Performance. Also, unlike what I too assumed initially when the XW-P1 was new to me, the function of the footpedal in Tone mode is whatever is assigned to it in the last Performance that was loaded. 

 

Also, you don't need to use the data editor to assign, say, the ROTARY SLOW/FAST function to the footpedal. You just go into the Performance Edit menu. Bear in mind that you don't actually assign that function to the footpedal, despite what the User's Guide says. Rather, you actually gain footpedal control of the switch, in which case they will always do the same thing.

 

Note that you can do other things with the ROTARY SLOW/FAST switch (and optionally the footpedal). It (or they) can be used to switch between two settings for any one of the parameters of whatever DSP effect is assigned to a drawbar-organ tone. See page E-32 in the User's Guide for how to assign a parameter to the switch as well as settings for the On and Off positions. See page E-38 for how to choose a DSP effect; it does NOT need to be the rotary DSP effect, although of course that one is used most often with drawbar-organ tones. 

 

To learn more about the drawbar organ mode and more about the DSP effects, see The XW-P1 Companion. 

 

 

[CarbonLifeForm]

This is very helpful. Thank you. I am now reading your companion guide. What an awesome doc. Thank you for putting it together and for sharing it. 
 

Using the footswitch for the rotary on/off when playing organs in PERF mode is very helpful, but it would also be nice to have a volume pedal. I am guessing that the only way to have both would be to use either a midi pedal plugged into the midi in and assigned to volume CC007, or use an external analog pedal coming from the line outs (like a guitarists volume pedal, only stereo).  

[AlenK]

I hope you find lots of useful stuff in the document.

 

Re a pedal that gives control of the volume, a pedal that outputs MIDI is probably the best option both for flexibility and for audio quality (some of the analog volume pedals add noise, which isn't as much of a big deal for guitarists). Personally, I use a  Behringer FCB1010, which provides two assignable "expression" pedals as well as ten assignable footswitches. But it might be bigger than you want or too expensive.

 

Mind you, it's less expensive than this. Another option would be to buy an inexpensive analog expression pedal like the M-Audio EX-P and connect it to a MIDI Solutions Pedal Controller (this). Again though, that's going to be more expensive than the FCB1010. 

 

Whatever you choose to do, it would be best to send expression commands (CC#11) rather than volume commands. For most tones it does the same thing without modifying the tone's maximum volume. For drawbar-organ tones in particular it changes the tone's volume BEFORE it enters any effect that the tone uses (rotary most of the time). In the case of the rotary effect that is exactly how the volume pedal on a real Hammond B-3 behaves, changing the output volume of the organ before it enters the Leslie unit.