Volume Pedal

[tylywt]

is there any way that pedal 2 can be made a volume pedal? 

[Brad Saucier]

A volume envelope can be assigned to pedal 2.  

[tylywt]

I pick up my keyboard next week and am trying to understand it a bit before then. With the pedal to use as a volume pedal do I set the mode as momentary or toggle?

[Brad Saucier]

Momentary is what you'll want.

[tylywt]

Thanks for that. Much appreciated.

[Brad Saucier]

Anytime.    

[pianoralf]

Brad: What do you mean with "Volume envelope"? Pedal 2 is just a switcher and can not operate as Volume pedal CC7 or CC11. I have testet that by plugging a volume pedal to the jack and I were not able to use it to control the volume. Sorry but this is not supported. The normal function of the 2nd pedal is a damper (soft) which reduces the volume with a fix value, but I think this is not what tylywt was asking for. The Volumen pedal normally has 3 contacts and the Pedal 2 Input only has 2 contacs.

 

 

[Brad Saucier]

Hi Ralf.  Casio has invented something new for the PX-5S.  Check it out starting at 3:30.  Mike's example is for a filter envelope but it can be changed to volume and the timing of the ramp up/down can be custom preset.

 

[pianoralf]

Yes you are right. It is a cool effect and you must know which level you need after pressing the pedal. Therefore you have 2 volume levels, like the normal soft pedal, but with a configurable 2nd level and a adujstable time from level 1 to level 2. Maybe usefull for a fade out. 
I have not programmed that, but it is your idea. So it would be helpful if you describe the steps to get that effect.

But you can not emulate  a real volume pedal, which you can use to adjust the volume in 128 steps depending on the angle of your foot. 

 

[Brad Saucier]

Your right,  this cannot fully emulate a volume pedal.   But for many instances it can be useful.

 

Configuring the pedal is easy in the data editor.   Select the Stage Setting Common tab.  Scroll down to pedal 2 and select the target as volume.  Set your volume min and max as well as the on off rate as desired and then choose momentary  at the bottom.  After that go to the Stage Setting Zone tab and scroll down to the controller section and make sure pedal 2 is enabled for the zone you want it to affect.  If you don't want it to effect any other zones then disable those.

[rockwehrmann]

I worked at Moog back in the days of dinosaurs and analog and steam power, and this situation looks familiar to me.

 

Sometimes an engineer (who is not a musician) will come up a concept that he thinks is just brilliant. If he is a person of great charisma and likability (not common in engineers, but it does exist), he may be able to convince some marketing people that this concept just HAS to be included in the project at hand. And sometimes it happens at the expense of other, more desirable, instrument functions. I think someone fell in love with this idea - that you can reasonably approximate a volume pedal with a sustain pedal. "No need for a second pedal!" In itself, it's a good idea. But not if you have to give away any possible use of CC pedals. This is a facepalm moment on an otherwise really first-rate instrument. I have a couple of MIDI CC pedals, and they add a lot to the authenticity of the PX organ sounds - I can't use 'em without it. In my opinion, the whole volume pedal issue is a conceptual oversight that I doubt will ever be corrected.

[Display Name]

The Behringer FCB1010 or the MIDI Solutions box will give true expression. If you already have the pedals, the MIDI Solutions will be cheaper. If you don't, the FCB1010 gives you two pedals plus 10 assignable switches and an up/down function for programs changes. Very versatile. 
http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/FCB1010.aspx

[PianoManChuck]

I worked at Moog back in the days of dinosaurs and analog and steam power, and this situation looks familiar to me.

 

Sometimes an engineer (who is not a musician) will come up a concept that he thinks is just brilliant. If he is a person of great charisma and likability (not common in engineers, but it does exist), he may be able to convince some marketing people that this concept just HAS to be included in the project at hand. And sometimes it happens at the expense of other, more desirable, instrument functions. I think someone fell in love with this idea - that you can reasonably approximate a volume pedal with a sustain pedal. "No need for a second pedal!" In itself, it's a good idea. But not if you have to give away any possible use of CC pedals. This is a facepalm moment on an otherwise really first-rate instrument. I have a couple of MIDI CC pedals, and they add a lot to the authenticity of the PX organ sounds - I can't use 'em without it. In my opinion, the whole volume pedal issue is a conceptual oversight that I doubt will ever be corrected.

+1

[fargus]

Is it a simple matter of taking a MIDI out from the Behringer FCB1010 into the PX-5S then having immediate expression control from one of the two foot controllers?

[willf]

Is it a simple matter of taking a MIDI out from the Behringer FCB1010 into the PX-5S then having immediate expression control from one of the two foot controllers?

 

I have not tried a PX-5S yet - they are not yet available in the UK. But from reading the manuals and from what Mike Martin has said then basically yes. You would need to program the FCB1010 to send CC#11 on the desired midi channel. 

[maarkr]

if u want to control volume with a pedal, why not just get a mono or stereo volume pedal and send the output thru the pedal??

[PianoManChuck]

if u want to control volume with a pedal, why not just get a mono or stereo volume pedal and send the output thru the pedal??

That solves only "master volume".  Most people want to control the volume of ONE instrument within a layer of instruments.

[maarkr]

that's right PianoManChuck, so his question could use more detail about what he really wants... and as a new PX user, THANK YOU for making these excellent videos!

[tylywt]

Using a simple stage setting say piano & strings pan the piano to the left & the strings to the right. Connect the left line out directly to the amp & the right line out  to the volume pedal & then to the amp. The downside to this is that you have to zero reverb & digital delay only to the side that you are connecting to the volume pedal. If you don't do this you get a leakage of sound to the other channel. You don't have to zero the other side reverb & digital delay because the amount leakage you get doesn't matter (or doesn't matter to me anyway). If someone reads this a can figure out some way that you don't have to zero reverb & digital delay that would be good. It's a bit sad that you have to do this to such a really good keyboard but I suppose that you just have to live with it. like having a wart on your nose.