Nord User Forum

[Mr_-G-]

No magic . It won't convert a 50KOhm into 10KOhm, but it might fix it. The pot has 2 extremes with a fixed value of resistance and a sweeper that moves between them that senses the drop in voltage across the carbon track. The increase in resistance might be linear or logarithmic or reversed logarithmic, but more important, the pedal mechanism does not use the whole travel of the sweeper across the track of the pot, so you are not using the full 50 or 10 KOhm anyway.
Perhaps the pedal might not be reaching the value necessary that the instrument is expecting to get 0 or max. If you reverse it, the sweeper gets the voltage drop on the "other side" of the pot. As mentioned before, the mechanism does not travel the whole track, so now there will be a different range of resistance values (more so if it is a LOG pot). This might be closer to the range of values the instrument is expecting.

The only thing you need to do is to open the pedal, unsolder the 2 cables at the extremes of the pot (not the middle one!) and solder them the way round (ask a friend with some skill with the soldering iron to do it for you, it is a 2 minute job).
If it does not work, solder them back as they were (another 2 minutes )

Please post if reversing solved the problem.

[Quai34]

So what is Pablo input on this? Is the Moog Expression pedal will work better?

[weremole]

No magic . It won't convert a 50KOhm into 10KOhm, but it might fix it. The pot has 2 extremes with a fixed value of resistance and a sweeper that moves between them that senses the drop in voltage across the carbon track. The increase in resistance might be linear or logarithmic or reversed logarithmic, but more important, the pedal mechanism does not use the whole travel of the sweeper across the track of the pot, so you are not using the full 50 or 10 KOhm anyway.
Perhaps the pedal might not be reaching the value necessary that the instrument is expecting to get 0 or max. If you reverse it, the sweeper gets the voltage drop on the "other side" of the pot. As mentioned before, the mechanism does not travel the whole track, so now there will be a different range of resistance values (more so if it is a LOG pot). This might be closer to the range of values the instrument is expecting.

Thank you - Now this finally starts to make sense me. I couldn't figure out why the swapped connections resulted in a shifted signal. I thought they were experiencing a 'polarity' problem such as the sustain working the other way around.

Afaik both the fc7 and the ev5 are linear - just different range of kOhms.

The only thing you need to do is to open the pedal, unsolder the 2 cables at the extremes of the pot (not the middle one!) and solder them the way round (ask a friend with some skill with the soldering iron to do it for you, it is a 2 minute job).
If it does not work, solder them back as they were (another 2 minutes )

Please post if reversing solved the problem.

I'll try it with two stereo y-cables. If the other FC7 for some reason ever gives up I can always remove the y cables and use it as a reserve pedal (i use it for the most vital stuff on stage) With soldering there's no going back without soldering it back again.

Will report back when I have tried.

[weremole]

No luck - I've plugged the pedal plug in a one female in two male out stereo cable and led that in a two female in one male out stereo cable. The last one goes inside the lead 2x. It does shift the response but now I'm only getting the lower part of the Sig am (0 to 26 - 27). Doesn't matter what way you link the two stereo cables, both get the same result.

Well I suppose I'll have to find me an EV-5 anyway.

[Mr_-G-]

I think you might not have the right cables. The Y cables you need are : one stereo split to two mono signals (right and legt) and the other two mono (right and left) into a stereo plug. That way you swap the two 'channels'. I do not think that just Y stereo splitters would do.

[weremole]

You're a life saver and I can't read specifications. One of the two y cables is only mono (at least the other one is stereo to mono).

Trying again...

[mon8169]

have you measure it with a multimeter? I'll do it before swapping any cable!!

Ramon

[weremole]

As in measuring the resistances of the pedal in up and down configuration? No I haven't - I presumed there's noething wrong with it because the two fc7s produce full range on the (fc7 configurable) stage EX and they both give a limited signal on the lead 2x.

I don't even have a multimeter but they're pretty cheap and I could probably get one of the band members to bring on with them. Am I overlooking something that could be figured out with it?

[mon8169]

This behaviour seems strange. To have the 0 is always easier than to have the maximal value. Synths put 2 voltages on the input jack: one is 0V and the other the Reference Voltage (usually 3V or 5V). It the reads the value on the third cable, that can only be in the range from 0 to the Reference Voltage. The Pot on the pedal acts as a Voltage divider.

Does the 2x have any way to calibrate the pedal?

[weremole]

Not as far as I know - there's no reference to it in the manual at all. Nor have I found anything on the internet. The recommended expression pedal is pretty much always the EV-5.