Nord User Forum

[weremole]

Hey,

I've used a Yamaha Fc-7 expression pedal for my NS EX for a couple of months and decided to buy one for my 2x because of the good experience with the EX. However I seem to have this problem where a fully depressed pedal does not correspond with the wheel turned to the minimum (it stops somewhere above that point). The wheel itself works as it should and it also works when I use the pedal to send a midi signal to control the parameter (as in apparently it sends the whole 0-127 midi range) from the EX. I concluded from that, that there might be something not working right with the resistance of the pedal and the signal the 2x receives. I remember I had to select the correct pedal on the EX (FC7) to make it work but I cannot find anything like that on the 2x.

I also have the pedal setting to 'E.of' to make it mimic the wheel but no avail.

Any idea whether this is right and what can I do to make it correspond to the full range of the wheel? Help is appreciated

[Mr_-G-]

I think in the FC-7 there is an adjustable "fortissimo" pedal position and that is where it send the max value. So try pressing it further. It is in the manual of the pedal how to adjust it.

[weremole]

I've seen that part in the manual - I unscrewed the holder from the pedal earlier to see if I could get the full range without interference of any physical restraints of the holder. The same phenomenon still persists. AFAIK the fortissimo only plays a role in the high range of the signal - my problem has to do with the low part (i.e. releasing a gas pedal).

The pedal goes to about 20% of the full range while with the wheel or MIDI I can go to 0%.

I see I say 'depressed' in the OP but I mean pedal to minimum value - sorry!

[weremole]

This seems to be a compatibility issue. I've been investigating a bit about expression pedal keyboard compatibility, resistances, response and linear/logarithmic curves but I can't really figure out why this does result in the bottom range being absent. I've checked the Midi output and indeed it travels normally between 27-28 to 127 but it does not got below 27-28. When plugged into the stage EX it works fine.

This chart I found in a pdf states there is a problem between NL2x and almost every pedal except the EV-5.

http://oi66.tinypic.com/mjx2fo.jpg

I wonder if the ashby fc-7xII adapter would solve this problem - it claims that it can make the fc-7 work with older Clavia gear but it seems to be based on some polarity workaround.

[Quai34]

Thanks for your reply, I was thinking to buy an FC7 as an expression pedal as it works very well with my Stage 2 but was not expecting this issue....then I will buy an EV5 instead....

[weremole]

To be honest I'm not really warm about the EV-5 - from what I heard it's quite a flimsy pedal for a rather steep price(it costs the same as the Yamaha FC7 from the biggest webstore here). I'm still unsure whether what I suspect is actually going on since the symptom is so odd. I read plenty of stories on the internet regarding compatibility issues between the FC-7 and specific keyboards. But none of them are directly talking about non-responsiveness in the 'heel down' part of the pedal. I've also did not find anyone talking about the FC-7 specifically with the NL2x. It almost makes me question my own conclusions.

[Mr_-G-]

Here is another possibility: the pot got loose and is slightly rotated (or badly assembled) so the minimum position of the pedal does not correspond to the minimal position of the pot sweeper. That way you could reach the maximum slightly earlier but not the minimum.
Not sure how likely is this to happen, but when replacing a pot in an old pedal I had to adjust the pot several times to make sure I was reaching the minimum.

Without having to open it, you could check what resistance there is between the various contacts (tip, ring and shield) at minimum and maximum positions and post them here for comparison with others.

[weremole]

How do you measure that? With a multimeter?

I appreciate the input but I am pretty sure it is not a problem of the pedal. I have two FC-7 pedals: they both give the full, expected 0-127 signal to the stage EX and they both give the botched response to the Nord Lead 2x (27-28 to 127).

The 2x must be calibrated to a different signal and I suppose my options are either to buy another pedal or implement a workaround. I'm not going to solder in my pedal (since that probably results in my having to buy a new one anyway ). The other options are some sort of adapter to change the signal that the 2x receives: afaik the only one that exists is the FC-7xII which is supposed to make FC-7 compatible with keyboards made for EV-5's. However I am to inexperienced to figure out whether this is indeed fixing the problem that exists between the FC7 and the NL2x.

[Mr_-G-]

Yes you measure it with a multimeter.
The adaptor you mention just swaps the ring and shield terminals. Nothing magic.
You can do this also with a pair of (male and female) stereo splitters connected like these:
http://barrysmixedreviews.blogspot.co.u ... 7_313.html

[weremole]

I have seen that - they're discussing it in more detail here: http://www.soundonsound.com/forum/showf ... ber=322584

I don't really understand what is going on in the electric circuit and what exactly happens to the signal when you change the ring and the sleeve. It sounds like it will 'swap' the signal and reverse it like reversing a sustain pedal?

Anyhow in that thread the OP describes something like it:

"When I reviewed CME's UF8 keyboard for SOS August 2005 I plugged in my existing pedal and found it only generated MIDI outputs data between #127 ($7F) in the full 'on' position and #70 ($46) when I pulled it right back to the full 'off' position. However, it generated the full #127 ($7F) to #0 ($0) swing when plugged into other devices including my Kenton Control Freak."

It does sound like what I'm seeing with the FC7/NL2x - part of the range is absent. Does swapping the ring and sleeve make a 50 kOhm Fc7 behave like a 10 kOhm EV-5? It sometimes feels like magic to me haha.