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[on:]

G'day,
A quick look around tells me I'm way out of my depth as a noob to midi, so any & all assistance is welcome!

Basically I would like to utilise one of an FCB-1010's expression pedals to remotely control volume of an analog signal. I would be hoping for a compact solution that needs at least a midi-in, audio in & out (both 1/4"). A nice to have would be some method of selecting the midi channel in which to receive the continuous controller input.

One solution exists here (http://www.prostage....hop/shop_1.html), but I don't have €198 to throw at this solution.  Has anything similar been done here?  If not, where might I start?

Peter Sharp
Ballarat Australia

[Reply #1 on:]

Ah, good question. You can do it with a regular expression pedal, which is just a pot inside a pedal, and plug into an Analog Input of an Arduino. Them you just use a resistor to the Midi Output and there you go, much cheaper indeed.

So, the first step would be getting an Arduino 2009/Uno and check what's the pot your pedal uses, and how the wires are connected to the plug. Usually its just ground+voltage+output, so a stereo connector, but I could be wrong. You would need to connect output to Arduino Analog Input 0, the first Analog Input on the board.

The sketch I could do for you if you want, its very simple. Midi Output is also simple to do. There's some info around this site on how to do that, but its usually just a resistor attached to Serial Output of the Arduino Board. (TX) Midi Input is what gets complicated, but that's not what you need.

A switch to select midi channel is also easy but will add a bit more work into this.

Let me know how you are with all this info so we can start, I don't mind giving you a hand. ;-)

Wk

[Reply #2 on:]

I realise that solution would definitely be easier, but it doesn't really suit my situation. Let me explain. I have been piecing together my bass synth rig over the last 12 months. Current setup is:

Bass -> Roland GK-3B split pickup -> Axon AX100 (guitar-to-midi converter) -> Midi Solutions Merge -> Roland XV-2020 synth -> Eden ENX-260 (Aux input)
and:
Behringer FCB-1010 midi foot controller -> Midi Solutions Merge -> etc
also:
The raw bass signal goes from the Axon straight to the Eden's instrument input, which can be muted via a foot switch (that doesn't affect the aux/synth level).

The FCB-1010 has 2 adjacent midi expression pedals. One of these is used to control the synth volume. Where it's appropriate for me to run a mixed signal, I'd like to be able use the 2nd expression pedal to control the volume of the raw bass signal - whether each line independently or both in unison. Hence my desire to operate a midi-controlled analog volume unit.

Peter

[Reply #3 on:]

Good news: I sent a query to Tom Scarff about Miduino kits, and his reply was that this kit (http://tomscarff.110mb.com/midi_light_dimmer/midi_light_dimmer.htm) can be easily adapted to control audio volume :-)

Peter