New Bechstein Grand from ... Bechstein

2017/02/14 09:26:50

Mesh It will work as a sustain pedal in all probability, but not as any kind of expression controller. It's on or off and "temporarily latched on" (meaning while you hold it down). The polarity of the pedal may require you plugging it in and then turning on your keyboard, so it can "work out" which polarity to use.

Michael

2017/02/14 09:40:41

Mesh

Thanks Michael.......will try plugging it in & turn on the Alesis. I was watching some of those BBC2 vids and that's a very nice tool to have.......just no way I can justify buying that though (especially with my (lack of) keyboard skills).

2017/02/14 09:52:09

pentimentosound

My pleasure, Mesh. I still haven't got the BBC2, though I think it would be a blast to mess with. I, too, am a guitarist with less keyboard skills than I'd like to have! But I love to play mine and have done, for 50 years off and on. I doodle on them, everyday, but ought to take some lessons/advice on how to advance my skills "more and faster". I have 2 good friends who are expert at it, and would love to learn "a few (like billions!) things".

Good luck with the pedal. I'm sure it will work. Most keyboards have been able to "adjust to the pedal's polarity" for some time.
Michael

2017/02/14 15:26:57

soens

If you're playing while recording MIDI, most single pedals will work as a sustain (64) trigger. Pushing down adds a 127 cc (full ON). Lifting up adds a 0 cc (full OFF). In Sonar, any value above 0 will be read as full ON. Of course, you can add these values manually in PRV & STAFF view so a pedal isn't required, tho that can be pretty tedious.

The On/Off action is somewhat limiting as a real pedal can be controlled throughout the full range between ON and OFF, but few if any synths can do that.

Read up in your manual if there's any thing else it will do. My synth can use a double pedal (VFP2). The left one can be set to sostenuto (66), an on/off switch for the built in sequencer, or unused. The right one can be set to sustain (64) or an on/off switch for the built in sequencer. It also has a 2nd jack for CVP-1 pedal that can be set as a Volume (7) pedal, a Modulation (4) pedal, or a Touch controller which controls how hard the keys are played (soft, medium, firm, & hard).

Some synths can use a triple pedal (VFP3).

2017/02/14 15:48:18

soens

Mesh - here's a clip from your Alesis manual:

The QS keyboard has three back-panel pedal jacks, marked [SUS PEDAL], [PEDAL 1] and [PEDAL 2].

[SUS PEDAL] is designed to work with any standard momentary footswitch. It doesn’t matter whether the footswitch is normally open or closed, so long as you plug it into the jack before powering up your QS; the instrument will automatically sense the footswitch’s polarity and calibrate itself accordingly.

[PEDAL 1] and [PEDAL 2]. are designed to work with a Roland EV-5 volume pedal (or its equivalent).

The QS’s factory defaults assign sustain to the [SUS PEDAL] jack and overall instrument volume to the [PEDAL 1] jack, but you can change these settings at any time if you want to. There are lots of interesting possibilities to explore. A starter example: using a footswitch to turn vibrato on in a program, and using a volume-type pedal to

control vibrato speed.

If your sustain footswitch responds backwards (i.e., notes sustain unless the footswitch is pressed), then turn off your QS and make sure the footswitch plug is fully inserted into the [SUS PEDAL] jack. When it is, turn the instrument’s power back on while keeping your foot off the footswitch.

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