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Expression pedal use with MIDI controller


Robert Bone

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Howdy.  I have a Roland A-800 Pro, which has a quarter-inch port for an expression pedal.

I also have a Behringer FC600 volume/expression pedal, that I would like to be able to use to control MIDI data, such as volume, for a soft synth that is triggered by the A-800 Pro MIDI controller.

I cannot seem to get this to work, even though I am using a stereo (TRS) cable to connect the Behringer pedal to the expression pedal port of the Roland MIDI controller, which is per the scant documentation for the Behringer pedal.

Anyone have any ideas?

Bob Bone

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G’day Robert, long time no speak.

I know with various pedals that use a 1/4” TS (2 wire) plug that polarity is not uniform across all of them. Could that be an issue.

I remember XLR plugs also present with 2 of 3 pins wired differently than what is today considered correct. Could it be that simple?

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2 hours ago, Michael Vogel said:

G’day Robert, long time no speak.

I know with various pedals that use a 1/4” TS (2 wire) plug that polarity is not uniform across all of them. Could that be an issue.

I remember XLR plugs also present with 2 of 3 pins wired differently than what is today considered correct. Could it be that simple?

Howdy, Michael.  I have a friend that lives fairly close, who is looking to see if he has any TRS 1/4" cables, and if he has one or more, I will try them out, to see if that fixes the issue. I will read the A-800 Pro manual later this afternoon, to see if anything applies to the issue.

Take care, I will post the results of any testing I do, but it may be a day or two......

Bob Bone

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Oddly, expression pedals aren't universal.

I have multiple swell/expression pedals but most are rarely used because they don't work with everything. The one that does get used is a cheap plastic one from M-Audio. It squeaks and it moves around on the floor because it's so light (a constant frustration on stage). But it works with everything (switchable polarity) and can even be used as an inline volume pedal. 29 bucks from Sweetwater. When used as an expression controller, it needs a 1/4" TRS cable.

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On 1/21/2023 at 10:45 PM, chris.r said:

Does A-800 need to set it up in the settings somewhere? I roughly remember years ago pluggin expression pedal into RD-300 didn't work out of the box, had to surf through the menus to make it work.

I will review the manual later tonight

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