MIDI Expression Pedal questions

Bill_S

I use amp sims exclusively, and have been totally blown away by the new Neural DSP Petrucci - currently on a 14 day free trial. 

Can someone recommend a simple MIDI expression pedal that would work with this? 

Also, my audio interface is a Focusrite 6i6, and I am already using the MIDI I/O. How does the expression pedal hook up? Is it via MIDI cables or is there a USB option? 

Thank you!  

TheBigDipper

Not sure how helpful this is for you, as I've never tried hooking up an expression pedal directly to an audio interface or computer, but...  

The standard sort of expression pedal uses a TRS (tip-ring-sleeve or "stereo") cable. The device it is plugged into sends a voltage down one wire and measures the voltage that is returned from another - after the current has passed through the potentiometer in the pedal and been reduced by the amount of resistance in it, which varies according to the position of the treadle. In that way, the hardware it is plugged into can work out the 128 different values that it should be converted into for the MIDI software to use. 

Got a MIDI keyboard? The easiest thing might be to connect the expression pedal to your MIDI keyboard and connect that to your Focusrite via a MIDI cable. It should then pass the data through to your computer. I did that once a long time ago with a Presonus interface and into a Mac. There was a bit of latency, TBH. 

I've never used one, but I think there are adapters for expression pedals that will let you plug in the TRS cable at one end and send MIDI over USB into your computer. That means you'll be running the Focusrite in parallel and need two USB ports on the computer. USB hubs often don't work properly with audio data, I believe.

Oh, my HX FX didn't support a standard expression pedal. It needed a TR ("mono") cable and presumably relied on the potentiometer always being bang on spec regarding resistance or something extremely clever. So some expression pedals won't be TRS. 

Bill_S

Thanks for taking the time to post. It may not be the cheap option ( but neither is the Petrucci plug-in that I have now bought, or my several musicman guitars!) but have ordered one of these https://beatbars.com/en/home.html

Bill_S

Bill_S said:

Thanks for taking the time to post. It may not be the cheap option ( but neither is the Petrucci plug-in that I have now bought, or my several musicman guitars!) but have ordered one of these https://beatbars.com/en/home.html

Now installed and works like a treat. If anyone is looking for something along these lines, highly recommended 

TheBigDipper

A happy ending is always nice. Enjoy your playing!