Expression ?

TamDB

Hi all, does anyone out there know anything about these,

Bespeco volume pedal VM 18 L, is it JUST a volume pedal, or can it do expression stuff as well ?

Cheers, Tam.

randomhandclaps

It is actually an expression pedal, not a guitar style volume pedal.  It just happens that when connected to a keyboard etc one of the most common expressions you can assign is volume. 

steamabacus

That is an 'expression' pedal - it should work for most applications. What were you planning on controlling with it?

siraxeman

yeah you can't use it on its own...it has to be a controller for another device..there is no other lead to input into it ie guitar in other jack out..its one ouput that plugs into another device and it will affect its parameters when you use it...so it talks to something else!!

TamDB

Thanks for the replies guys, I was thinking i could maybe use it on this:

Just for messing about at home, (I don`t think either of these items could be classed as particularly "professional" , if you get my drift ), SO perfectly suitable for me then .

 

ThePrettyDamned

Actually, that looks like it'd be really good fun...

TamDB

I hope so, but unfortunately neither of them is in my possession yet. I`m keeping my fingers crossed for Wednesday-ish, so i`ll just have to wait and see 

TamDB

While i`m at it, I actually have one of these,

but i think it IS just a volume pedal so i don`t think it would do what i`m after, or would it ?

steamabacus

You could use it if you made a y-cable with two mono jack plugs at one end and a single trs stereo jack plug at the other.

TamDB

Please excuse my ignorance, but which 2 sockets would i plug the 2 mono jacks into ?.

I`m guessing the in and out sockets of 1 of the channels of this, and the stereo one into the synth pedal ?

If this works it would be cheaper than buying the Bespeco pedal, and having quite a lot of Jock in my veins that is very appealing

steamabacus

Yes, that's right - either both the left channels or both the right. If the expression pedal is working 'backwards' as regards toe-up/toe-down you would just need to swap the two mono jacks around in the volume pedal.

[edit] Hang on! I've just realised I'm talking bollocks!
:-S

It's NOT a stereo jack you'll need, it would be a MONO jack that end as well. Tip would go to tip of one of the mono Y-pair, screen to the tip of the other of the mono Y-pair. I'll try and find a diagram.

TamDB

Feel free to talk bollocks if you like, I can understand that, i`ve been doing it for years, and i`d like to think i`m pretty good at it

It would be handy if you can  find a diagram, although i`m fairly good at driving a soldering iron, having some pics to follow always helps. Mind you, i think even I can understand your directions, (You`d have to be Really thick not to), so i may have a go at that as i have all of the relevant bits lying around here somewhere. Thanks for that, cheers, Tam.

TamDB

Synth pedal turned up today seems to be pretty good for the money, it`s a bit reluctant ti turn off for some reason when required, but a quick slap with the foot rather than a press seems to persuade it. It`s also going to need quite a bit of tweaking and fiddling with it`s knobs, (Ooo-er Mrs) to work out which does what, but that`s half the fun of these things

Thanks to steamabacus for the instructions to turn my vol pedal into an exp pedal, but unfortunately it didn`t work, (may well be something i`ve done wrong, wouldn`t surprise me), i`ll have another go later with a better bit of cable and plugs etc.

Now i`m off to have another little play with my new toy.

steamabacus

Not sure why that wouldn't work (at the very least I'd expect it to work as an extreme on/off if the pot value in the volume pedal was too far from what the Behringer expects).
You could try soldering a plug to bare cable and touching the conductor ends together - you should hear the filter changing between open- and short-circuit. You could also try with a stereo plug (try shorting between tip and ring, tip and sleeve, ring and sleeve). That should identify the two conductors the potentiometer needs to be connected between.

As for the switching, have you removed the switch face and checked everything is located properly inside? If I remember correctly, those Behringers have the battery access by removing the pedal face - underneath, there is a quite small rubber spur that locates onto the actual switch (which is itself quite small).

steamabacus

I've just looked up the BSY600 and the associated controller seems to be the Behringer FCV100.

As it happens, I've got an FCV100 - it's a dual purpose pedal that can be used as an expression pedal OR a guitar volume pedal (it has a small switch to convert between the two. The FCV100 is a stereo pedal like yours - so persevere with the experimenting and definitely try a stereo plug into the BSY600.

I can see no reason why you shouldn't be able to get your volume pedal to work with it.

I can have a look inside the FCV100 and try and see what the plug connections are if you can't get it working.

[edit}
I've just had a look at the BSY600 pdf manual and it states the EXP input requires a (stereo) trs plug.

ICBM

It will work with a stereo to 2x mono Y-cable.

Plug into both left or both right jacks. It will *probably* work with the left mono plug in the input jack and the right in the output, but it might be the other way round possibly. It shouldn't harm anything to try it the other way.

TamDB

Thanks guys, if I can get my head round that lot I may well have a go at it tomorrow.

I`m guessing you connect the tip and first ring of the stereo plug to the tips of the mono plugs, (maybe using a length of 2 core speaker flex ?), and don`t bother with screen, earth, negative or whatever it`s called  :-S

Edit: I have a length of stereo cable with plug attached, could i use that and split the screen to both of the mono jacks ?, (I`ll give it a try anyway )

ICBM

You need three-core cable. For a normal splitter the ground (usually the shield, although unshielded is probably OK so it would be the earth wire if you're using old mains cable or something) goes to the sleeves of *both* mono plugs, but for this application just one would do, since the grounds are connected inside the volume pedal.

TamDB

The stereo cable i`ve got, (with plug attached   ), has 1 x black, 1 x red, and is screened, so i`m assuming i just take the screen to the sleeve of one of the mono plugs ?

I`ll have a go at that then !