You're looking for an expression pedal and instead got a volume pedal. The BVP 2200 is a stereo volume pedal - 2 analog signals in, 2 out. So the use for this pedal would be to take your, as one example, Assign L&R - feed them into this pedal - then the output of the pedal going to a downstream mixer or powered speakers so you can control the volume with your foot (analog method).

That doesn't mean you cannot rewire the volume pedal externally to make an expression pedal. See:

Instead of a custom cable that looks like this - you could use adapters (1/4 inch phono TS adapters that have an RCA connection (female) on the back - two of them - two RCA cables male to male - and one 1/4 inch "stereo" TRS adapter with two RCA connections on the back). Locally, I can find these at Radio Shack or Fry's or Micro Center. Likely other places - sometimes even the dollar store has some of these parts depending on the store.

"Stereo" TRS Adapter: https://www.radioshack.com/products/gold-plated-y-adapter-stereo-phone-jack-to-phono-plugs
TS Adapter (need 2): https://www.radioshack.com/products/radioshack-gold-plated-phono-to-mono-adapter
Standard RCA cable (choose length): https://www.radioshack.com/products/12-ft-stereo-patch-cable

I'm assuming the BVP doesn't have cables coming out and you have to supply your own TS-to-TS ("guitar") cables.

20k is not the right POT on the inside, but if this is your only option, you may be able to get by. There's 2 pots and you're going to want to set the smaller one (trim) all the way to "zero". The right pot on the inside is 50k (log). What you'll find is that in the end you're only able to get about half-way (not full swing). If you want full swing, you'll have to hack the inside of the pedal and change out the POT hoping the electronics store you go to has a 50k (or greater) POT.

... if you want to deal with the pedal and not mod it, you'll have to mod all performances that use superknob so that superknob at around value of 60 is considered superknob at 100%. It can be done - and amount of work depends on how many performances you're dealing with. There's not a global "scale my superknob" option.

You could also rewire the two internal POTs so they are in series. They are both setup as voltage dividers as-is, so you cannot do this external. This would give you a 40k effective POT instead of 50k - so you'd still only see max around 107 instead of 127 out of superknob.

Personally, I would have had an FC7 overnight shipped from somewhere relatively close by. Maybe even two - one to keep as a spare and one to place in the hands of couriers in the future.

Jason,

Thanks for your response.

I managed to get the Boston pedal working ok with the Super Knob. But I want to get it to do Scene change too, for some performances. It doesnt seem to work for anything except super knob control. In Utility Scene CC is set to the default, 92. And if I edit my performance to go into Control->Control number, I set FC2 to 92 instead of Super Knob - and would expect to the the scenes change as I press it - nothing.

I am in Ireland and have called a few of the big shops - none have an FC7 in stock, so overnighting is not an option.

The FC3A also works but its spring loaded.

If you have the Boston Pedal working (and somehow have full swing 0-127) then I guess you're past that hurdle.

I haven't tried using the pedal for scene change. Your FC300 is providing MIDI directly, so now you're in new territory. I do know now we can use CC for scene change and we can set FC to change CC - so theoretically foot control for scenes may work - I just haven't tried it.

You're going to have to check the usual suspects like CC, FC, and expression/vol filters on MIDI receive (per performance).

I checked the MIDI receive - but that's on a per part basis. And they all seem to be on - don't know why CC 92 isn't doing a Scene change - I think that's what I used with me FC 300 - but it was coming in on MIDI, not from the foot controller.

On the bright side, the foot controller on FC2 does solve that previous issue we were discussing - about not being able to "grab" the super knob position. 🙂

I'm going to have to attempt to do this gig using the scene buttons with my fingers by the looks of things. Will have to get practising that.

I wonder if when you assign the FC to CC 92 if you can see CC92 come out the 5-pin MIDI DIN port when MIDI mode is set to "MIDI" (not USB). I'd first check when set to USB if it comes out using the PC and MIDI-OX. Then assume the same results when switching to 5-pin. And if I see CC 92 with the foot pedal, then I'd take MIDI OUT of Montage and feed it back to MIDI IN just to see if scenes start working.

Then there'd be other work to do in order to keep MIDI messages from possibly conflicting. Maybe zone everything to output to part 16 with an empty part 16 - which would place the outgoing messages into the incoming "bit bucket".

I'm guessing the CC needs to target MIDI channel 1 to affect scenes. Not sure if scene is an omni-channel receive. The data list hasn't been updated for some of these new features.

... or maybe try the other way around - set scene CC to 11 and leave the pedal as default (expression = CC 11). Do this without the MIDI loopback at first. I do see the FC spits out CC11 on MIDI out - so if internally it wasn't routed (not sure why it wouldn't be) - I could force it back in the MIDI in.

Jason
I'm not in a position to try anything like that at the moment. I have travelled to Ireland for a gig and the courier lost my bag containing the fc-300 as well as all my cables. I don't have any MIDI cables. So I am trying to piece something together for the gig tomorrow. I will try it when I get home after the gig but for now, trying to scrape by with what I can.

The Foot controller doesn't seem to work with CC 11 either. So only super knob control works, which is strange. You'd think if the hardware was working for Super knob control, then the other CC numbers would just be a software setting. Maybe I missed something but I can't figure it out.

Thanks again for your help.

Sorry about your lost gear. You should (at your convenience) lodge a complaint with the major stores and with Yamaha UK/Ireland about the unavailability of FC7 Pedals. Having the right gear for the job avoids all the head scratching and cludegy fixes.

You're struggling unnecessarily. I cannot predict how any other brand of Foot Control pedal will work... (do these Pedals claim they work with Yamaha synths? I'm just curious)...

Here is some info that may help:

If you assign the Super Knob and create a conflict that causes an issue, you will see an exclamation point indicating that whatever is sending that particular Control Number is now overridden. For example, AsgnKnob1 defaults to sending cc17, if you set the Super Knob CC = 17 it will appear "17!" Which indicates that AsgnKnob1 is now not available Out via MIDI.

The Super Knob will override any other Control Number... with one exception.
The only assignment that overrides the Super Knob is the Scene CC number.
If you set the Scene CC to the same value as the Super Knob you will see the "!" And the Super Knob is now not available Out via MIDI.

Desperate times sometimes call for creative solutions - so just trying to cover the bases hoping something works for you. If you're down to pushing scene buttons sounds like you may have some technical practice to do. I have marked in my reminder lead sheets where to push scene buttons that I lean on before I have the motions memorized. You may need to reorder the scenes if scene 2, for example, is too far away. That's why I start with scene 8 and work my way backwards (easier reach).

I don't use MIDI cables myself on the gig - but I do have a pair in my backpack. I also don't use many of the adapters I still keep around in the backpack just in case I do need them. I can't afford to be redundant with my keyboard (weight, cost) - so I only bring one to the gig. But otherwise, most all of my gear (cables, adapters, etc) have redundant spares I carry. Doesn't help right now, though what could have been done in terms of redundancy.

I get that you have to be resourceful with what you have - including having to use pedals that aren't supposed to work with Montage. You have no other options but to make due. As of today, there's no way to go back in time and put the FC-300 in your carry-on bag or go back in time and get two FC7s. So my approach is trying to work within the limitations you're faced with.

As you've described - you're likely going to have to push scene buttons this gig - so continue practicing that. Unless an FC-300 drops from the sky over there. January in Dublin, someone was selling one on classifieds. Looks like they may have sold it for 110 Euro. There's a guitarist in Ireland "Magic" that has an FC-300. He lists his email address.

... this place claims to sell the Reflex pedal which can be programmed to send CC out a MIDI port:

Music Maker Ltd
29 Exchequer Street
Dublin 2
Ireland
Phone: 353 01 677 9004
info@musicmaker.ie

http://www.sourceaudio.net/products/toolblox/reflex_universal_exp_controller.php

The pedal is an interesting swiss army knife of features. You get an analog expression pedal output (in fact, 3 with 3 different POT values - one of them as 50k which "matches" the FC7). And it can be set to modulate as well. Probably lots of fancy things to program using the USB port.

Correction - you get 3 analog ports which can be individually configured. Each one can be 50k if you want. You also get taper choices - it seems like linear and log are available - so theoretically - you can "100%" match the FC7 using this pedal on the analog side. Then you could also match the FC-300's MIDI output on the MIDI side. With 128 settings for storing configurations - seems like many interesting possibilities with this pedal. And MIDI in seems to indicate you can switch profiles using MSB/LSB+PC so you could have the keyboard tell the pedal what profile to use on a performance-by-performance basis. I haven't cracked open the documentation - so there may be more (or less) that can be done. Very interesting pedal, nonetheless.

I think where the FC7 "wins" is in its throw, however. The universal pedal seems to have a dunlap wah amount of rotational angle swing where the FC7 has many more degrees - giving the FC7 more precision since there is less value change per degree change (which is better in my opinion). That said, the FC7 doesn't have all the bells and whistles that could be useful in the swiss army knife approach. Instead of two FC7s - I may consider something like the universal pedal for one and FC7 for a second.

Vs the FC-300 the universal pedal doesn't have the switch board - so it's not a complete replacement.

The Boston foot controller comes with no documentation at all. So it doesn't make any claims about compatibility with anything. I will sell it on ebay after this gig, and will decide what to do from there in the event that UPS don't manage to find my Roland FC 300.

BTW one of the shops I spoke to in Ireland said that they had an "issue" with Yamaha and wouldn't stock their equipment. I don't know what that is about. He said none of the shops in Ireland would stock Yamaha equipment and suggested I try London. Ironically - that's where I had flown in from 🙂

I'm about 75 miles from Dublin, in a town called Kilkenny with rehearsal, sound check and gig coming up today so have to stick with what I have for now. I only use scene change for one of the songs in my set, to control an arp change - I think I can manage it with the buttons this time. I use Super Knob all the time so having a foot controller to do that is the main issue.

Thanks for all the advice

Sean

Xmusic (xmusic.ie) seems to sell some Yamaha - at least the MX, Reface, and a digital piano. Nord and Roland are way more represented there, though. The Sound Shop (soundshop.ie) seems to have more Yamaha selection - Tyros/CP4/Clavinovas/Mixers/Horns/Guitars/Pianos.

At any rate - sounds like you have it under control.

On the cheap - you can replace your FC-300 with a Behringer FCB1010. Mostly the same thing - few differences here and there. Some better with either. I like the Behringer can have its firmware updated with 3rd party offerings that enhance the feature-set vs. stock.

I don't know if the "toe switch" (like dunlop crybaby wah pedals' on/off) is a good or bad thing for the FC-300. It's one of the differences.