foot controller polarity issue

[Josh C]

I know that there are probably not a lot of other keyboard players who do this, but for years, I have been using half damper pedals, such as the Yamaha FC3, As expression pedals. they work better for me for the kind of modulations I do with them. On the Rev 2, The polarity of the sustain pedal can be changed, but not the expression pedal, and my Yamaha petals are the wrong polarity. for whatever reason, on all my keyboards, when I use a half damper pedal as an expression pedal, I have to change the pedal polarity for it to work properly, but this is not possible on the Rev 2. this is not an issue when my Rev 2 is connected via MIDI to my Yamaha keyboard, but I don't want to have to use MIDI every time I want my pedals to work. What brand of half damper pedal should I get?

[maxter]

I don't think you necessarily have to change the polarity. Have you plugged directly into the Rev2 or are you connecting to your Tyros and sending the midi messages from there to the Rev2?

The Rev2 has a hardwired modulation slot for the expression pedal, and its Modulation Depth can be set to either negative or positive values. So if it is set to positive, try setting it to a negative value instead. If you have got the pedal you're using to work the way you want on the Tyros, I would suggest to plug it into the Tyros, and send the midi messages on to the Rev2. Then this solution should work.

You are not limited to only the hardwired modulation slot for the expression pedal, as the expression pedal can be assigned as a modulation source in any of the freely assignable slots. So you can have some modulations set to positive values, and others to negative values, to modulate different parameters in opposite directions, if you want to.

[Josh C]

when I am using midi with the Tyros it works fine, but when I connect it directly to the Rev 2, then the polarity is wrong. sometimes I have the Rev 2 set up upstairs and the Tyros downstairs, so I don't always want to use MIDI. The polarity is already changed on the Tyros, And I guess that's why it works with MIDI. if I could find a half damper pedal with reversible polarity or one with the right polarity, then I wouldn't have this issue every time I want to play my Rev 2 without connecting to my Tyros.

[jok3r]

when I am using midi with the Tyros it works fine, but when I connect it directly to the Rev 2, then the polarity is wrong. sometimes I have the Rev 2 set up upstairs and the Tyros downstairs, so I don't always want to use MIDI. The polarity is already changed on the Tyros, And I guess that's why it works with MIDI. if I could find a half damper pedal with reversible polarity or one with the right polarity, then I wouldn't have this issue every time I want to play my Rev 2 without connecting to my Tyros.

I used this pedal quite a long time on stage... it got broken after two years. But playing standing often results in putting my whole weight on this pedal... that is not what sustain pedals are made for. At home this pedal should last for ever.

https://www.thomannmusic.com/maudio_sp2.htm?sid=483da4fa0ffcf2a5a5078075b2a5045f&ref=intl&shp=eyJjb3VudHJ5IjoidXMiLCJjdXJyZW5jeSI6NywibGFuZ3VhZ2UiOjJ9&reload=1

[maxter]

I'm afraid that's just a sustain pedal with TS (tip, sleeve) cable connection. A halfdamper pedal has a TRS (tip, ring, sleeve) connection and sends continuous messages from 0-127 like an expression pedal.

As there doesn't seem to be too many half damper pedals by different brands, a possible solution could be an adapter which inverts the polarity. I don't know if anyone produces such a product, but if it exists it could be used with the headphone output on the Rev2 as well, to switch the left and right channels so that the headphone output reflects the other outputs, and not a mirror image as it is now.

Coupling two Y-adapters should also do the trick, one that breaks out the tip and ring to 2 mono cables, and then another Y-adapter which merges the 2 mono cables back to a TRS connection. Just standard stereo to 2 mono Y-adapters. Connecting these adapters together left to right, and right to left, should work.

This one connected to the damper pedal:
https://www.thomann.de/se/pro_snake_tpy_2003_bpp.htm

This one connected to the Rev2:
https://www.thomann.de/se/pro_snake_tpy_2003_jbb.htm

As they are marked with and black, connecting them together black to red and red to black, should invert the polarity the way you want.

However, I have never used an electronic half damper pedal, so I don't know exactly how it works. But from what I've read so far, as I understand it, I don't think it's possible to get the same results when using it directly with the Rev2, as when using it via your Yamaha. In that it can't be used for sustain, but only the continuous expression message. And I don't think there's a workaround for that, other than going through the Yamaha. As the Rev2 isn't designed to work with a half damper.

[jok3r]

Oh sorry... I skipped over the "half" part... yes, then the M-Audio will not work.

[Josh C]

most of the time I program my Rev 2 upstairs on its own stand because the two teer stand I currently have does not work well with my set up. The second tier is too high and it hurts my arm after a while. it's not bad for just playing the Rev 2, But it's bad for someone who uses the value knob as much as I do. for now, I think I'm just going to use my Yamaha FC7 expression pedal for programming the Rev 2, even the calibration is off, And at gigs I'll just connect the Rev 2 via MIDI and use the half damper pedals. thanks for the suggestion about the MAudio pedal. Even though it doesn't have the half damper feature, I could probably use it while programming.

by the way, to clarify, Half damper petals do not work on the Rev 2 when connected to the sustain jack, but they do work when connected to the expression pedal jack. it is possible to get the half damper effect on the Rev 2 by setting the expression pedal to modulate VCA release. It's a pretty cool effect and I've used it on a couple programs.

[maxter]

Sure, you can use it to modulate VCA release. It's just that you don't get a proper sustain message when using a half damper connected to the Rev2, that's the only issue. If you're fine without it, those Y-adapter cables I linked will do the job on inversing the polarity.

[Josh C]

thank you. I'll look into that.

[maxter]

I did a search for ”TRS polarity adapter” and this popped up:

https://www.ramblefx.com/polarity-adapter