tiny expression pedal to use with elements.

[Ryan]

Right on, Brad! Well sir, howsabout you shoot me an email and let me know what knob style you'd like and where you'd like it and I'll whip it up!

[Eric!]

Cool Greigy, thanks! Hope you dig the RRR! (you get a pyramids one?)

Yep, it sure is pyramids! Traded a Heliotrope and some moneyz for it. I currently have it pre fuzz and honestly, I can't work out what these ILF pre fuzz reverb homies are on about - it's all about the post fuzz love! But I can't move it yet because the power cable I have is too short haha - so I'm only using it on clean parts at the moment. But I've got some more on the go soon. I don't want to hijack this thread any more than necessary but it is a shockingly natural sounding pedal, I like it at least seven times more than other reverb pedals, probably even eight times. I've got a Z.Cat Big reverb on the board as well for "was-that-a-guitar-I'm-not-sure-it-was-hidden-in-a-wall-of-ridiculous-reverb" special effect style verb, so now I've got both bases covered. Life is good! Can't work out whether I like H1 or H2 better, which is keeping me awake at nights.

MOAR THREAD HIJACKING

It...was a good trade. I don't ...GET reverb. I've had an RRR like 3 times. This Heliotrope though..freakin crazay.

I want a little box!

[goroth]

[skwidbol]

how about a potentiometer with a soldered Jack at the bottom that plugs straight at the side of the elements. and the Potentiometer cap would be big enough and higher that the Element's casing so that sliding it with your foot would be easy? the potentiometer cap would also need super luminous thingy around it that would be indicating how much have you adjusted it?

[Ryan]

Welcome to ILF, skwidbol!

That's a pretty cool idea, plugging the pot with a big knob attached to a plug right into the mix jack... I don't love the power and lighting requirement idea since the mix control is just passive and is much easier/simpler without all that... but a big knob you plug into a mix jack is a pretty cool idea!

[Ryan]

Here's Brad's white sparkle mix knob in a box:

And Andy's soft touch buffer in a 1590A:

Thanks dudes!

I'm out of white sparkle now but if people want more I'll get more, no problemo, just takes a couple weeks.

[allicio]

I just scared the bejesus outa poor Ryan with the buffer!
All my pedals are true bypass and I wanted a buffer to maintain the signal right the way through the chain. Unfortunately in my ignorance I'd always kinda assumed a buffer actually boosted the signal through the chain! I know doh!!
So when Ryan sent me a pic of the above buffer last night I then proceded to ask how much boost it had! I know I know so I then had poor Ryan thinking I'd wanted a boost and not a buffer and that he'd built me the wrong pedal!
Big doh!!!
So after explaining to me exactly how a buffer does work all is now right with the world and panick over!
I'll keep me gob shut next time!!

[goroth]

You won't regret it. A good buffer and a bunch of TB pedals is the best combo out there.

[Nikkiwebstershooters]

Heya Ryan, another quickie here about the Elements and expression pedals...

I have an M-Audio Exp, which is cheapo plastic, but works with the Elements. I got an Expressionator in the mail this morning, but the Elements won't work when plugged into the Expressionator even if the same M-Audio expression pedal is controlling all the outputs on the Expressionator. The Expressionator has internal 0V +5V switches for each output, but still nothing. I've seen someone controlling their Frazz with the Expressionator before, so ima just wondering what's happening here, or if i'm doing something wrong...

[Ryan]

Haha Andy! Never keep your gob shut, buddy, always ask! It was a good question.. and better to ask before I'd shipped it... it totally wouldn't have been the end of the world if you'd wanted a boost instead of a buffer, just a little more wait time and probably a bigger box. It was really tough squeezing a soft touch buffer into the 1590A... would be so much easier with a proper pcb rather than perf board.

I just would have felt bad building you the wrong thing!

I think it'll work great for Andy though and totally solve the tone loss involved with a whole bunch of true bypass pedals. So thanks again, Andy, and I hope you dig it!

Hey NWS, nice to see you around!

The Frazz and the Elements both have exactly the same mix control and it apparently does work with the Expressionator but you have to be using it as a passive resistance. You can't send a control voltage into the mix, no ground or 5V, it won't work, it has to just be a passive resistance. I don't know how one uses an Expressionator or what its controls are but apparently it can do that. (It was Behndy that made the video with the Frazz and Expressionator, let's ask him for details)

[Nikkiwebstershooters]

Cheers, Ryan. You kinda lost me at passive resistance... Would that mean the 0V setting? I can't see where i'm going wrong, seeing as in the video with the Frazz it's just an expression pedal into Expressionator, and TRS cable from Expressionator into Frazz...

Where's this Behndy character?

[behndy]

boop. hey there WayTooManyLettersCloseTogetherWithoutSpaces. how you meng?

i'm stoooooooopid lazy. too much so to dive back through posts. yay me.

what problem are you having? with my Frazz and Elements i WAS just running expression pedal -> Expressionator -> Doc. Sci Magic Goodness Boxes. but they worked the same without the Expressionator in the middle.

whassuppers?

[Nikkiwebstershooters]

I'm getting getting an awful scratchy, 8-bit sorta noise and no signal really passes through my entire chain. Just expression pedal > Elements, no problemo, but expression pedal > Expressionator > Elements is a no go. The cables are fine and work with the other effects i'm controlling.

One thing i noticed, Ryan. When i was trying to control the Elements and i was getting nothing but bad noise, the LED light slowly dimmed until off. I'm wondering if i fucked the Elements expression input from connecting the Boss FS-5U a while back...? Although, if i'd have fucked it completely then i wouldn't be able to still use the M-Audio Expression that i'm using.

Behndy, you have one of original ones, right? I'm wondering if there is anything different about the Mission version. It seems odd to me that we're both doing the same thing, but getting different results.

[allicio]

You won't regret it. A good buffer and a bunch of TB pedals is the best combo out there.

Cheers mate. This is certainly my plan!!

[Ryan]

NWS, what you described is what happens when you ground part of the mix circuit.. that's the weird sounds you get.

All the mix control is in the Elements that an expression pedal is taking over for is a 50k pot. You just want whatever you plug in there to replace a 50k pot. A passive resistance, just a variable resistor floating in space, and that's all that will work. No voltage, no 0-5V, no ground, no power, just 50k Ohms, or around there, of variable resistance.

If your pedal mix knob still works normally, NWS, then you haven't hurt anything, cause that's all the mix jack is... 3 connections to replace a 50k mix pot. It's just 3 physical connections on a jack that either connect to the pedal's mix knob when nothing is plugged in or connect to whatever you plug into it.

I assumed the Expressionator has some output that isn't a voltage, maybe an LDR setup and you can use the resistance value. That's how you'd use it with my pedals, a resistance output, not a voltage and not ground.

I can't understand why people make products to be used with expression inputs but they make them powered or go to ground on one connection.. that's not the right way to do it and won't work with a ton of expression inputs. If it's powered it's a control voltage, if one lug goes to ground it's a volume pedal, and if it's a resistor floating in space it can be an expression pedal.