Understanding Reed Switch/Pedal Board Circuitry

This is probably a simplistic question to many on here but having researched the forums I have never really gotten the logic regarding pedalboard reed switch circuitry. Does a reed switch simply inform the midi encoder board that a pedal has been depressed or is there some magical signal prior to the reed switch adding midi information to this signal? I am about to add midi to a electronically naked pedalboard so my thought is to wire as follows:

Ground bus wire above all 32 pedals. One end of reed switch attached to that ground bus wire. Opposite end of reed switch attached to wire which then terminates at the midi encoder board at the appropriate pin for that pedal note value.

Obviously, reed switches would need to be stabilized in place and magnet at end of pedal adjusted to make the appropriate connection. The midi encoder being used in the Roman Sowa MBBS.

Am I thinking correctly or have I missed something in the "how things work" area?

Thanks for anyone's thoughts!!!!!

Tom

Hi Tom

Yes - you are thinking correctly.
A reed switch is simply a switch enclosed in a glass capsule, so it requires a magnet rather than a finger to open and close it.

Personally I prefer an 8 x 4 matrix set-up rather than a bus bar and 32 individual wires because it is aesthetically neater, but what you are proposing is fine.
Go for it - and good luck!

Graham

Thanks Graham, appreciate your time. i have heard of matrix but have no experience there but have done 32 individual wires in the past. I will look for some resources on how to do a matrix wiring before I actually take the soldering iron to it. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to ruin anything I had that was partially working.

Tom

Take a look at the Midi Boutique reed switch wiring loom and their Midi encoder. Makes it a whole load easier.
Happy to send you pictures if you PM me.

Thanks. I certainly will look at that!

Tom

Hi Tom,

I also have done several pedal board conversions and find that the hard part is the making of the frame to hold the switches and the placement of the switches and the magnets. Have tried lots of ways that did not work well and a few which have. Matching the reed switch and the magnets is also a challenge as is placing the magnet with respect to the switch for best operation.

If I have reeds and magnets already in place on the donor organ, I leave them alone and just rewire the switches into four groups of 8 switches. Sometime I need to add diodes, sometimes they are already there. I have made a PCB to help with that process. I use the Highly Liquid CPU encoder for that job. The HL-CPU is $49.99 but it must be programmed via MIDI and the learning curve is fairly steep but I can probably help with that too.

If you want to use the Midi Boutique mpc32xrs and have 32 switches already installed, they have a bo34 (under accessories) which allows you to put the wires in order with out soldering. If you do not have switches the kit of switches and the wire loom of reed switches plus the encoder is available for about €140.00 and with the exchange to $ is about 15% higher. Good way to go if you are short on time and/or knowledge.

Please let me know if I can help. My phone number is on my website too.

Best regards,

Thomas

MIDI Hardware does a ready made pedal reed switch system. Buy the right bits (ask Roman), then attach the board to your pedalboard and magnets to the pedals. Saves a lot of faffing with individual reed switches (which are very delicate), and isn't very expensive either.

Hello Tom:
Most of our colleague hauptwerkians use reed switches in pedalboard...Please let me tell you that I have used mechanical microswitches in my pedal for more that 14 years (when I installed a pedal to a Yamaha keyboard) and never have had an issue.
You might see:
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Luis

Just wanted to say thanks to all you learned folks for helping me understand how the reed switch actually works with a pedalboard and let you know that my problem has been resolved. Apparently in my efforts to change the originally faulty reed switch I managed to short something out while testing with my multimeter and damaged the circuit on the midi encoder related to the "b" note. I did have organ powered up while I went probing around for continuity and so I am assuming that i must have caused that. I am thinking I should have left organ off completely and apparently overloaded the connection between "b" pedal and board, but being "old" and "stiff" and not wanting to get up and down from floor level didn't think of the risk involved in poking around with the meter with power engaged!

The encoder for the pedalboard which came with console was a "home built" one by the previous owner and is a rather mysterious looking article. So, since I had plenty of space on the MBBS I purchased several years ago when I began my original HW journey I bravely cut all the wires, replaced and adjusted all the reed switches and attached them to my Sowa MBBS and low and behold it all runs smooth as silk!!!!!! I do have to comment tho that because of the pedalboard design and how the magnets are attached coupled with minimal soldering skills this was indeed a white knuckle job!!!!! I think I gained some skills in the process tho so its all good!

Just thought I share the resolution in case it might help another novice with limited skill in their journey!

Thanks Again.

Tom