Pedal note intermittent
Pedal note intermittent
I have a note (E2) in the pedal that started acting up yesterday.
when not used for a bit or starting up, you press and hold down and nothing plays. If you do this several times, it plays after a delay, if you repeat playing the pedal it will work to where it plays when you strike it.
Don't play that not for a bit and it returns to the delay.
This is a classic Midi Works pedal board that I bought used 6 years ago. It has played fine and I am not a midi technician by any means. I am feeling like there is something wrong with the connection somehow.
Any guidance on what to do or look at would be greatly appreciated.
Scott
when not used for a bit or starting up, you press and hold down and nothing plays. If you do this several times, it plays after a delay, if you repeat playing the pedal it will work to where it plays when you strike it.
Don't play that not for a bit and it returns to the delay.
This is a classic Midi Works pedal board that I bought used 6 years ago. It has played fine and I am not a midi technician by any means. I am feeling like there is something wrong with the connection somehow.
Any guidance on what to do or look at would be greatly appreciated.
Scott
Re: Pedal note intermittent
So I went to the troubleshooting guide for the pedal board.
It says if one or more of the keys do not produce a MIDI sound and the others are fine.
Check the connectors on the JP1 and JP4 of the MKSC-4A Circuit board. Did that they are fine. Maybe loose or damaged wires. Everything was tight etc.
Now E2 will not sound at all.
Does anybody have anything?? It would be greatly apprecaited.
One note on the entire pedal board.
Scott
It says if one or more of the keys do not produce a MIDI sound and the others are fine.
Check the connectors on the JP1 and JP4 of the MKSC-4A Circuit board. Did that they are fine. Maybe loose or damaged wires. Everything was tight etc.
Now E2 will not sound at all.
Does anybody have anything?? It would be greatly apprecaited.
One note on the entire pedal board.
Scott
- gary.chapman
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Re: Pedal note intermittent
My recollection is that the descending pedal passes a magnet, the position of which is adjustable. Having you tried moving the magnet a wee bit in one direction or another?
SKresge wrote:So I went to the troubleshooting guide for the pedal board.
It says if one or more of the keys do not produce a MIDI sound and the others are fine.
Check the connectors on the JP1 and JP4 of the MKSC-4A Circuit board. Did that they are fine. Maybe loose or damaged wires. Everything was tight etc.
Now E2 will not sound at all.
Does anybody have anything?? It would be greatly apprecaited.
One note on the entire pedal board.
Scott
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Re: Pedal note intermittent
I have the same problem with my pedalboard. In my case I had some bad joints to the reed switches. Jiggling them a bit worked until I broke one completely. I've replaced that but now others are temperamental. I swear when I get this sorted I'm never moving the pedalboard again!
Re: Pedal note intermittent
I didn't, but after your post I did play around with it and got it to where it was working like the others, it would sound at same breaking point.gary.chapman wrote:My recollection is that the descending pedal passes a magnet, the position of which is adjustable. Having you tried moving the magnet a wee bit in one direction or another?
The problem is when it gets inactive or not played for a while, it will not sound at all and I have to tap it 30 to 40 times and also just depress the pedal till it sounds, after I get it to sound, there is a delay when striking that note. After heavy use it behaves normally.
This is obviously more than a magnet placement. What else is going on?
Scott
- gary.chapman
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Re: Pedal note intermittent
I’ve been wondering if you could swap elements from, say, the top G pedal for testing, or even permanently if you don’t use that pedal much…
I didn't, but after your post I did play around with it and got it to where it was working like the others, it would sound at same breaking point.
The problem is when it gets inactive or not played for a while, it will not sound at all and I have to tap it 30 to 40 times and also just depress the pedal till it sounds, after I get it to sound, there is a delay when striking that note. After heavy use it behaves normally.
This is obviously more than a magnet placement. What else is going on?
Scott
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Re: Pedal note intermittent
Unless I'm misunderstanding your setup, why not just replace the reed switch? As noted above, that's what worked for me given the exact same circumstances (i.e. once I got the note working by repeated presses, it would generally then work for the rest of that practice session, but next time I'd be back to square one). They are very cheap.
Re: Pedal note intermittent
Have you tried rotating the reed a bit? They need to be at a specific angle in relation to the magnet to respond correctly.
Re: Pedal note intermittent
Because I cannot solder.MeOulSegosha wrote:Unless I'm misunderstanding your setup, why not just replace the reed switch?
I have tried rotating and shift up, etc. I have it to where goes right away, and then you wait and back to square one.murph wrote:Have you tried rotating the reed a bit? They need to be at a specific angle in relation to the magnet to respond correctly.
What elements are you talking about swapping? the reed switches are soldered, and don't have any experience with that.gary.chapman wrote:I’ve been wondering if you could swap elements from, say, the top G pedal for testing, or even permanently if you don’t use that pedal much…
Scott
- gary.chapman
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Re: Pedal note intermittent
Perhaps you could just try swapping in a different magnet? If only to rule out the magnet itself as the problem.
What elements are you talking about swapping? the reed switches are soldered, and don't have any experience with that.
Re: Pedal note intermittent
UPDATE:
It was in fact the the reed switch going bad.
I did have a spare in the back that came with it, a friend suggested liquid solder, so I picked some up and voila, E2 is now functioning again.
It is an old pedal board, I am going to possibly look at upgrading them all with the plug-in magnetic reed switches this fall.
Thanks to everyone for your comments and suggestions, it helped me narrow things down.
Scott
It was in fact the the reed switch going bad.
I did have a spare in the back that came with it, a friend suggested liquid solder, so I picked some up and voila, E2 is now functioning again.
It is an old pedal board, I am going to possibly look at upgrading them all with the plug-in magnetic reed switches this fall.
Thanks to everyone for your comments and suggestions, it helped me narrow things down.
Scott
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Re: Pedal note intermittent
I'm delighted to hear you got it working again!
Could you tell me more about plug in magnetic reed switches? My pedalboard is also old, and the connections are in need of some TLC. I would love a simpler solution if it existed.
Could you tell me more about plug in magnetic reed switches? My pedalboard is also old, and the connections are in need of some TLC. I would love a simpler solution if it existed.
Re: Pedal note intermittent
When I was looking for replacement parts through Classic Midi Works I ran across them.MeOulSegosha wrote:Could you tell me more about plug in magnetic reed switches? My pedalboard is also old, and the connections are in need of some TLC. I would love a simpler solution if it existed.
https://us.midiworks.ca/index.php?optio ... uct_id=233
I don't know anything about them, but I am thinking about talking to them about the possibility of getting them and using on my existing board. I don't know what all would be involved with that project, but I bought my pedal board used 6 years ago and don't know how old it is. After this one reed went, I am sure it will be likely more will go in the future.
Scott
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Re: Pedal note intermittent
That's very helpful, thank you. I'll do some more research.
Re: Pedal note intermittent
SPOKE TOO SOON!
After working great for about a day, all of a sudden the E2 would switch on and stay on without being depressed. I readjusted the reed switch down as far as it would go and tested it prior to putting the back on.
Played it successfully for an hour or so, and about 12 hours later with the stops still pulled, the pedal started sounding again on its own.
Can't be that the reed switch is too close because tested it and played it and when it occurred it was on its own I was no where near the board.
What could possibly be the cause, I am about to go crazy over this.
Scott
After working great for about a day, all of a sudden the E2 would switch on and stay on without being depressed. I readjusted the reed switch down as far as it would go and tested it prior to putting the back on.
Played it successfully for an hour or so, and about 12 hours later with the stops still pulled, the pedal started sounding again on its own.
Can't be that the reed switch is too close because tested it and played it and when it occurred it was on its own I was no where near the board.
What could possibly be the cause, I am about to go crazy over this.
Scott