FCB1010 Optical expression pedals

Spawn2031

Inspired
Hey guys, so for as long as I've had my axe I've been using my FCB and it's always done great for me except for it's damned pedals. They work great for Wahs or for adjusting gain back and forth but I never seem to be able to get a nice smooth volume swell out of it. Considering that the curve for something like this is as basic as basic gets, I've always assumed it had to be something to do with the fact that these pedals are optical and not mechanical.

Can anyone else confirm this? Am I just destined to hate this things expression pedals until I finally upgrade to something else?
 
Just for clarity, you HAVE messed with the curve on the modifier parameter page right?
I agree that swell curves are tough to get right...but I think it may have more to do with perception than mechanics. Meaning...you have to match the patch with what you are trying to hear... and hearing being logarithmic ... etc.

And to your question... I have an FCB, as well as the MFC w/fractal exp pedal. Both perform similarly in the sense that they go from 0 to 127. lol.
 
After making sure the FCB1010 pedals are properly calibrated, I always fussed with the modifier curve so that the ramp up/down behaved the way I prefer. The adjustability of modifier curves to create custom exp pedal behaviour is a very strong feature of Fractal products that most other hardware products (to my knowledge and in my experience) cannot touch.
 
Just for clarity, you HAVE messed with the curve on the modifier parameter page right?
I agree that swell curves are tough to get right...but I think it may have more to do with perception than mechanics. Meaning...you have to match the patch with what you are trying to hear... and hearing being logarithmic ... etc.

And to your question... I have an FCB, as well as the MFC w/fractal exp pedal. Both perform similarly in the sense that they go from 0 to 127. lol.

I have messed around with it but I always seem to make it worse. Given that you would think the volume to position ratio should be 1:1 you would think, I keep defaulting back to the standard straight line from bottom left to top right. But that just doesn't give a natural swell. Once I took apart an optical expression pedal and saw how it calculates where it's at between 0 and 127 I figured the poor swell was due to the optical strip maybe not having the best dot pattern on it so I just stopped messing with it.
 
Are you trying to emulate a volume pedal in front of the amp, or a master volume after? Are you using a vol/pan block or attaching to some other control? Check out the 'volume taper' setting on the volume/pan block.
Others will be more skilled at helping you do what you want...once you tell us what that is.

The FCB (if working properly, and calibrated) will do exactly what other expressions do. 0-127 in a linear taper from heel to toe.
 
I have messed around with it but I always seem to make it worse. Given that you would think the volume to position ratio should be 1:1 you would think, I keep defaulting back to the standard straight line from bottom left to top right. But that just doesn't give a natural swell. Once I took apart an optical expression pedal and saw how it calculates where it's at between 0 and 127 I figured the poor swell was due to the optical strip maybe not having the best dot pattern on it so I just stopped messing with it.

If you're looking at the control modifier curve, and the little "dot" is all the way down to minimum at heel down, and up to maximum at toe down, then the the AxeFx is receiving the full MIDI range 0-127. The dot should move smoothly across the curve. If it doesn't, then that may indicate dead spots on the pedal's optical sensor strip. Also, to guarantee that the extremes of the value range (000 and 127) are truly transmitting, calibrate the FCB's exp pedals with one or two coins (quarters) temporarily taped to the toe and heel positions. After calibration, remove the coins. This will guarantee that the pedal actually fully travels very slightly past those min/max MIDI values.

Not to sound condescending here, but just making sure: you are calibrating the exp pedals using the FCB1010's calibration process, and NOT the pedal calibration process on the AxeFx (which is for the ext pedal input controls on the back of the AxeFx, NOT for external MIDI pedals)?
 
just making sure: you are calibrating the exp pedals using the FCB1010's calibration process, and NOT the pedal calibration process on the AxeFx (which is for the ext pedal input controls on the back of the AxeFx, NOT for external MIDI pedals)?

Thanks for this comment jimfist - I realise now I have been calibrating my FCB pedals incorrectly for about 10 years! I was wondering why my wah would never hit 100% no matter what I did...
 
If you're looking at the control modifier curve, and the little "dot" is all the way down to minimum at heel down, and up to maximum at toe down, then the the AxeFx is receiving the full MIDI range 0-127. The dot should move smoothly across the curve. If it doesn't, then that may indicate dead spots on the pedal's optical sensor strip. Also, to guarantee that the extremes of the value range (000 and 127) are truly transmitting, calibrate the FCB's exp pedals with one or two coins (quarters) temporarily taped to the toe and heel positions. After calibration, remove the coins. This will guarantee that the pedal actually fully travels very slightly past those min/max MIDI values.

Not to sound condescending here, but just making sure: you are calibrating the exp pedals using the FCB1010's calibration process, and NOT the pedal calibration process on the AxeFx (which is for the ext pedal input controls on the back of the AxeFx, NOT for external MIDI pedals)?

Nope, not condescending at all. I'd imagine that's a pretty easy mistake for someone to make. I am doing my calibrations on the FCB itself so no issues there, though I have not tried doing it with the quarters like you suggest. I'll have to give that a go after I pay attention to that sweep on the modifier curve to look for dead spots. That's kind of what it feels like to me, like there's a whole spot on the pedal that just does nothing.

Are you trying to emulate a volume pedal in front of the amp, or a master volume after? Are you using a vol/pan block or attaching to some other control? Check out the 'volume taper' setting on the volume/pan block.
Others will be more skilled at helping you do what you want...once you tell us what that is.

The FCB (if working properly, and calibrated) will do exactly what other expressions do. 0-127 in a linear taper from heel to toe.

I am using a volume block for this at the end of my chain and want to have a master volume after.
 
The major flaws of FCB1010 expression pedals for me were :
  1. You need to clean the plastic screen goinig through the optocoupler once a year or each 2 years if you don't want bad surprises someday, related to dust accumulation on that part.
  2. The pedals are too small and too close to another on the board, you often risk to move two pedals without wanting so.
 
The major flaws of FCB1010 expression pedals for me were :
  1. You need to clean the plastic screen goinig through the optocoupler once a year or each 2 years if you don't want bad surprises someday, related to dust accumulation on that part.
  2. The pedals are too small and too close to another on the board, you often risk to move two pedals without wanting so.

I didn't know about the cleaning part but oh hell ya you are so right about the spacing of the expression pedals. More than a couple of times I have accidentally hit my volume pedal while using my wah and fucked everything up, lol. I'm sure eventually there will be an upgrade in my future, but for now.. the FCB still handles it all... though I almost lost my balance and fell over during practice last week tap dancing on the upper buttons. Eh, what ya gonna do?
 
Yeah but the price to features ratio - wow!
Thanks
Pauly
+1

With respect to the close proximity of the pedals, I actually used this to my advantage and programmed control modifier pedal moves where I would intentionally catch BOTH pedals with my foot to send discretely different sets of control data .

For example, if you want to engage, all at once, a boost/echo/wah for a lead section. One of the expression pedals would control the wah (dynamic control), while the other pedal is set for on/off states of the boost/echo/wah (or scene value). So rather than having to tap dance, stepping on a switch to engage the lead setup, and then moving over to the wah exp pedal, you start with both pedals toe up (= nominal dry rhythm setup), rock both pedals simultaneously toe down (left pedal engages block states/bypass ), right pedal used for wah) and you're already on your wah pedal location, essentially. Reverse process to exit lead back into rhythm. Much easier for the foot-uncoordinated like myself....who also don't have huge feet! ;-)
 
Yeah but the price to features ratio - wow!
Thanks
Pauly
Sure, I 've used it for almost 7 years, but suddenly the UI and the ergonomics didn't correspond to anything anymore for me besides I wanted to go more compact. No regrets but I confirm FCB1010 is extremely suitable for Axe Fx equipment and totally does the job.
 
I didn't know about the cleaning part but oh hell ya you are so right about the spacing of the expression pedals. More than a couple of times I have accidentally hit my volume pedal while using my wah and ****ed everything up, lol. I'm sure eventually there will be an upgrade in my future, but for now.. the FCB still handles it all... though I almost lost my balance and fell over during practice last week tap dancing on the upper buttons. Eh, what ya gonna do?
The FCB1010 is incredibly "tough" designed, I don't see how someone could ever break it except putting it in seawater.
Actually I'm working on two solutions, one - finalised - with a Voes MC10 pedal - very practical, compact, guitarist orientated ergonomics and a very readable LCD screen (I just have some difficulties with the actual W7 driver set that I can't get stable easily on my PC, so programming takes some time until the communication works). BTW I totally love the button assignable EXP1/2 pedal swap option of the MC10 controller.
The other solution is with a Gordius LG2 pedal, more possibilities of which notably a songlist and tempo automated sequences (but not really a common need IMHO), I admit that the 180 pages manual is holding me back a bit of programming the thing. Will have to wait X-mas break.
 
The FCB1010 is incredibly "tough" designed, I don't see how someone could ever break it except putting it in seawater.
Actually I'm working on two solutions, one - finalised - with a Voes MC10 pedal - very practical, compact, guitarist orientated ergonomics and a very readable LCD screen (I just have some difficulties with the actual W7 driver set that I can't get stable easily on my PC, so programming takes some time until the communication works). BTW I totally love the button assignable EXP1/2 pedal swap option of the MC10 controller.
The other solution is with a Gordius LG2 pedal, more possibilities of which notably a songlist and tempo automated sequences (but not really a common need IMHO), I admit that the 180 pages manual is holding me back a bit of programming the thing. Will have to wait X-mas break.
The Gordius is super for programming once you get it. There are some things that were really confusing in the manual... If you get stuck send an email to Xavier. He was pretty helpful.

For the Axe Fx, though, the MFC-101 is really hard to beat.
 
The major flaws of FCB1010 expression pedals for me were :
  1. You need to clean the plastic screen goinig through the optocoupler once a year or each 2 years if you don't want bad surprises someday, related to dust accumulation on that part.
  2. The pedals are too small and too close to another on the board, you often risk to move two pedals without wanting so.
When I was using the FCB1010, I was constantly engaging my wah and whammy accidentally at the same time.

If I would have kept using it, my plan was to install a short "divider" between the pedals...
 
I have an FCB1010 and I have serious issues with the expression pedals. I use it with an Ultra. There is serious lag. I can't get it to track right at all.....
 
I have no experience with the Ultra, only Axe Fx II... But in that case, continuous controller lag is usually associated with high CPU use.

Optionally, assuming this applies on the Ultra, the Damping value of the modifier could make it appear to be lagging.
 
Back
Top Bottom