Problem with Roland EV-5 expression pedal controlling volume-block

guitargeorge

guitargeorge

Inspired
Recently I've purchased the Axe-Fx2 and the MFC-101. I also purchased a Roland EV-5. I connected it to expression pedal jack 2 and I calibrated it (the range is from 0 to 115 instead of 127) in the MFC-101. So far, so good. It controls in my case the volume-block.
However the "sweep"-range of the pedal itself is very short. When I push the pedal downwards and I'm further than halfway, then the volume slightly kicks in. So to me it seems that the range to control the volume is halfway to the end (toe-end) instead from (let's say) 1 to 115.
I have the minimum volume knob (at the EV-5) at 0 and I also tested it with a wah-wah block and in a delay-block (controlling the repeats). Tried a number of different curves (also read some threads about it; for example "building a better volume block"). I get the same results. The "ball" in the curves starts when I push the pedal about halfway down.

Basically I would like to know if other owners of the EV-5 have the same experience? If not; could you share some information how you've handled this? What am I doing wrong?


Thank you in advance for your suggestions
 
A couple of possibilities:
  1. I've read comments that state the EV-5 has an audio-taper pot in it. If that's the case (can't find any evidence either way on Roland's site), then that's the behavior you'd expect. You need a linear-taper pot to use it as an expression pedal with the Axe-FX and most other gear.
  2. Verify that the Minimum Volume knob on your EV-5 is all the way down.
 
Rex said:
A couple of possibilities:
  1. I've read comments that state the EV-5 has an audio-taper pot in it. If that's the case (can't find any evidence either way on Roland's site), then that's the behavior you'd expect. You need a linear-taper pot to use it as an expression pedal with the Axe-FX and most other gear.
  2. Verify that the Minimum Volume knob on your EV-5 is all the way down.
Click to expand...

Hi Rex,

  1. Indeed am I afraid that this is the behaviour of the pedal. Hmmm...........!!!!
  2. I have verified multiple times that the knob is all the way down (at 0)

Regarding bullet 1; there are people who are succesful with the EV-5 and I believe I've read in another thread that Matt stated the EV-5 was very linear (I cannot find the thread right now).
 
I've heard that it's audio-taper, and I've heard that it's linear. Unfortunately, yours seems to be behaving as if it's audio-taper. I have no experience with the pedal, so I can only go by what I've heard, and by what you're reporting. I wish I had better news for you, or at least something definitive. :)

Do you have an ohmeter to measure resistance at different points in the pedal's travel?
 
Rex said:
Do you have an ohmeter to measure resistance at different points in the pedal's travel?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I do not have a ohmmeter and I also do not have any other expression pedal to test this behaviour. I hope that there are some other EV-5 owners on this forum who can tell me some of their experiences.
I would like to thank you for your efforts.
 
Darryl Ramm said:
The EV-5 is an expression pedal not a volume pedal. It has a 10 kohm linear potentiometer.

Darryl
Click to expand...

Oeps................! Then I am misinformed! I thought that it is possible to control volume also with an expression pedal and besides the volume-issue; I still have the same behaviour with for example delay-feedback control, pitch-control and wah-wah.
But there are people on this forum using a EV-5 (also for volume-control). How are they using this?
 
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First, make sure you are using a TRS (aka stereo or balanced) 1/4" cable. A regular mono guitar cable will not work properly for the expression pedal input. Using the wrong or a damaged cable is often the cause of this type of problem.

Next, don't worry too much about the values on the display while calibrating the pedals. These are reference values, not MIDI CC values. There's lots of confusion around this. When calibrating an exp pedal, the device (MFC1-101 in this case) measures the response of a particular pedal attached to it and determines the max and min values of the individual pedal. It then remaps these internally to the MIDI CC range 0 - 127. So only seeing 115 on the display does not mean it won't go to MIDI 127. Every manufacturer displays this in their own way. Liquid Foot goes from around 100 - 1020 or so, Fractal from 0 - 100 or so, Avid from 0 - 10, etc. They all send MIDI 0 -127 just fine. These numbers are just reference values, not MIDI CC's!

Some pedals have 'dead spots'. This is normally an area at the beginning or end of the sweep where nothing much happens. This can be mechanical where the pedal moves but the pot doesn't turn, or the pot turns but hasn't hit it's track yet, or both. With some shall we say 'cost optimized' pedals, this can be quite different between different individual pedals even of the exact same model. There's a lot of variability in the tolerance of the components, which is one of the reasons they cost less of course. Tight tolerances and consistent component supply costs big these days, alas. So, if it's not the cable, you may be able to take your EV-5 back and exchange it for another, and the new one work just fine. James.
 
We are talkin' about EV5 pedal ... the cable is part of the pedal ... After that, "Mission", you're right... about settings ...
 
Black-mojo said:
We are talkin' about EV5 pedal ... the cable is part of the pedal ... After that, "Mission", you're right... about settings ...
Click to expand...

Yes the cable is part of the EV-5.
I also had a private email conservation with another (dutch) forummember and he was so kind to test his pedal and observed how the "ball" in the curve(s) reacted when pushing the pedal. In his case it started at around 5%. Mine starts around 50%. Matt told me that the EV-5 probably is defect. I will check tomorrow if there are any loose/broken connections.
Thank you all for your suggestions.
 
Seems EV5's calibration pots problems to me(the grey one left side). But you should anyway be able to use your pedal from 0 to 100% because Axe-fx has a calibration function too.
 
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Black-mojo said:
Seems EV5's calibration pots problems to me(the grey one left side). But you should anyway be able to use your pedal from 0 to 100% because Axe-fx has a calibration function too.
Click to expand...

Calibration on the AxeFx2 has the same reaction/behaviour as on the MFC-101. I'm not sure what the problem is. Will open the pedal later today to see if there's anything broken.
 
Black-mojo said:
and so you may use it as a volume pedal, settin' bandwith, curves ... etc in axe ... Am I right ?
Click to expand...

Absolutely. A linear pot equipped pedal is you want to use to control volume (or other parameters) in a foot controller/MIDI/expression pedal type setup. A volume pedal with a logarithmic pot is designed to run analog signals through not be an expression pedal to control digital effects. Having a log pot is a pain in the ass to calibrate. If controlling a volume needs say a log type response then the Axe-FX or other processor does that there. You don't want to be trying to just encode the pedal position using a log scale.

On the EV-5 as others have mentioned really make sure the trim ("minimum volume") knob is turned all the way to 0.

Darryl
 
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guitargeorge said:
Oeps................! Then I am misinformed! I thought that it is possible to control volume also with an expression pedal and besides the volume-issue; I still have the same behaviour with for example delay-feedback control, pitch-control and wah-wah.
But there are people on this forum using a EV-5 (also for volume-control). How are they using this?
Click to expand...

You can control volume or anything else with an EV-5 or similar expression pedal -- that's what it is designed for. A "volume pedal" is designed to adjust an analog signal and they should have logrithmic potentiometers. An expression pedal just uses a potentiometer to encode the pedal position that your processor (Axe-FX in this case) uses to do whatever you set it up to do wants. If that is controlling volume then the log type response curve you usually want for volume adjustment (so it "sounds linear") is done in that box.

Part of the silliness out there is lack of standardization on resistance values (typically 10-100 kOhm)and which way the sweep runs on expression pedals but calibration on most systems sorts that out. Calibration does not handle converting a log pot to a linear position readout nearly as well. And although folks take volume pedals and manage to kind of calibrate them and convince themselves they are working well there is just no place where you really ought to be using a log potentiometer/volume pedal as an expression pedal.

BTW if you give up on the EV-5 try a Mission pedal or mod a Ernie Ball Jr. Volume Pedal to have a linear pot like I've posted here about before... those pedals are really nice and very solid/robust.

Darryl
 
Adding polarity switch to Roland EV-5

The Roland EV-5 works fine on Roland and some other keyboards but not others. This can be fixed by adding a polarity switch. I have done this on my pedal to make it work on either a Roland A-90 or a Technics KN by flipping the switch. It should work with most keyboards which use either one polarity or the other. I used a miniature DPDT toggle switch mounted in a small hole drilled in the pedal side near the volume pot. Circuit attached.Scan0001.jpg
The pedal pot uses only a part of its rotation, and is not linear in that its resistance starts to change only after the pot has moved a few degrees. Therefore it is not at the start of its travel with the pedal up. It may be necessary to recalibrate it by loosening the allen screw and moving the pot shaft by hand to get the optimum volume range before locking it with the allen key.
The preset control is touchy, needing to be set at or close to zero to work. It might be more flexible if its connections were reversed, using the track at the other end of its travel. I haven't tried this yet.
 
I realize this is a zombie thread, but figured I'd add my 2 cents in case someone else reads this. I have owned 4 different EV-5 pedals, as well as 3 different Mission pedals. So, I know how the pedals are supposed to work. The Roland EV-5 pedals, when functioning properly, work just fine. However, one of the EV-5s I had I got used from Guitar Center. I had the same issue with it that the OP had. It was defective, so I returned it. Functional EV-5 pedals are perfectly compatible with the MFC/Axe.
 
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