Does anyone own a set of MIDI bass pedals and is interested in using this for the chords of the auto-accompaniment? I'm thinking of putting this in OMB. The key-pedal you press would be the accompaniment chord and you could switch between major and minor with either the high-C pedal (on a 13 pedal board) or with the sustain pedal. That way both hands would be available for melody playing.
JM

Hello..........I bought your OMB and just upgraded to version 4.
Your ideas about foot pedals should work. I took a similar approach. Before I bought the PSR2000 I used a Korg i40M arranger. It has great 4 variation arrangements and the ability to use the single finger mode to trigger chords. Last year I built a 32 note pedal board using a cheap mini-keyboard (Reveal Musicstar)for the midi interface. My original intention was to add the pedalboard to 2 keyboards and have a "virtual" pipe organ setup. I use a Roland SC8850 with the Roland Sound Canvas Pipe Organ Project (SCPOP) software. This is great stuff!
After using the pedalboard as a normal console organ setup I got to wondering if I could use it to trigger the style chords on my i40M. I read the Korg manual and set the necessary midi channels and it worked. I could play and change all the major, minor, and seventh chords while using 2 keyboards for awesome melodies ect. Of course I had to press 2 pedals to get the minor or seventh, but that wasn't a problem. Since you are only using the pedals to trigger the chords it shouldn't be a problem to use both feet, especially on a 25 or 32 note pedalboard. Just use the right foot on the upper pedal octaves while using the left foot to press any white or black pedal when desiring a minor or seventh chord. It doesn't take long to get used to playing this way. Just remember to have your split point set so all the pedals play the chords while the upper manuals play the right hand stuff. Good luck. -charley

Charley,

That works if you have a large pedal board. But with an average 13 key pedal board like the Roland PK5, you wouldn't be able to play a C#m because there is no black key on the left of the C#. I also think that it would be more convenient if pedal players could use their left foot for tones like they are used to and play the minor trigger with their right foot. So there should be a special chord fingering (or footing) for pedal chords where the minor trigger is not a black key on the left but a white key on the right. The high pedal C could be used for that at all time.

With an other chord fingering "Foot On Bass" you could play slash chord. Play the chords with the left hand and any pedal key pressed woulds change the bass tone in the accompaniment.

Foot On Bass would need separate key areas for the chords and bass. The area left of the chord area could be used for that. That area should also have separate voices. I could enhance voice 3 and 4 with a bass assignment (besides right and left hand assignment). Then you can also use the pedals to play bass in normal full fingered mode.

JM


[This message has been edited by Jos Maas (edited 04-17-2003).]

Yes.........I agree. But there should at least be a provision to play seventh chords this way too. Major and minor isn't enough. I play more seventh chords than minor ones.
Of course now that I have been learning "all" the chords and using full finger mode, I probably wouldn't be satisfied anymore having only 2 or 3 types of chords to choose from. Full chord playing isn't thst hard to master if you practice. "Single Finger" mode really isn't 1 finger if you use minor or seventh chords..............so how hard is it really to learn 3 note chords........
then four? I still kick myself for being so stubborn and not learning full chords earlier. It was just so easy to be "lazy" and use 1 finger. But I tell you.......learning all those "other chords" (diminished, augmented,6th, 7th, 9th ect.....) has really added a lot to my playing and enjoyment of music. It even changes the way a style pattern can sound, especially when changing the bass. Once you discover this it's hard to go back to a simpler mode.....even if it is easier to play.

I agree it is a limitation if you can only play minor an major chords. But you would have both hands available at the keyboard to compensate for that. Most important is that the accompaniment doesn't sound off. A major chord would sound off when a minor is required. A normal chord wouldn't sound off when a 7th chord is required, it might sound like something was missing and you can add that on the keyboard. I think it would be complicated trying to play all kinds of chords with your feet. You can form all chords with your right hand because there are 5 fingers there, but you only have two feet.
JM

Hi, I am thinking of getting a midi pedal board for my KN1400. Would like to know which brand / model (and cost) would be best to start with?

Ketron & Farfisa are two manufacturers (they may be more) that support a midi pedal board that works in tandem with a second volume/chord change pedal. The left foot tells the arranger what root note to play and the right pedal has 4 click switches (NE-SE, NW-SW)that determine Maj/min/aug/dim. That leaves both hands free for scraching yourself while the keyboard plays !

Dave,

Scratch yourself, eat peanuts, drink beer and hit some melody keys occasionally, life is easy for a pedal player!

I couldn't find anything about this on the Ketron and Farfisa site. Major, minor, dim and aug are the most essential chordtypes. You can replace any chordtype by one of those four without sounding off. Don't see why you should need 4 extra pedals though, just 3 for minor, dim and aug. No pedal pressed would be major by default. Since avarage pedal boards only have 13 pedals, you would also come far if only one pedal (the high C) could be used as minor pedal.

JM

The 4 switches for maj/min/aug/dim are actually attached to the volume pedal that the right foot operates. The toe of your foot slides either left or right to access the top two switches, and the heel does the other two.
Still sounds like a lot of work to me.