Coming from a strictly traditional piano playing background, up until just recently, I never explored the idea of utilizing a 'volume pedal' for playing organ and other voices on the arranger, of which I'm sure would be most beneficial to start learning..

So how did the idea now (after all these years) to use a 'volume pedal' suddenly come up now? I just recently purchased the 'Jimmy Smith Organ Pack' voice collection for Tyros 4 from Sounds For Keys. The collection is around 180mb and substantially larger than the samples included in the premium voice pak collection offerings from Yamaha, and believe me, the Jimmy Smith Pack's impressive ballsy B3 sound reflects this. Well worth the money imo. Kudos to Richard Postma at Sounds For Keys for producing this nice B3 collection. If you enjoy the sound of a Hammond B3 as I do, this pack if for you. Compared to the Tyros 4's onboard digital drawbars , this Jimmy Smith Pack is imho a significant cut above them, much richer, fuller, sounding far less compressed than the later, plus, as much as I appeciate the B3 demos on their site, the actually sound heard when played on the Tyros 4 sounds far more impressive because the demo audio quality is only 192kbs.

Ok, to get back on the 'volume pedal' topic. My SZ buddy Ian McNeill told me he just bought a Yamaha FC7 Volume Pedal for his T4 and highly recommended utilizing one, so last night I dug thru my closet and found the Boss FV-50 Volume Pedal I had received years ago as a Christmas gift but never got around to using. I connected it up to my Tyros 4 and thru trial & error & some experimentation got some nice sounding results, but now I realize I need to learn some established volume pedal techniques to realistically emulate specific instrument voices. I've heard that some people, in addition to organ, use it for strings, pedal steel guitar, and sax voices etc, so I'm hoping people here with volume pedal experience will share tips and advice on how to best utilize it for different instrument voices. All Volume Pedal playing tips shared greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. - Scott

Hey Scott - here's one euro organ tip for you.
German organs don't route everything through the volume pedal. So, if you want to get that Klaus wunderlich or Franz Lambert feel to your organ sounds, PRESS DIRECT ACCESS AND AT THE SAME TIME MOVE THE VOLUME PEDAL.

On the screen you will see the options to turn the pedal off or on on certain parts. Turn EVERYTHING OFF - except your right hand melody - let the volume control take care of that.

So now when you play, you have NO control over the volume of the backing but the organ only. You can now add an extra level of depth by increasing the volume and decreasing the volume with your pedal. Great for ballads - all some real emotion.

That's my tip 1 for the day.

Enjoy!

This kind of gets me thinking about using an "expression pedal" for my Tyros 2 like when I was doing organ. It's a lot of fun and really adds a lot of emotion to the music.

To me inflection is what music is all about and using an expression pedal can make a huge difference in the feeling you can put out.

In general as the melody line goes up give it more gas. When the melody line descends back off. You can also hit a note or chord, back off and then crescendo, then end abruptly, or if its' a long note you could also decrescendo to a whisper.

I think you will find it easiest if you think like a horn player, a horn section or the horn sections of a big band. The whole band you will find changes volume together. To me not having the volume of the rest of the band change also would take away from the emotional impact, unless you were trying for a special effect.

You can use the pedal not only for organ, but just about any instrument. Strings, solo horn, horn sections, not just organ. But it's the same approach.

Happened to think of this arrangement where the whole band goes through a wide range of volume, from section to section, while adding one section over the other. Note especially when Maynard goes up in the back row with the rest of the trumpets how they milk those dynamic changes. Notice how the whole band changes volume including the drums, not just the top voice{s}.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHpMIbcEBvY

I will have to admit that Maynard had THE most exciting band I have ever heard live. The ups and down of volume, phrasing, delayed vibrato, bending notes all together was astounding.

There are some great organists that did the same thing. If I think of one I'll put some up. I often used an organ sound trying to emulate say a trumpet section etc.

Have fun with this. This can add so much to a song.

Scott

Earl Grant was one of the organists I was trying to remember. He was a the master of using the expression pedal. Notice how subtly he would increase the volume starting at about 1:08 when the melody notes changed in between the long notes. BTW, all those bird sounds he's doing manually on the Hammond.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXFuitMMxo4

Hi ScottYee

The organ has no dynamics of its own, so think of the pedal as adding dynamic expression to the organ. (Most electronic organs have expression pedals not volume pedals, as while they do the same, the expression name indicates how they should be used)

Acoustic instruments:
Are different in that you have to think what the real instrument can do, as an example:
You have a pre-set that contains 2 layers, (1 Piano and 2 Strings) now by default the expression pedal will alter the volume of both simultaneously, however a piano cannot do this and so it sounds unnatural, therefore turn the pedal off for the piano and leave it on just for the strings, now when you play you can bring the strings in and out with your expression pedal at any level you want, just like in a real Piano and String orchestra.

Orchestral:
Not all instruments can vary their volume by the same amount, (A clarinet does not have the same volume range as the string section) and by setting the expression pedal to have less effect on one voice (Clarinet) compared to another, (Strings) you get a much more realistic representation.

Mixing:
Set the brass section as normal, but set the strings in reverse, (Maximum volume of the strings occur with the volume down) you can now switch between the brass and string section (Or merge the 2 together) by moving the expression pedal forward and back. (Just like real bands do)

Electronic/synth:
Whatever you want to do (Just remember what the synth you are emulating can do)

I hope the above gives you some ideas, however the best way is to listen to real music played by real people and see how the different instruments interact, then set up your expression pedal to do the same.

Bill

Very good post Bill

Bernie

First, I want to thank Scott for bringing up this topic, and I hope someone else gets something from the replies posted, as well me learning some tips and tricks.

So far, I've been setting it up the way Leigh has suggested, although I don't use a lower manual, at least at present.

I come from many years of Hammond and Yamaha Electone experience, so I am no stranger to using a volume pedal, plus I used these types of pedals in the various bands I played in when I used multiple synthesisers, samplers, and other keyboard instruments.

Leigh's method, which I actually tried first, and still use, seems to be the most ideal, although Scott Langholff's method is a great way to use it as well. I'd like to keep the accompaniment at the same level for now, as the style variations give me a good degree of color changing (I use my own edited styles) and I like the overall sound when I use the pedal in this way. Bill's ideas are great as well, and very thorough.

One thing for sure, the volume pedal adds expression not possible with just velocity and aftertouch...I guess that's why it's often referred to as an "expression" pedal.

Being able to have the volume of a note swell after the initial key press is so valuable with most instruments, such as wind, strings, brass etc. The organ, of course, really needs the volume pedal, in my opinion. Also, with the volume pedal, it is possible to eliminate the "attack" portion of a note, which is handy for pedal steel and a few other situations.

I got away from using a volume pedal when velocity sensitivity (and aftertouch) became common...but, now I realize I was missing something important, especially after spending the past few days using it.

I'm not sure in the way others actually activate it, but for me, the volume pedal has to be done by the Right Foot...I can't, for the life of me, get any satisfactory performance using my Left Foot. Now, I'm retraining myself to use the sustain pedal with my left foot; it's no big deal, as I used to do this with other keyboard setups, but it'll take some practice.

Has anyone else had the same experience?

Thank you all for the wonderful replies so far, and I will try out some of the suggestions and see if they work well for me.

Ian the Grateful

I have attached an MP3 of our Friend Alan Paganelli playing an 'organ' on a T-1 using a volume expression pedal.

Notice that he did not 'over use' the volume pedal. Like Dr. J once said..."Just let it flow"

Both great posts.

Question guys. How do you both approach using the sustain pedal while using the Volume/Expression pedal?


Ian the Curious



PS....Leigh, with the Tyros4, I find it most beneficial to just lower the accompaniment volume to around 80, rather than adjust all the RH stuff.

+1 to Ian's question.

In addition, coming from a background as a trad piano player who relies on the sustain pedal for sustaining notes, and simply using key pressure to affect volume , I'd like to know how to orchestrate these features together, especially for sounds (voices) that respond to either key pressure and/or volume pedal such as strings and sax. When do you call on the 'volume pedal' vs 'key pressure velocity', to augment, or takeover the task of increasing/decreasing volume?