This looks interesting- but it's in S. Korea

Boss pedal

And this from Japan..

Yamaha MFC06

Keep in mind that whey using multiple pedals, at least on most Yamaha machines, some of the pedals that connect together will not function because of grounding conflicts. Some of the Boss pedals, for example, that are made of anodized aluminum and slide together side by side, are grounded to the cases. Consequently, when connected to the keyboard's pedal inputs, and two separate functions are selected, the floating ground connections of the input jacks become one connection. Consequently, neither pedal will function. Several individuals discovered this the hard way.

The only workaround for this is to separate the pedals, mount them on a non-conductive panel using Velcro, and wallah, everything will work just tine.

Cheers,

Gary

Gary when recording I'll hook up my BOSS FS6 dual foot switch with no problems on my Yamaha S950..

BOSS FS6

That's very interesting. Can you give me more information about how you're using the breath controller and the brand/model? Examples of what you "trigger" with it? etc

I remember years ago I had a friend who was a true one-man-band. He had all hands and feet working at the same time........and........I remember him playing flute, at the same time, on his DX7 with the breath controller.

Ah.... the old DX-7 breath controller sax! Still little around to match it..!

Samples are OK, but they are SO static. The breath controller allowed you to soft tongue, hard tongue, slur, swell, sfz, go from a purr to a growl (you could flutter tongue it and the DX-7 would flutter too!).

You get a very accurate one note with a sample. But the DX-7 allowed you to PHRASE, and, although it is an improvement, even SA2 doesn't allow you to do the stuff that old FM synth could!

BTW, here's little tip for those of you that might be experiencing 'pedal creep' with all those pedals down there...

Rubber shelf liner. http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/1/1/13021-con-tact-grip-12-x-15-ultra-shelf-liner-white.html

Cut out a piece that extends a little beyond your pedals or even a piece that your keyboard stand can rest on, then put your pedals on that. Pedal creep begone!

Diki......are you saying today's breath controller's are not up to snuff? That you couldn't "phrase" like it was done on the DX7?

I never used a breath controller.....no one ever mentions them....I forgot all about them. What a new dimension that would give to expressive playing!

The problem is that just about everything short of modeling VSTi sax programs use samples... which are a snapshot of a sound. But you put a horn to your lips, and every single note is, or can be, utterly different to every other note.

If you want a growl sax, you have to switch to a growl sax patch (if you have one), but a real saxophonist can start a note smooth and sweet, make it brighter and rougher as he plays louder (still the same note!) and end up with a growl and a squeak! And that's just the first note he plays!

A sample is a recording of a note. Played one way. Too bad if you want to morph it into something else!

The thing about the breath controller when used with the DX-7 (or other FM based synths) was that the breath control was used to not only get you amplitude control (in other words, when you played a note, nothing came out until you blew) but that the strength of the blowing radically changed the tone of the note. And so, by tonguing harder or softer, the attack of the note changed, not just in volume, but timbre too. And, as you continued to blow, you could blow harder or softer to get the timbre to change.

This, combined with volume pedal use, allowed you to do things like blow hard and reduce the volume, to get a quiet but bright sound, to blowing softer but raising the volume, for a full volume, but mellow sound. Or hit the note hard and die away, then swell back. You simply cannot get that degree of control over sampled notes.

So, it's not the problem with the breath controller, it's a problem with the keyboard it is controlling.

FM, while it had its shortcomings (it was a bear to edit and create new sounds on), had all kinds of advantages over samples. Not just with the breath controller, either. The famous DX-7 electric piano sound was so popular because it was so expressive. If you listen to most sampled E. Pianos, you'll hear a sudden change in timbre as you play increasingly harder, as different samples (recorded at stronger and stronger playing levels) get switched to. But the DX-7 went from smooth and mellow to bright and bell-like completely without any jumps in timbre, simply a gradual smooth change.

Until you get into GigaSampler sized E. Piano libraries, with so many different samples per note that the change in timbre becomes smooth again, all WS and arranger E. Pianos pale in comparison to how smooth the timbre changes were on FM synths.

The device I have is made by TEControl of Sweden.

I mostly use it on CC#2 (breath controller) using William Busch's breath controller programs

There are some good videos on youtube as well, for example this guy is amazing