Conference napalm::commusic_v1

Spend a a buck more and get an adaptor plug (3/32 to 1/4) and you can use the
switch the way it as intended as well as on your habit.

    Watch out you Yamaha owners. Plug in Brian's pedal and you'll have
    sustain *until* you step on the pedal!
    
    Maybe they should spell it "AHAMAY"
    
    Edd

I don't know about other Yamaha gear, but on my PSR-500 you can
use *either* normally open or normally closed pedal-switches.

It senses the switch state everytime you plug in the pedal (or
power up the unit) and assigns that state to be "OFF".

So if you have the "wrong" kind, you just make sure you step
on the pedal as you plug it in, and thereafter it'll work
properly.

- greg

ps: the flip side is that my unit seems to spontaneously reverse
    the setting of the pedal from time to time.  Cause unknown.
    Could be related to mis-use, flaky pedal cable, etc.  Haven't
    pinned it down, so to speak, as yet.

  The Kurzweil K-1000 series also senses the pedal state on power-up, a nice
  unexpected feature - although it does use normally open switches anyways.

-tom

    The D70 allows you to program it whatever way you want.  Also, I got my
    foot switch the old-fashioned way.  When I bought the D70 I said
    something like, "Gee, won't I need a foot switch with this?"  Lisa
    grabbed one and said something like, "Here you go, no charge!"  Any
    good salesperson will do this when you buy a significant synth.
    
    Steve

    I got by even cheaper, and feel free to chuckle. I did. I took a scrap
    of pine and mounted a clothespin on it to which I had attached contacts
    to each end on the "open" side. I wired this to a 1/4" phone plug to
    use for "punch-in" for my 244. Works great.
    
    Scott

Re  .5:

Well, I presume it was a *used* clothespin- no sense being extravagant!

One question, though: Did you have any trouble eliminating the signal from your
noise???

Mebbe this thread deserves its own topic- "How cheap can you get" is proving
pretty entertaining so far...I'd give current top honors to Scott Murray,
myself.

Bob

    Re:  .7 It *was* a used clothespin. After all, you can't buy new ones
    in quantities fewer than 50. Course if the market demand ever justifies
    it, I'd not hesitate to make the investment :-)
    
    As for noise, there has been none. The only way I can ever tell  that a
    track has been punched is if the mixer settings are different in the
    punched section, or if it is poorly timed, which would be a problem
    no matter what kind of footswitch I used. Well, maybe not, the
    clothespin does have kind of a long throw. To make it really
    marketable, I'll have to add some kind of adjustment for that...
    
    Scott

 I assume your switch is in nondescript colors. The pro version will
 have to be in black. You will need two versions; one for the department
 stores and one for the music stores... 

 Dave

    The one for department stores while be in chrome.  The pro one
    in black.
    
    Noise on punch-in is a factor of the design of the deck electronics,
    not the footswitch.
    
    I use the Radio Shack footswitch on my Fostex 260, and it works fine.
    I got a convertor plug so I did not have to cut off the end of the
    wire.  I hate soldering tiny stranded wire.

    Is the footswitch made with one of the spring type clothespins or
    the simple wooden ones?
    
    Edd

I got one of those Rat Shack switches myself. I didn't like to small
cable, so I replaced it with a 1/4" Jack. It was a bit of a squeeze to
get it in there, but it worked.

I can now plug it into any length 1/4" cable.

I have two. The switch inside is a SPDT (Single Pole Double Throw).
This can be wired as either NO (Normally Open) or NC (Normally Closed) -
They wire it as NO (Normally Open). I changed the cable to 22 gauge 
speaker zip cable, and put a 1/2 in jack. If you want to re-wire yours,
heres a quick how to do it:

The switch should have the letters 'NO' and 'NC' embossed in the plastic 
housing by the switch posts (what you solder to) . It might have the letter 
'C' embossed by the common contact - it may not, if you can't find it, and
there are 3 leads on the switch, the unmarked one is the common.

These switches are momentary contact, ie, they only change thier state
while the switch is pressed. NO = the switch only makes contact when
you press it. NC = The switch always makes contact except when you press it,
then it breaks contact. The NO and NC mode indicates it's state when no one
is pressing the button. Once the switch is released, it returns to it's
normal state.

To make the switch Normally Open, solder one wire to 'C' (or unmarked), and
the other wire to NO.

To make the switch Normally Closed, solder one wire to 'C' (or unmarked), and
the other wire to NC.

As a side note, my MMT-8 works best if this is NO; my TR-505 likes it better
as NC. I've marked my Radio Shack foot switches with NO on one, and NC on
the other so I can tell them apart. There is not much to these switches, so
don't be afraid to make this modification. You can always test your results
with a meter, or a light bulb and battery (it's a good idea to have some
way to test cables and continuity when you are out playing - if It wasn't
for my $10.00 Radio Shack VOM, I wouldn't have known how screwed up the
power was at one mountain town here in Colorado - I though that it was
gremlins in my MIDI gear, nope, just a steady 90 VAC instead of 120 VAC...)

							Jens