Problem with FC3 Foot Controller (on sx90s)

[carpengui]

Greetings;

Having been an sx70s user for 5 years, I have recently upgraded to the sx90s. Aside from the eye-opening learning curve, I'm having a bizarre problem with the also-newly-obtained FC3 foot controller/pedal.

For the first 3-4 days of use, the pedal was working perfectly - I use it as a sustain pedal; nothing more... but in that role, it was working exactly as expected and hoped.

Only problem is that it was sliding around on me a bit, so last night I picked it up, turned it over, and added some gripper pads. Hooked it back up... all is well... no sliding.

Until today. I sat down to play and found that the pedal was working... kinda backwards. I get sound with my foot off of it. As I press down, the volume gradually goes away. It is exactly as if I was using a volume pedal and not a sustain.

In frustration, I hit the keyboard's factory reset - just in case an unknown parameter had been changed. No luck.

I've checked the General settings, the Controller settings... everything I can think of (and the manual is no help whatsoever). All looks right.

I am out of ideas... anyone else have one?

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I've got either the same or a similar foot controller-- if it isn't the FC3 then it must be the FC4-- although it isn't handy right now so I can't look at the instructions that came with it. However, if I remember correctly a lot of people have reported "problems" with the FC3, FC4, FC5, etc. switching "polarities" such that they essentially behave the opposite as expected. And I seem to recall that the reason this happens is because people turn on the keyboard while the foot controller is already plugged into the back of the keyboard-- and the solution is to turn off the keyboard, unplug the foot controller, turn the keyboard back on, and then plug in the foot controller while the keyboard is turned on. If you still have the instructions that came with the FC3, read them and see if there's any note to that effect.

Edit: I just Googled "FC3 polarity"-- which I should have done first-- and I think I got it backwards. Connect the foot controller to the keyboard while the keyboard is turned off, then turn on the keyboard, otherwise the polarity can get reversed.

 

[CowboyNQ]

Howdy,

That definitely sounds like a polarity problem. Hopefully Michael's solution works for you.

As a very unlikely left field alternative. I think this pedal is one of those "half damper" ones, that's supposed to mimic an acoustic piano's sustain function, so I assume there's a switch on the pedal somewhere that activates "half damper" mode. I'm not an expert on your keyboard or the sustain pedal, however I'm wondering if you may have accidentally triggered "half damper" mode and it's reacting in a strange way with your keyboard, which may not support it?

Good luck!

 

[SeaGtGruff]

There's no switch on mine.

Other than the question of whether it's plugged in before or after the keyboard has been turned on, the only other potential lead I've seen is whether or not it's depressed when the keyboard is turned on. Also, apparently it isn't the pedal itself that switches polarity, but the keyboard-- or the circuitry inside the keyboard that responds to the pedal(?). And it can also happen when using pedals from other manufacturers.

So if it's already connected when the keyboard is turned on but the polarity is reversed, try depressing the pedal while turning on the keyboard.

Or if you're plugging it in after the keyboard's been turned on, try depressing the pedal while plugging it in.

But such "tricks" shouldn't be necessary if it's plugged in using the "correct" procedure, whatever that may be.

 

[CowboyNQ]

There's no switch on mine.

Cool - as I said I'm unfamiliar with the pedal. I reckon that "half damper" functionality must be something you switch on at the 'board in that case, not the pedal. I've played acoustic piano since I was a wee lad and never even heard the term until it recently became trendy, I must say. I need to get out more.

A chap in a music store tried to sell me a Roland pedal with the "half damper" feature, and that was definitely switchable at the pedal - so thought maybe this one would be similar.

Michael - It seems your last suggestion of depressing the pedal while plugging it into the 'board is a popular solution around the place with a bit of Googling - hopefully that works for our mate.

OP - as a future suggestion which I appreciate won't help you right now, I always buy pedals that are polarity switchable. Very handy in weird situations like the one you're encountering (must admit that's a new one to me) plus it means you can swap your pedals between your boards if you upgrade/change/replace etc.

Cheers!

 

[carpengui]

Unfortunately, I'm actually familiar with the polarity switching trick... and was admittedly a little surprised when it didn't work. But as I say, it actually is behaving less like there's a polarity problem and more like it actually changed into a volume pedal... never encountered that one before in 30 years of synth playing.

Insofar as support from the keyboard: the s90xs actually has a setting to specify which pedal you have attached - whether that's the FC3/4/5... and I tried all of those settings as well, even in the hope that maybe a "dumbed down" pedal would at least give me the needed sustain.

But so far, no go. Tonight I might tear into the pedal and see if perhaps Yamaha 'dual-purposed' the thing (at least in the electronics) as either a volume pedal or the half-damper sustain... and see if there is a switch that got flipped. The other alternative would have been that the keyboard is reading the signals coming in as volume rather than sustain, but the factory reset operation I did should have eliminated that possibility.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

Assuming you meant the S90XS (since I couldn't find a manual for an SX90S), the only other suggestion I can think of is to connect the FC3 to the "SUSTAIN" jack under the "FOOT SWITCH" heading, rather than to either the "ASSIGNABLE" jack or one of the jacks under the "FOOT CONTROLLER" heading.

Edit: Ah, I see you did say "s90xs" in your second post.

 

[CowboyNQ]

Carp - remember that your FC3 has this half damper thing. It's not like a normal sustain pedal which switches on or off, it sends continuous values ranging from "off" to "on" to your 'board. Not sure what that means in a reversed polarity situation, but my thought was that maybe that was why you had the volume pedal behaviour happening.

Don't know if this helps? Page 7.

http://files.keyfax.com/download/S90_Assigning_Controllers.pdf

It does say that a "pedal plugged into the sustain jack will always send sustain", as per Michael's comment above. I know at the odd gig I have accidentally plugged one of my pedals into the assignable jack instead of the sustain jack on my non Yamaha keyboards. Easy enough to do. Luckily the error has always been discovered at or before sound check!

 

[carpengui]

Assuming you meant the S90XS [correct], the only other suggestion I can think of is to connect the FC3 to the "SUSTAIN" jack under the "FOOT SWITCH" heading, rather than to either the "ASSIGNABLE" jack or one of the jacks under the "FOOT CONTROLLER" heading....

YES: I are a idiot. SOLVED.

This keyboard has FOUR jacks to plug a Foot Controller into... naturally since it's called a "Foot Controller", I plugged it into one of the two "Foot Controller" jacks.

Oh, but wait: there are two "Foot Switch" jacks as well... my eyes caught the "Assignable Foot Switch" label... but not the "Sustain" label.

Y'all carry on... as you were... but thank you all for weighing in!

 

[SeaGtGruff]

We like happy endings.

 

[CowboyNQ]

We like happy endings.

Are we still talking about keyboards here?