Kurzweil PC4. Expression pedal issues

[williamwill]

Below is an email written to Kurzweil support about my problem with the expression pedal.

I’m having problems with the CC1 pedal expression control. It does not work for certain organ programs and the parameters settings do not work as described in the manual.
I have been in communication with Logan Butters, Technical Support at American Music & Sound trying to help me resolve my problems. He said he would be reaching out to Kurzweil support too,

What I have discovered so far:
I was finding a preset on KB3 for a song and noticed that the expression pedal was not working.
The six presets that are not working with the expression pedal are as follows:
142
149
164
179
183
189.
I entered into the Edit page to the Common page and found that expression pedal setting is correct but has no effect.

I also noticed that the expression pedal parameter settings: Expression/Foot, Expression, Foot and None settings are not working as explained in my manual, Rev. C. page 3-109 under Exp Pedal.

I have 1 expression pedal plugged into CC1 input.

Example: program 143.
Expression/Foot: I have volume control
Expression: No volume control when I should have volume contral
Foot: I have volume control when I shouldn't have volume control
None: Working, no volume.

There are variations on how the parameters behave depending on which organ program you chose.

Several days ago I updated the O.S. system but uncertain if the problem remained with the previous OS version.
I have done a soft reset too.

I'm waiting for a reply from Kurzweil and will update this post thereafter. I'm hoping for the best. Stay positive I tell myself

 

[delaware dave]

Check if the 'PreampResp' option is turned on the Misc(?) page. I believe if this turned off then the expression pedal won't work correctly. Perhaps somehow in the programming it was defaulted off.

 

[williamwill]

Hi Delaware dave
I'm aware of the Preamp Resp parameter which happens to be directly below the Expression Pedal parameter setting.

All the programs I had mentioned have the same issue and they are all defaulted to the on position. What is odd is that if I plug it in to CC2 input it works as described in the manual.

 

[delaware dave]

Contact Jean directly ((e-mail address removed)). He'll get to the bottom of it quickly.

 

[williamwill]

I have done so. That is the letter I sent him and waiting for his return reply

 

[williamwill]

Below is an email written to Kurzweil support about my problem with the expression pedal.

I’m having problems with the CC1 pedal expression control. It does not work for certain organ programs and the parameters settings do not work as described in the manual.
I have been in communication with Logan Butters, Technical Support at American Music & Sound trying to help me resolve my problems. He said he would be reaching out to Kurzweil support too,

What I have discovered so far:
I was finding a preset on KB3 for a song and noticed that the expression pedal was not working.
The six presets that are not working with the expression pedal are as follows:
142
149
164
179
183
189.
I entered into the Edit page to the Common page and found that expression pedal setting is correct but has no effect.

I also noticed that the expression pedal parameter settings: Expression/Foot, Expression, Foot and None settings are not working as explained in my manual, Rev. C. page 3-109 under Exp Pedal.

I have 1 expression pedal plugged into CC1 input.

Example: program 143.
Expression/Foot: I have volume control
Expression: No volume control when I should have volume contral
Foot: I have volume control when I shouldn't have volume control
None: Working, no volume.

There are variations on how the parameters behave depending on which organ program you chose.

Several days ago I updated the O.S. system but uncertain if the problem remained with the previous OS version.
I have done a soft reset too.

I'm waiting for a reply from Kurzweil and will update this post thereafter. I'm hoping for the best. Stay positive I tell myself

Update information!
Today I traveled to Sweetwater in Indiana, a 2 1/2 hour ride. The purpose to check two keyboard manufacturers keyboards for purchase. I took my expression/volume pedal, plugged into my Kurzweil PC4 at the store and discovered that my apparent problem exists in this store keyboard as well. I'm waiting for the response from Tech Support at Kurzweil. I have found another problem in the Effects Edit screen. I will write this finding in a new post.

 

[williamwill]

One week later and no reply from Kurzweil support. I will have to follow up to support in a couple days.

 

[williamwill]

Well it's been 3 weeks and still no answer from Kurzweil support about my Expression Pedal question. I'm disappointed to put it kindly. I have sent an additional question on the Effects Chain Editor page and after nearly 2 weeks no response. I can no longer recommend a Kurzweil product.

 

[happyrat1]

Regardless of the company, if it's a firmware bug, developers will not and can not comment except to registered beta testers working for the company who all signed NDA's forbidding them from discussing the matter.

In other words, don't hold your breath and don't expect them to tell you anything until they figure out how it can be fixed and whether it's actually worth fixing with a firmware update.. It might not even be a bug, but rather a subset of tonal voices which are not designed to respond to the CC pedal. I for one don't see any value to assigning modulation or volume to a banjo voice or a marimba.

Meanwhile I think it's rather petty to trash the company simply because your email wasn't answered as quickly as you'd have liked.

Gary

 

[williamwill]

This is not a petty problem. When the manual clearly written explains how something should operate and I find it does not operate that way there is an issue

 

[happyrat1]

It's a fact of nature that when a system's complexity increases so do the number of bugs in the digital programming.

You want bug free? Buy a grand piano.

Synth Workstations are complicated devices with millions if not billions of line of code.

There's a reason why firmware is upgradable on modern devices.

It's a cold hard fact of today's industrial standard. NOTHING SHIPS BUG FREE!!!

If you can find one that never needs a firmware update I'll buy you a case of beer.

(old casios don't count)

Gary

 

[happyrat1]

Actually if you want your rants to be heard by company employees then you should post your bug reports over on these two forums instead.

Log in

Log in

forums.godlike.com.au

Ksetlist – A community of users of Kurzweil keyboards

ksetlist.com

AFAIK nobody from Kurzweil follows or comments on this forum.

Gary

 

[williamwill]

Why would I send it to Ksetlist when I followed the proper channels by sending it to Kurzweil support. I've never had a problem in the past when I reached out to support. I post for the purpose of posting information on this keyboard and the problems encountered for the viewers.

 

[happyrat1]

I've owned a variety of makes and models over the years and the typical wait for a response to a tech support question has been anywhere from from 4 to 8 weeks on any issues I've raised.

You sound like a petulant child who expects everyone during the pandemic to drop everything to attend to your needs.

Give it a few more weeks and I suspect you'll be eating your words.

Gary

 

[williamwill]

Your condescending intimidating remarks are offensive. Your current statement of your mentioning 4 to 8 weeks wait time would have been sufficient the first time you responded.

I will not respond to any more comments!

 

[delaware dave]

Well it's been 3 weeks and still no answer from Kurzweil support about my Expression Pedal question. I'm disappointed to put it kindly. I have sent an additional question on the Effects Chain Editor page and after nearly 2 weeks no response. I can no longer recommend a Kurzweil product.

I must say that my experience with Kurzweil Tech support over the years has been phenomenal, I believe that I've actually called their support world class, typically a 48 hour turnaround. In one of your (or someone else's) previous posts it was mentioned that the support now gets answered outside of Kurzweil (Sweetwater or some other company handling the support questions). If this is the case then it is becoming increasingly evident why it is taking them so long to respond. Frankly they don't know shit. Jean can research and answer that question in 10 minutes or less. If he no longer is assuming that role then world class just became shit class. I was looking at a Nord Electro 6 and the ad mentioned a mod and pitch wheel. Knowing that there is no mod/pitch wheel on that series keyboard I ask them which MIDI accessory they were sending with the keyboard, the response was that the keyboard had a mod and pitch wheel. I indicated that keyboard didn't have one and asked him to look at the keyboard. He responded to me and said that he looked at the keyboard and clearly there was a mod and pitch wheel. The bottom line is that the keyboard has neither, the Stage series has a pitch wheel and a mod stick (no wheel). Now that guy told me that he looked at the keyboard. Do you expect someone like that to try to understand why 6 internal organ programs are not responding to the expression pedal? They're F'ing idiots. If Kurzweil themselves aren't researching the issue you will not get an answer. Take Gary's advice and try both Ksetlist.com and the Kurz Godlike forum (https://godlike.com.au/index.php?id=144). Those dudes are hardcore Kurzweil users and Fran is a tech at Kurzweil, he'll see the post and if it is truly a bug bring it to Technical's attention. This is by far your best shot at resolution of the bug. My two cents...

 

[williamwill]

D-Dave
I agree but do not fault the technicians at Sweetwater because they can't possibly know every keyboard. I have had multiple conversations with Jean at Kurzweil and he had always responded quickly usually the next day most of the time. he's been very helpful very knowledgeable as expected. At times we would volley back and forth for about an hour until my current problem was resolved. Never gave up on me. I will toss my issues at the site you mentioned. It just seems like a software issue.

Ty
Wiliamwill

 

[Jonsmanoj]

@williamwill If the problem is not solved yet, add a new parameter mapping CC Pedal 1 to MIDI CC#4 (Foot Pedal MSB).

You can observe that in the programs where it is working, you'll see a mapping Swell Ctl : CC Pedal 1 -> MIDI CC#91 (But #91 is effect level usually) You can try this method also.

This seems to be an issue with the internal modulation mapping. My OS (I'm a beta user and using the Alpha of the next release), I see the issues only in 142 & 149. So I hope you can see a fix in the upcoming OS release.

 

[williamwill]

Hi.
Would you make these changes on the parameters page?

 

[Jonsmanoj]

Yes, Program -> Edit -> Params page. Select Swell : CC Pedal 2 field and then while pressing Enter you can move your CC Pedal 1 and it will be selected.