P125 jazz organ leslie/rotor

[Mikewall]

Hi. Is there any other way to control the speed of the jazz organ leslie speaker, apart from the 3 pedal unit? Yamaha P121 and P125.

 

[anotherscott]

Any external device that can send the same MIDI CC as the function associated with the appropriate pedal from the 3 pedal unit should create the same result.

 

[Biggles]

I had my iPad connected to my P series and used a drawbar organ app plus others rather than the inbuilt ones

Galileo 2 and B3X are two apps whorth looking at

 

[Reuben]

Its a pity Yamaha didn't think to add some button combination like Function/L that would trigger the rotor speed change. Perhaps we should lobby them for and firmware upgrade?

 

[Mikewall]

I had my iPad connected to my P series and used a drawbar organ app plus others rather than the inbuilt ones

Galileo 2 and B3X are two apps whorth looking at

Hi - Thanks - I could do that but then I would rather just use my Arturia MIDI controller. I just hoped there would be another simple way as I don't play organ on the digital piano very often.

 

[Mikewall]

Its a pity Yamaha didn't think to add some button combination like Function/L that would trigger the rotor speed change. Perhaps we should lobby them for and firmware upgrade?

Yes - it seems like a strange oversight. Also - I don't see any other 3 pedal unit other than the one that attaches to the furniture stand which is not great for portability,

 

[Mikewall]

Any external device that can send the same MIDI CC as the function associated with the appropriate pedal from the 3 pedal unit should create the same result.

I'm not sure that this would work as we are talking about its built-in sounds.

 

[delaware dave]

Hi. Is there any other way to control the speed of the jazz organ leslie speaker, apart from the 3 pedal unit? Yamaha P121 and P125.

It depends on the midi configuration of the Yamaha. If the leslie slow/fast is mapped to a specific CC (say CC#1, which typically is assigned to the mod wheel), then you could take a single foot pedal, attach it to a device like this: link then program this linked device to send that CC# midi into the P125 each time the footswitch is depressed. This would then toggle the organ slow/fast speeds.

 

[anotherscott]

Any external device that can send the same MIDI CC as the function associated with the appropriate pedal from the 3 pedal unit should create the same result.

I'm not sure that this would work as we are talking about its built-in sounds.

I can't swear it will work without trying it, but in most cases, this isn't an issue. Imagine you had the 3-pedal unit (so you had the pedal that sent the rotary switch command), and you recorded your MIDI performance into a DAW (as people commonly do). When you played that MIDI performance back into the P-125, with most implementations, it will recreate the same performance. Meaning that the MIDI that was generated to register that rotary speed command would again be recognized when the keyboard received that same MIDI input back from the sequencer. So anything that can send that same MIDI command into your keyboard while playing should have the same effect. Since it is the

Which also gets to the info Delaware Dave just posted (and coincidentally, something I posted in an unrelated thread)... yes, that MIDI Solutions box he pointed you toward should allow you to configure a footswitch to send whatever CC the P125 needs, as should the Audiofront MIDI Expression iO or a Behringer FCB1010. Since it its the left ("soft") pedal of the triple pedal which changes rotary speed when the organ sound is selected, it is almost certainly going to be CC# 67 that you'll have to program your external device to send.

 

[Pete The Greek]

I went down the rabbit hole on this one a couple of years ago!

Here's what I learned.

I got a 3-pedal unit, and tested "what happens" (midi-wise) when you press the soft (left-most) pedal.
The answer is that it depends what voice you have selected.

When you have any voice selected EXCEPT THE JAZZ ORGAN - e.g. any Piano, any E. Piano, Rock Organ, etc. - it behaves as an unlatched switch for CC 67 (127 when pressed, 0 when released).

But when you have the jazz organ selected, it toggles between two different system exclusive messages:
1. if rotary speed is currently slow (i.e. the default, when you first select the jazz organ), it sends:
Yamaha F0 43 10 4C 03 01 02 01 F7
2. if rotary speed is currently fast, it sends:
Yamaha F0 43 10 4C 03 01 02 00 F7

So, unfortunately, the rotary speed toggle is not implemented as a simple midi CC command.

But, there are a few options (other than using the triple pedal unit - which can be modified to make it portable).

1. a convoluted USB midi solution (see https://www.keyboardforums.com/threads/p125-jazz-organ-leslie-rotor.32764/)

2. create a custom cable and use an off-the-shelf unlatched footswitch (e.g. Boss FS-5U). Essentially you are creating a one-pedal "triple pedal unit", with just the soft pedal. The beauty of this is that it is pretty cheap, and as a bonus you get a soft pedal for the piano voices!

Here's how it works:
- you only need a 2-conductor wire, and polarity doesn't matter.
- on one end you connect a standard 1/4" TS plug (this plugs into the footswitch).
- on the other end you connect a mini-DIN 6 pin male plug (this plugs into the "pedal unit" jack on the piano), with one of the wires connected to pin 4; and the other connected to pin 5 (or 6 - they are electrically connected to each other).

Please see http://diykeyboard.wikidot.com/yamaha-triple-pedal-connector for wiring details.

Hint: making this cable is MUCH easier if you can find a "PS/2 mouse adaptor" (USB-A female to mini-DIN 6-pin male adaptor; these were used back in the day to connect a USB mouse to a PC that had a PS/2 mouse jack). In this case, your cable will have a 1/4" TS plug on one end, and a USB-A plug on the other end. You can then easily make this cable by sacrificing a spare USB cable, chopping off whichever connected is NOT the USB-A plug, and stripping the wires. Plug the USB-A plug into one end of the PS/2 mouse adaptor, and plug the other end of the PS.

 

[jven]

I went down the rabbit hole on this one a couple of years ago!

Here's what I learned.

I got a 3-pedal unit, etc etc

BINGO! thank you.
Just got a P-121 and this seemed BIZARRE not yo have,
but it's in there and I'm firin' up the solder station!

 

[jimsav]

Jven - I wondered if you had built the control pedal for the Leslie speed on the P121. If you built it, how did it come out?

Thank you.

-Jim