EV-5 expression pedal for FA06

Forum for Roland FA-06/08
breaksoap
Posts: 7
Joined: 10:32, 4 July 2017

EV-5 expression pedal for FA06

Post by breaksoap »

I made a quick search for similar posts without luck, but please forgive me if this is already answered elsewhere.
I have just ordered the FA 06 and while I'm waiting I am reading through the manual. The manual says that only the Roland EV-5 expression pedal can be used with the FA, other pedals may harm the device. I read pretty mixed reviews about the EV-5 pedal and it's not exactly cheap either. Does anyone have experience regarding this? I have absolutely no experience using expression pedals with synthesizers, but if other manufacturers would need calibration etc. its not really an option. I need plug-and-play usability right out from the box. Thanks for all help!
Skijumptoes
Posts: 681
Joined: 11:08, 21 June 2010

Re: EV-5 expression pedal for FA06

Post by Skijumptoes »

I wouldn't worry about that too much, it's Roland's way of covering themselves 'if' something went wrong i imagine, i.e you plug something in there which is sending some kind of electrical charge. i.e. certain guitar expression pedals are actually affecting the incoming audio and sending them back out.

I've used 2 'generic' pedals in mine (Literally had no markings on them, but they've laid around here for years!), and also an M-Audio EX-P, and also originally the EV-5 (Which i sold). And yeah, EV-5 is not worth the money at all in my mind, i use 2x M-Audio EXP's now and perfectly fine in terms of operation and connectivity.

Just make sure the polarity is correct (Up/Down etc), or even opt for one with a polarity switch of course so you can set it yourself.

I have one for volume, and the other for aftertouch.

However, those M-Audio's (If you're considering them) are quite light and so probably wouldn't use them live as the vibrations probably enough to make them move slightly (Causing a jump if on a new patch).
breaksoap
Posts: 7
Joined: 10:32, 4 July 2017

Re: EV-5 expression pedal for FA06

Post by breaksoap »

Thanks for your quick reply! I presume you too are using the FA series. Then maybe I should check out the way cheaper M-audio pedals. I already own lots of M-audio equipment. They never excel at anything, but never let me down either :)
Escaperocks
Posts: 27
Joined: 22:30, 23 June 2017

Re: EV-5 expression pedal for FA06

Post by Escaperocks »

I use a Yamaha FC-7 with my FA08.

You need to modify it to reverse tip and ring when using it with Roland but it's a great, solid pedal.
It's all very subjective, but the FC-7 feels better under my foot than the EV-5.

In three years it has not "damaged" my FA.

If you or anyone else wants to explore the FC-7, I'd be happy to share how to make it work with our Roland keys. Surgical or non-surgical :)
stevel
Posts: 520
Joined: 07:08, 17 May 2015

Re: EV-5 expression pedal for FA06

Post by stevel »

Escaperocks wrote:I use a Yamaha FC-7 with my FA08.

You need to modify it to reverse tip and ring when using it with Roland but it's a great, solid pedal.
It's all very subjective, but the FC-7 feels better under my foot than the EV-5.

In three years it has not "damaged" my FA.

If you or anyone else wants to explore the FC-7, I'd be happy to share how to make it work with our Roland keys. Surgical or non-surgical :)
Does the FA-08 not have the option to reverse pedal polarity? My FA-06 does. If you plug in a pedal that's "backwards", you can change the polarity in the System Menu.
stevel
Posts: 520
Joined: 07:08, 17 May 2015

Re: EV-5 expression pedal for FA06

Post by stevel »

OP, it is slightly possible that a pedal with a plug that is not standardized could cause a "crossed circuit" inside the jack but nowadays all that would happen would be the pedal wouldn't work or wouldn't work correctly.

The pedals are nothing but a resistor which essentially you're just plugging "in line". But it does need to have the right resistance values to work correctly AKAIK, so there's also a slight chance that something with too great a resistance might cause some over-heating (I doubt it though the voltages are so low).

But it is a way for Roland to say "oh, your keyboard is under warranty, but because you used a non-Roland pedal, we're not going to cover it".

I don't have any expression pedals but use M-Audio and Yamaha hold type pedals (as well as a really old Roland "box" type pedal from the 80s!) and they all work fine. One of them was reverse polarity out of the box which you can change in the FA, but mine had a switch and I just changed it on the pedal and all was good.

I agree about M-Audio - it's cheap, but it's also pretty solid. It's solid enough to last a while, and when it does go down, it's cheap enough to replace easily. The M-Audio hold pedal I have is way nicer than the Yamaha IMHO.
Escaperocks
Posts: 27
Joined: 22:30, 23 June 2017

Re: EV-5 expression pedal for FA06

Post by Escaperocks »

stevel wrote:
Escaperocks wrote:I use a Yamaha FC-7 with my FA08.

You need to modify it to reverse tip and ring when using it with Roland but it's a great, solid pedal.
It's all very subjective, but the FC-7 feels better under my foot than the EV-5.

In three years it has not "damaged" my FA.

If you or anyone else wants to explore the FC-7, I'd be happy to share how to make it work with our Roland keys. Surgical or non-surgical :)
Does the FA-08 not have the option to reverse pedal polarity? My FA-06 does. If you plug in a pedal that's "backwards", you can change the polarity in the System Menu.
Yes, the FA-08 has the polarity option as well.


To work with the Roland, the tip and ring need to be reversed. Not polarity.
Many people bought the adapter that used to be available from Ashby.

The easiest method is to get a couple TRS "Y" cables that separate the tip and ring. Get one that is female to two males, and one that is male to two females.

Connect the two Y adapters together, but with tip going to ring, and vice versa.

Then plug your FC7 into the female side, and plug the other end of the adapter into your FA008/07/06.

Finally, if you're handy with soldering, you can easily open the FC7 and rewire the thing in a few minutes.

That's what I did. I have a Roland dedicated FC7 in my setup.

Without the modification, the FC7 will appear to work with our Rolands, however you will only get uneven sweep from about 42 to 127. And it jumps with only a 1/3 pedal throw. No matter how you have polarity set in the FA, same result.

Get the adapters or do the mod, and you get full sweep 0-127, nice and smooth.
eyekahn
Posts: 41
Joined: 03:29, 23 March 2007
Location: Overland Park, KS

Re: EV-5 expression pedal for FA06

Post by eyekahn »

While I don't have a FA (yet), I have tried multiple alternatives to the EV-5 for reasons of pedal travel and durability issues. I do have a Fantom X7. So far, the best EV-5 alternative I have used is the Dunlop DVP1XL ( https://www.jimdunlop.com/product/dvp1x ... e=&from=fn )

I have tried the EV-5, the Behringer FCB-1010, the M-Audio EX-P, the Moog EP-2 and EP-3 before the Dunlop pedal. The EV-5 was the only one I tried in the batch that gave me the full range of expression showing up in MIDI output from the Fantom X7 prior to the Dunlop. The DVP1XL has a larger travel than the EV-5 and the thing is built like a tank! None of the other pedals comes close in the combination of durability and usability. I own two of these and expect they will last a LONG LONG time.
stevel
Posts: 520
Joined: 07:08, 17 May 2015

Re: EV-5 expression pedal for FA06

Post by stevel »

Escaperocks wrote: To work with the Roland, the tip and ring need to be reversed. Not polarity.

Without the modification, the FC7 will appear to work with our Rolands, however you will only get uneven sweep from about 42 to 127. And it jumps with only a 1/3 pedal throw. No matter how you have polarity set in the FA, same result.

Get the adapters or do the mod, and you get full sweep 0-127, nice and smooth.
Hmm. Thanks for this info.

It doesn't sound quite right to me and I'm trying to suss out why.

So am I right in saying that if you plug in the FC7, it works, but is just not full range?

Or does it work backwards?

Or both?

And does switching the polarity in the Roland make it go the right direction, but still not the full range?

IOW, I'm trying to figure out if switching the wiring on the pedal fixes the direction problem (that isn't fixed in the Roland with the setting), or just the range issue, or both...
Escaperocks
Posts: 27
Joined: 22:30, 23 June 2017

Re: EV-5 expression pedal for FA06

Post by Escaperocks »

You need to come over to keyboard corner and read up on it.

To answer one of your questions, if you plug an unmodified FC7 into a Roland, not only will you not get full range, but it will not be linear.

Basically Yamaha uses a different protocol for which part (tip/ring) carries the reference voltage and the divided voltage (from the pot inside the pedal)

Reversing polarity just changes which part is in phase with the source.

A guy used to make nifty adapters that had the tip and ring reversed inside the plug. After several years, he sold out and stopped making them.

I just take my FC7, open it up, and unsolder the tip and ring, and re-solder them to the other terminal, and instant Roland compatible FC7.

As an aside, I go one step further and cut off the cable and add a trs jack on the FC7. The common failure point on most expression pedals is the cable. In my version, if the cable goes bad, I just use another TRS
stevel
Posts: 520
Joined: 07:08, 17 May 2015

Re: EV-5 expression pedal for FA06

Post by stevel »

I see - it's the reference voltage versus difference voltage that's the problem. I guess I was thinking it was more like a volume pedal I'm used to. I know that sometimes volume pedals can be used as expressions pedals and sometimes not, and this explains why.

Thanks
Escaperocks
Posts: 27
Joined: 22:30, 23 June 2017

Re: EV-5 expression pedal for FA06

Post by Escaperocks »

You're welcome!

I started once putting together a list of which keyboards and controllers are not compatible with the FC7, since many people like it.
I don't know what I did with it.

I can say the Arturia Keylab series are another. I have a modified FC7 for my Keylab 61 as well.

Then, to make matters worse, there are some companies out their whose pedals use very different pots then the big boys (Yamaha, Roland, Korg) so no matter how you modify a different pedal you still get weird results. :)
breaksoap
Posts: 7
Joined: 10:32, 4 July 2017

Re: EV-5 expression pedal for FA06

Post by breaksoap »

I am greatly thankful for all the input here! And quite confused as well :P I am familiar with reversing the polarity in the keyboard menu as I often did with sustain pedals on my older Korg synth. But all this talk about modifying and adapters and different voltage etc. makes me think I am better off with the Roland pedal as everything is supposed to work out of the box. Maybe not the best built or bang for buck, but I guess thats outweighed by the potential hazzle of a pedal not working 100% without modifications.
Liquid
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Location: Scotland
Contact:

Re: EV-5 expression pedal for FA06

Post by Liquid »

Another recommendation for the modified FC-7, you can actually use it as a proper pedal. The EV-5 just seems to be a more expensive version of a really cheap Bespeco with a switch added, you don't get a full smooth range like you do with the FC-7.

Watch if you're making an adapter for the FA-08 though that you don't use a right-angled plug as it will pop out! You will end up doing things like this:

Image
Escaperocks
Posts: 27
Joined: 22:30, 23 June 2017

Re: EV-5 expression pedal for FA06

Post by Escaperocks »

That's why I rewire everything. I am not a fan of all kinds of adapters :)
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