DIY: Pedal solutions for Standing Players

[RandyFF]

Doing a sustain pedal while standing is bad enough, but trying to work a sweep pedal is near impossible for any length of time, at least for me.

 

I'm surprised that some enterprising gadget guy/gal hasn't come up with a solution for standing players. The easiest to design would be the sustain pedal because it's a simple on/off switch.

 

SUSTAIN PEDAL:

Using a membrane switch, or any low profile switch, it could be designed so that simply shifting your weight to the heel of your foot would trigger it. There'd be no compromise in comfortable standing posture.

 

SWEEP PEDAL:

1. Using gesture control like the Roland D-Beam or like gestures used for smartphones. For example, if you sway to the right, that controls the expression pedal, you sway to the left, and you have the choice of pitch/cutoff/assignable.

 

The membrane switch I mentioned above for the heel of your foot could for example trigger sustain with the right foot, and with the left foot it could be assignable, perhaps used to turn on/off the sweep pedal gesture control.

 

2. Like #1, but something you wear that could track left/right movements, or perhaps up and down

 

 

Would be curious to know what others think of the practicality of the above ideas, and of course any other ideas for sustain and sweep pedal designs for the standing player. Seems odd to me that someone hasn't tackled this already, the existing solutions otherwise are pretty limited or challenging to do, like supporting yourself on one leg while using a pedal.

 

Randy

[brenner13]

I used to trigger the D-Beam on my Fantom in all sorts of ways...elbow, head, foot (can no longer get my leg that high, now). I even tried controlling the theremin-type setting with my tongue...always got a laugh.

 

I"ve pondered many ways to activate modulation without removing hands from the keys. One that sticks with me is glasses that can track eye movement; a rarely used mod could be triggered by crossing one"s eyes. You don"t want to use that one too much. Other triggers from the glasses might sense raising of the eyebrows and perhaps wiggling of the ears.

 

But that heel / toe idea is probably much less silly.

[MAJUSCULE]

I like to move on stage, unfortunately. Depending on the gig, I might move a lot. As in, lose my glasses and get a bangover a lot. So unfortunately, it would take away much of the reason I play standing on these gigs. I play better sitting, like most people.

[Old No7]

You might be on to something.

 

Here's another thought...

 

If bass fishermen can steer bassboats with foot pedals while having both hands on their rods (don't read too much into that...) then a foot pedal that controls volume/expression by rotating it L or R just might do the trick. You wouldn't have to take your weight off the pedal at all. The "pot" in the pedal just needs to be turned on its side and rigged to it could be actuated with the pedal.

 

Old No7

[RandyFF]

I used to trigger the D-Beam on my Fantom in all sorts of ways...elbow, head, foot (can no longer get my leg that high, now). I even tried controlling the theremin-type setting with my tongue...always got a laugh.

 

I"ve pondered many ways to activate modulation without removing hands from the keys. One that sticks with me is glasses that can track eye movement; a rarely used mod could be triggered by crossing one"s eyes. You don"t want to use that one too much. Other triggers from the glasses might sense raising of the eyebrows and perhaps wiggling of the ears.

 

But that heel / toe idea is probably much less silly.

Thata funny! You could use the cross-eyed eye gesture for the sustain pedal!!!!!

 

I like the idea, but controlling your eye movements would be challenging to say the least. It'd need to be an unusual eye movement like making your eyes open wide, or having glasses that could include eyebrow gestures, or perhaps a visor that tracks your entire face!!! That'd be entertaining to watch!

 

If a D-Beam could be re-positioned so it was on the underside of the keyboard looking at your legs, that could be an unobtrusive velcro install when setting up.

[RandyFF]

You might be on to something.

 

Here's another thought...

 

If bass fishermen can steer bassboats with foot pedals while having both hands on their rods (don't read too much into that...) then a foot pedal that controls volume/expression by rotating it L or R just might do the trick. You wouldn't have to take your weight off the pedal at all. The "pot" in the pedal just needs to be turned on its side and rigged to it could be actuated with the pedal.

 

Old No7

Me likey! Great idea, wouldn't be that hard to make, the only trick being to keep the height down. Ideally the right foot would be turning left to right for expression and the left foot would be triggering sustain with the heel.

[RandyFF]

I like to move on stage, unfortunately. Depending on the gig, I might move a lot. As in, lose my glasses and get a bangover a lot. So unfortunately, it would take away much of the reason I play standing on these gigs. I play better sitting, like most people.

Yeah, that would be challenging. But it could be a thing where being closer or further away from the keyboard is what triggers it. So you can dance around all you like, but the sweep pedal isn't triggered unless you're a certain distance away from the keyboard.

 

Or, you've got the membrane switch built into a wide platform you're standing on, and with a kick towards the back of that platform it turns the expression/sweep pedal on, and only then would you need to dance in a way that controls the sweep pedal for a D-Beam like control. That sounds like alot to setup, but for standing pedals, the old alternatives are not easy to do for very long, and balancing on one foot is even more challenging than having a range-of-motion for your dancing at times.

[U.Honey]

 

SUSTAIN PEDAL:

Using a membrane switch, or any low profile switch, it could be designed so that simply shifting your weight to the heel of your foot would trigger it. There'd be no compromise in comfortable standing posture.

 

Randy

 

The idea is good but sometimes you press the pedal down a lot, depending on what you play. It can be multiple times per second. You'd be getting a serous workout if you would try to control it by shifting your weight.

[RandyFF]

 

SUSTAIN PEDAL:

Using a membrane switch, or any low profile switch, it could be designed so that simply shifting your weight to the heel of your foot would trigger it. There'd be no compromise in comfortable standing posture.

 

Randy

 

The idea is good but sometimes you press the pedal down a lot, depending on what you play. It can be multiple times per second. You'd be getting a serous workout if you would try to control it by shifting your weight.

I've tried it by just standing up and shifting some weight to the heel. It's not that hard to do, and barely shifts my weight. But yes, compared to sitting down and using a regular sustain pedal, it may be a little more challenging to do it quickly over and over again.

 

That's one thing I work on at times, to minimize my sustain pedal action. For me it's totally easy and natural to be constantly triggering it over and again. I've addressed this by putting a bit more sustain and a touch or reverb on often used sounds so that the sustain pedal is not needed as much, as well as using more sustain thru my playing. But for me, I've also found it to be a crutch, I could use considerably less sustain pedal and still be expressive and comfortable. But of course, slower tempo pieces need more sustain pedal action.

[JimboKeys]

I've often wished for a hip-activated lever for sustain (or volume boost or whatever). I think the knee lever from the old Farfisa was a great idea - just needs to be relocated for playing standing up.

 

- Jimbo

[Old No7]

Here's a view of a bassboat "Fish Finder" trolling motor pedal which has steering and other capabilities -- just to show what's possible to load onto one pedal:

 

 

I've seen some where twisting the foot left steered the boat left, etc. but this one has the up/down rocking motion just like swell pedals.

 

Old No7

[EricBarker]

I stand, play organ and use my right foot for leslie, and left foot for swell. It's taken a few years to get used to, but I've built up the leg strength to make it work. It hurts at first, and I end up placing about 80% of my weight on my right foot. My recommendation is really really good insoles. That makes a big difference. And then just practice and build up muscles and pain resistance. I don't think I'm doing any permanent damage, but it is like standing on one foot for hours at a time. Even before I played a majority organ, I would find my weight would be on one foot all night. Dr Scholes is your friend here.

[MathOfInsects]

I just had the thought that a simple solution would be a very small platform that you stand on, two inches high. Close it on the sides and back (your back). Place it so that the front edge is wherever the balls of your feet are when you stand to play. Out of the front, stick the sustain pedal facing the WRONG way--pointing toward the keyboard, with only the lever sticking out from under the platform. Do the same with your Leslie footswitch. You could even have a cutout so your expression or volume pedal can be right under your foot while you play, without having to lift it to use the pedal. Kind of like a bizarro-world inverted pedal-board. You could even use the platform as a carrying case for the pedals.

 

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