DeltaJockey

It won't be necessary. The Montage AD converter on the damper will allow the full range using the 10K, as the input is capable of anything from 10 to 50K. Interestingly the Roland pedal, has pots of about 5k, and I managed to get continuous damper values from 0 to 110, which was enough to enable the half and full damper functionality on any sound.

Well, the tech returned my call and we had a good long conversation about the Montage. The FC35 pedal has 3 continuous controllers with 10k pots, which is all I need to know. The pot resistance is at the bottom of the compatibility range for the Montage but should be fine. We also discussed other technical details about the workings of the Montage, so I have enough information to do what I need to do. Interestingly, armed with this info, I had another play around with my other pedals connected to the Montage, and managed to get the Roland RPU-3 damper pedal to work in continuous/half damper mode using one of the assignable controllers, as I don't own any Yamaha pedals at this stage. If I plug the other 2 pedals in to the other controller slots at the same time, unfortunately because of how the Roland pedal unit is wired the Montage plug sensing circuit thinks nothing is plugged in at all. So for now at least, I have a damper pedal only, which doesn't slide around the floor👍 I will however purchase an FC35, change the plugs and should be good to go.

I suspect you are correct there. That's why I'm hoping that there is a commonality in circuit specs across the Yamaha pedals. If there is, then it'll be a piece of cake to wire it for the Montage. That's what has astounded me also. I'd be an early adopter for sure.👍 Though judging by the general interest in the topic in this thread, I have to wonder how many folk really are interested. Perhaps there's only a small percentage of digital piano purists on this forum? While I was in the mood, I made a call to my local Yamaha tech support. The person I spoke to put me on to a tech, but I had to leave a voicemail, so will see where that leads me. I would think it is a valid tech support topic, given that my Montage is only 6 months old and under warranty. I do have the controller tech specs for the Montage, (original), so I'm halfway there. I know what the Montage is expecting, and what pin, I just don't know what's inside the FC35.

That's the thingy box I mentioned above. Couldn't remember the name of it! I looked at getting one a while back. The shipping details looked a bit complicated at the time, and I also didn't then because I was looking at using a Kawai GPF3 for the Montage, as it's the best pedal of them all with it's optical proximity sensing, but this adapter doesn't support that, and I would have had to design and build another interface between the pedal and adapter! I've since sold the Kawai and pedal, but I find the Roland triple to be the next best thing. It's very smooth. Not sure, but I suspect it uses nylon string pulleys rather than gritty plastic gears like the SL. Perhaps I'll revisit the adapter again as the Roland should be compatible. Yes I want the triple for both reasons, Una/Sost/Damper for vst pianos and pianoteq, and Continuous damper for the onboard pianos as well as function switching for left and center pedals for other functions. eg Arp/motion switch etc. There are pros and cons using the Roland with the adapter though. The pro is that all 3 pedals are continuous pots, which I discovered was great when playing the Montage ESP software on the RD88, as I assigned the superknob to the left continuous pedal. whereas the cons are that it may be a problem when using them for switching, program change etc. unless the Montage can detect analog threshold change to 2 state detection. It's why I simply wanted to just order something pretty much off the shelf and change plugs. I think the FC35 is 2 switches and a continuous damper. Would plug straight into the Montage controllers. It seems that avoiding a tedious solution is in itself becoming complicated😬

So that being my thinking is the only easy answer. Which is why all I am looking for is the schematic. I could take a chance and blindly buy one, it just gets a bit more messy if I have to replace the pot too, if it's value falls outside the range compatible with the Montage continuous range. I was hoping to ask any long time Yamaha folk if in their opinion Yamaha are likely to standardize their internal specs so they don't have too many different parts in their production, and that the continuous sensing range for the Px pianos is the same as the Montage. I know there is that MIDI universal pedal adapter thingy box, can't remember the name, but it seems to be a hard product to source, particularly where I live. That's why buying a triple from Yamaha and changing the plug seemed such a 10 minute easy fix. I've had a bit of a run with triples lately. I also have the Roland RPU-3 for my RD88, and a Studiologic SL3P-3 for the Numa X piano. The SL quality leaves a bit to be desired, and have already had that apart cleaning and relubing the plastic gears, (annoyingly it's still under warranty but too much hassle to get it back for service), so thought I'd try the Roland on the Numa. Most other keyboard makers have enough settings to accommodate other brands of pedals, and the Roland works great on the Numa. But sadly, none of them work on the Yamaha, who have the least options for setting pedal specs on the Montage. Sensing my frustration in my rant? Is it too much to ask to have a triple pedal on a Montage? As I said in my first post, I don't want to put 3 on a board. There are other issues doing it that way I'm not wanting to deal with.

I wish I could rename this title. It's the most generic and boring title I've ever thought up.👇 If someone has any ideas where I could go to find some Yamaha experts, other than YamahaMusicians/Forums etc, I'd be forever grateful. Failing that, I need to find a triple pedal that is compatible with Montage. Oh wait, maybe I should just contact Yamaha support?

Does anyone know the wiring schematic for a Yamaha FC35? I don't know why Yamaha have never made a triple pedal that would suit the Montage. The Montage M8x advertises that the GEX gives great expression for piano, (which is true), but unlike the other manufacturers, triples are in short supply for Yamahas in general. I know the Montage supports continuous from 10K to 50K. If the FC35 had something within that range, I'd just buy one, cut the single plug off and put separate plugs on. Apart from that, I've gotten used to having a triple with my other gear, which is heavy enough to sit in one place without moving, and also use it to configure the Soft/ Sostenuto for other functions when not using it for piano. Putting 3 single pedals on a common wooden board, to me is just not elegant.😬

I see contemporary comparison comments about iPad vs Computers, as moving on from the traditional power gap. iPads have come a long way from their hobbled limited capabilities in the early days. But to me, it's more about the flexibility of connectivity options. Though the iPad is still a little bit sandboxed it is way more open compared to the old days, data transfers are a lot easier now, as there is enough power to perform security functions "on the fly", but for me, I do enjoy the multitude of connectivity without needing adapters, hubs etc that my Mac offers.

As a Logic Pro user I feel that possibility may be of benefit to me financially, though I'd say very unlikely. Maybe if they were a software company only, I could see it conceivable, unless they continued trading under the Arturia name. I originally purchased Camel Audio's Alchemy and all the extra libraries when they were their own company. Then it was consumed by Apple and incorporated into Logic. Luckily, I still have installed all the extra libraries not included with Logic version, which continued to work. So I guess I gained from that acquisition. I use a number of included plugins in Logic which were all independent companies at some stage. But I don't go back far enough with Macs to have used Logic before it was independently not called that. I'd say I have benefited from some of these very expensive quality plugins being sucked into Logic. My gut feeling though, is that there is some sort of merge/takeover with some other company, likely Europe based? It's already into the evening of the 9th here in Oz, so I'll have to wake to the news in the morning🤔

That was my gut feeling too!

It could be a deliberate tactic to get the speculation hot by deliberately inserting connections to their affairs and product, that will have nothing to do with their news. I've seen that time and time again. I guess they would have a lot of fun playing games with the public. Maybe sharpening the impact of the real announcement.

Well, he was a clever dick then wasn't he? 😁

I believe it's the same action as the Kronos LS

Maybe an ios app of their Moog Modular that runs on an Apple watch!

I used to have a couple of those. I was intending to keep them "forever", but the touch sensitive rubber on the knobs went intolerably sticky to touch, and they were too horrible to use. So I sold them. I hate that tacky degrading rubbery feel.

I suppose it could be anything music related. I just hope they don't completely discontinue their signature products. I've not purchased much from them recently, but I do have in mind buying a couple of things they still list currently, a bit further down the track....though as naive as that might be.

Maybe they're moving into lucrative peanut farming...... or subscription hardware which self destructs upon cancellation 😁👍 Whatever it is, they make it sound like a radical new direction. Can we trust them not to over hype the pre-announcement? I'm hyperventilating just anticipating it!😆

I notice in Oz, Lianos are selling incredibly cheap at the moment. Like about the equivalent of $300 USD.

oops! sorry. 😬 I did think of trying a bit of felt under the "fallboard" edge above the back of the keys, as that's where it sounds like it's hitting. I know you said you had IEM's in, but I could here it with open back 'phones on. it may also be down to my style of playing too, as playing slow or gentle passages isn't a problem, only faster staccato with quick key release.

Yes, I would be wary of any immune suppressants like biologics if I had other issues to worry about too. At least biologics have the least side effects and are considered the safest compared to other immunosuppressant drugs. But there's always a risk with any of them. They don't even know what the long term health affects of them are because they haven't been around long enough. When it comes to joint maintenance, I'm still finding being as active with lots of rest inbetween to help a lot. Sadly, painkillers are occassionally my go to, for some stamina when playing piano. But the risk is worth it vs not playing!

I can relate to this. I've had psoriasis for many years, and wonder if psoriatic arthritis is also in the mix. Thankfully, I got on to it fairly early, and am on an expensive biologic which has been an absolute miracle cure for the skin, but worry about the connective tissue and my joints still. I have good days where I can play almost any keyboard in comfort, then without warning other days, I last about 10 mins. In retrospect, I have wasted a lot of money changing hardware, only to have the symptoms catch up to me again😕

Yes in reading what you are saying, I realised my wording was a bit sloppy. I don't exactly slam my keys hard, in fact I keep them in great condition for many years. For me the point is my technique in the left hand is often over extended for the finer fingers, rather than playing too hard. And I suspect that arthritis is becoming a problem for my playing, not really the cause of it.🤔

How do you find the keybed noise on the GPX88? I have a GPX61 which I purchased originally for portability with piano vst's, before I bought a Keystage. The Nektar does have quite good velocity response, but I find the key slap on it's up return to be quite loud. But then if you're gigging in a loud environment, maybe that's not a problem?

This is a topic I've been thinking more about too. I was going to post a thread at some stage myself, asking for opinions and strategies, but I know there has been many discussions in the past of this very issue. I'm starting to feel the effects of ageing fingers, and am trying to assess the best strategy for the future to help slow down the progression. If I was not able to play piano in the future due to this I'd be absolutely devastated! Your NC2X does have quite a bit of spring resistance, so may not serve you best with arthritic fingers. I can perhaps give you impressions and what I'm feeling that is sort of helping for me. But, I am very much in the, "not really sure what the best course of action will be for me down the track" mode. And I may be asking for advice around here as my individual circumstance changes. I'm not even sure if it's just arthritis I'm dealing with, and suspect soft connective tissue may be involved too, making it tricky to find the right balance of weight and resistance. I too, have trouble with my left hand more than my right. Mainly because I tend to play bass octaves with thumb and pinky extended a lot. As it is, I've always suffered from a bit of hyper-extension in general, and when I hear some folk complain of not being able to comfortably reach just octaves, though I've got fairly small hands, I find many decades of practice makes it effortless to reach at least 13 whole notes. I also tend to slam the bass with my little fingers a bit more than I should. The down side is the hands are not what they used to be. In using semi weighted actions, I've found surprisingly, that they not only don't improve the situation, but can make the pain worse. I think it has to do with muscle "follow through" needed because of the lack of momentum it has, that a well balanced weighted action has in order to express a certain note length. The action behavior that seems to allow my hands the most playing stamina, is still in fact a weighted action, but one that is free moving, with little to no damping, is counterbalanced so that the momentum is kept up with caressing keystrokes. My acoustic grand gives my hands very little trouble at this stage, and I think for the reasons I've described. I also think the acoustic is less of a problem, because being only piano, the playing style doesn't require longer periods of holding down keys for sustain pads etc. I own a number of instruments, and value the differences in actions. One of the reasons I keep all of them is because I find playing periodically on different feeling actions seems to help my hands by giving them muscular variety and a bit of a rest from same effort of one action. It's why my favourite and least tiring actions to play of late are my Montage M8X GEX weighted, and my SL Numa Piano X GT for an uncannily similar feel. They are both free moving, nimble and quite light weighting wise, mainly because the balance is good, as the keys themselves are quite solid. Actions which are sluggish, though I have no trouble playing and expressing with them and like the feel of them, my hands just can't cope for too long on them anymore. I haven't tried the Liano with arthritis in mind, but I did play a Kronos LS when they were first released, and didn't mind the feel, as I believe it's the same action as the Liano. Not sure whether my ramblings and thoughts are relevant or of any use to you, we all experience these issues differently, but I just wanted to point out that their are so many variations in the feel of weighted actions that could also be potentially better for your fingers than some of the semi weighted 73's or 88's. I'm indeed starting to wonder also, what I'm going to do in the long term.

oh good grief! How would I have the time to play with 100 of those?😁 We all talk about Korg's ios synth apps, Yamaha seem I little quieter with theirs. Not crossed paths with it before. We really have so many options these days. It's time to take stock and consciously only focus on what really floats our boat. Nice to check out the newest offerings, but not necessarily take everything onboard. This MS5 is one example for me to take an interest in but not add to my already bloated collection!