Three pedals, how do you guys arrange em

[Leh173]

Hey everyone

 

Lately I'm using three pedals with my Fantom G6 for live performance. Expression on the left, small sustain used as a switch for program up in the middle and sustain on the right. I find myself doing a bit of an awkward dance between these pedals depending on what I'm doing and when I need expression or program changes in a song/set. I may just need more practice with them in this order but wondering how others do it. Before this I only ever used two pedals, expression on the left and sustain on the right.

 

How do you guys arrange your pedals for easy ergonomics?

[mul]

Personally I use 4 peddles. One sustain for each of my korgs, an expression and leslie 'on' for my Hammond. One sustain on each side, the expression beside the right sustain and the Leslie switch beside the left sustain. It takes a ltlle bit of getting used to but now I'm aware of where they all are and seem to be able to find them without looking (so long as the haven't moved) which brIngs me to this....

 

What I am looking for is some way of hard fastening them to a piece of ply and finding a light weight case that can accomodate that peddle rack. As with most players I have problems with migrating peddles.

[ewall08530]

I use three pedals. Piano sustain, organ expression and Ventilator/ leslie on-off.

For years I would have the sustain pedal to the right, leslie on/off in the middle slightly to the right and expression pedal left.

 

I started having problems with my left knee almost a year ago and noticed that using my left foot constantly for the expression aggravated my knee.

 

So I've switched the Vent and the expression pedal and found this to be better on my knee. I also discovered that it's more natural to use the organ expression with my right foot the way I used to years ago when I owned a Hammond C3.

 

You've got to experiment and find what works for you. Of course there is a learning curve until you automatically reach for the pedal you want and it feels comfortable but in my case it did not take long at all.

 

ewall

[Analogaddict]

I use six pedals - two cc pedals and three footswitches connected to my PC3 and a Hammond expression pedal. They are usually configured like this;

CC 1 - expression lower keyboard, FS1 - sustain upper board, FS2 - program change/tap tempo, FS3 - sustain lower board, CC2 - expression upper board, Hammond pedal. Once you have a system for it, it gets easier. I sometimes use the Kurz switches and sliders if I need more control.

[MoodyBluesKeys]

On single keyboard gigs: one CC pedal and three switch pedals.

On dual keyboard gigs: double the above. My gig setups are all a mixture of a PC2, PC3X, PC3, and PC361. I modified several Kurzweil twin pedal assemblies to add the third pedal in the middle - looks like a set of pedals on a piano, and is heavy enough to stay in place. Arrangement is always the same:

from left to right - CC pedal for lower board, triple switch pedal for lower board, triple switch pedal for upper board, CC pedal for upper board. With the Kurzweils, I can make setups to have the pedals do whatever MIDI function I want on either board. Most of the time they are set for CC being volume/organ swell, and the three switch pedals being normal for piano, right one being Leslie switch for organ. However, I sometimes set up the left and center to move forward and backward in setups.

 

Whatever arrangement is used, consistency is the key to it becoming automatic where one (almost) always hits the pedal desired.

 

[HAMEGZ]

Whatever works for you ergonomically and logically . I came from acoustic and electromechanical instruments before "electronic" ones, so I am comfortable with the sustain in the middle, expression toward the right, and the rotary speed pedal on the left(since the half moon switch is "left")

[Sam Mullins]

I have five pedals. In a gator pedal case I have from left to right:

Sustain for Electro 3

Volume for electro 3

Volume for Yamaha s90es

Sustain for Yamaha s90es

 

All those are Yamaha pedals.

 

Then to the left of the gator box I have a foot switch for the E3 Leslie speed .

 

The gator makes setup much faster .

[mate stubb]

Depends.

 

Are you standing or sitting?

[Delaware Dave]

Vent to the left, expression in the middle; sustain to the right.

[SpaceNorman]

I use five pedals in my rig ... left to right, they're as follows:

 

Yamaha FC7 - connects to CP300 as volume control for it and a Motif ES Rack unit

Roland DP10 - connects to RD700SX - usually triggers Leslie sim

Yamaha FC3 - connects to CP300 as sustain pedal

Roland DP10 - connects to RD700SX as sustain pedal

Roland EV5 - connects to RD700SX as volume control

 

I play seated and typically have each foot on the gas pedal on it's side of the pedal row. (My sounds tend to have alot of layers - that are blended via the expression pedals) I also use the Leslie sim quite a bit ... The sustain pedals don't get used all that much - and when they do, they tend to be to give me an "extra hand" to smooth transitions rather than using them as in the classic manner that a piano sustain pedal gets used.

 

[CrimsonianKing]

I was using 6 when i had 3 keys...

 

left to right : 3 sustains, vent's footswitch, 2 expression pedals.

[JpScoey]

As you can probably see from the answers already given, it's largely down to personal preference.

 

Although it varies, depending on the rig I take out, I would normally have the (piano) sustain pedal centre/right,

 

with organ swell pedal to the right of that.

 

3rd pedal would be to the left.

[Michelle ggurl]

When I did multi-keyboard rigs with 3 or 4 pedals mine was laid out very similar to yours, Leh173 ... except I had expression pedal to the immediate left of the sustain pedal, and the switch was off to the leftmost side. It depends on the person, as obvious from these answers.

 

FWIW if you are coming from a piano background like I am, make note of how far back that sustain pedal really is from your keys, and also where it is in relation to the keys -- seems to be above "A" above middle C; that position might not be where you are putting your pedal, and it might make a difference in your comfort. Sounds obvious, but it was a HUGE epiphany for me in terms of feeling comfortable at any DP or keyboard.

[JeffLearman]

With just the NE: Leslie speed on left, expression in the midle, sustain on the right.

 

With two boards, I get crossed up unless my feet correspond to my hands. That is, left foot needs to control the keyboard my left hand's using, etc.

 

Here's what I'm planning. Expression in the middle, with a pair of sustain pedals on each side. Left of both pairs will be sustain/Leslie for the NE, right of both pairs will be sustain for the DP below the NE. I'll use a Y-adaptor to connect each pair of pedals that do the same thing. So, the left of each pair will be connected to a Y adaptor plugged into the NE; the right of each pair will be connected to a Y adaptor plugged into the DP.

 

To handle pedal migration and quick setup/teardown, I drilled a hole on each side in the front of each pedal and ran a string through the lot, with loops on each end to slip over the feet of my stand. Actually I use a cord -- a broken pedal cable as it happens. I roll all the pedals up and wrap the cords around them, stuff them into a handle bag with my other miscellaneous gear. Fast & cheap, just like I like 'em.