mattvollmer

UPDATE: I got it to work mostly the way I want it to. I'm using the 'Simple Pitch' block because that uses much less DSP than 'Poly Pitch.' I had a spare Ernie Ball VP Jr that so I hooked up an all 1/4" insert cable from that to the Helix to be used as an EXP 3. I set it to control the 'cents' parameter with the max set to 0 cents at the heel position and the min set to -50 cents at the toe position (I'd prefer to set it even lower than that but that appears to be all that's allowed). I used an elastic wristband to have it always retract back to the heel position. It actually sounds pretty convincing. Occasionally I'll hear some warble but not nearly as much as I expected. The VP Jr doesn't seem to start the sweep until I'm about at the halfway point though, so that's pretty annoying. I remember it doing that even when used as a volume pedal. I'll have to look up to see if there's a mod to have the sweep start sooner. Otherwise I could just order a cheap exp pedal knowing that this actually works. I have no doubt that the Bigsby pedal would be far superior and I may find myself getting one eventually, but for my needs, this will work just fine.

The reason why I think it will work is because I already experimented with it using the exp pedal and it worked. I just wanted it to automatically go back to pitch when I let go of the pedal. I was thinking a damper pedal would be the way to go, but I already concluded that retractable exp pedal would be my best bet. I just need to get a strong enough elastic band to keep it bouncing back to the heel position but that's 100% attainable. I have no doubt that the Bigsby pedal would be better quality. If I had disposable income, I'd just purchase that. Unfortunately that's not my situation, but I am confident that what I have planned will work. I've done crazier ideas than this and made them work to my liking. Believe it or not, this thread has helped me out. It steered me away from the damper pedal idea and onto the DIY-retractable-exp-pedal idea.

Perhaps I misused the term MIDI. I meant that I thought it would sweep the parameters in a similar fashion as an exp pedal as you pressed the pedal downward. I may have made the incorrect assumption that MIDI was utilized to do that. Though another user posted a Sweetwater link that defined half damper pedals sending out MIDI CCs.

That's what I was afraid of if I bought a half damper- that it wouldn't sweep when pressed. The video you linked to, I actually came across it last night. I think that might be my best route since I already know that an exp pedal can sweep the parameter the way I want it to, I just need it to retract when I lift my foot. I never thought about rigging it up with a rubber band or a cut up bike tube before, but that clearly does work.

The Bigsby pedal is tempting but, as you also acknowledge, the pitch shifting on the Helix is quality. So much so that I feel a retractable exp pedal would do what I'm looking for. So If I can make that work, I'll have saved hundreds by just making the most out of the product I already have.

Very familiar with pitch wheels. What I want to do is kinda like that but, as stated earlier, I want it to replicate the sound of using a Bigsby or whammy bar. I feel like a damper pedal that can sweep through a parameter would work. I'm also finding that an exp pedal that always retracts back to the heel position would also work and you can easily mod one to do just that. I'll probably try that route first since I'm not certain that I'll find a damper pedal that will do specifically what I want it to do.

I found quite a few. You just have to use the search terms, "half damper pedal." The Roland DP-10 is an example of one.

I don't actually have a dedicated exp pedal for the pitch parameter, I experimented with the built-in exp pedal but I prefer to keep that for volume only. But in experimenting with pitch, I did think the quality was decent but I wanted it to retract back to pitch when I lifted my foot so it would sound similar to when you would release your hand from a Bigsby arm. Having to rock an exp pedal back doesn't have the same effect as that. I don't know if any company makes an exp pedal controller that always retracts back to the heel position but that would likely work for me. Your link you provided does say that damper pedals that have half-damping capabilities can send MIDI CCs 0-127. That leads me to believe that it could work.

The key word there is "usually." I did more research and saw that some damper pedals are capable of "half damping" which keyboard players like to recreate the sound of only partially pressing down on the sustain pedal for lighter sustain. This capability leads me to believe that it must have different MIDI values based on how far down you are pressed on the damper as opposed to just "on/off." I might just buy one to find out and return it if it doesn't work. It doesn't seem like anyone else has experimented with this yet to give me definite answer. I haven't experimented with the poly pitch. That's a cool feature but it doesn't seem to give me the control I would want when using it. It also sounds too artificial in the video but that could be because it was set to drop a perfect 5th. I'd probably set it to just a half step or whole step.

I'm aware that I can do it with an expression pedal. The problem with it is I have to physically rock the expression pedal back to get it back to pitch. I'd rather it get back to pitch on its own similar to letting go of a bigsby or whammy bar. The sustain pedal on a piano seems to do this and that's what a damper pedal replicates. But you're telling me that a damper pedal operates more like a switch than a sweep. If that's the case then that would be disappointing. Hopefully there's a pedal out there that can actually do what I want. I know that Bigsby came out with one but it's expensive and the Helix already can replicate the same effect. I just would rather use damper, or something like it, to control the pitch parameter instead of rocking the exp pedal.

I'm curious if it's possible to use a damper pedal on the Helix to control parameters? I specifically want to use one to act like a virtual bigsby So I would have it control the pitch parameter on the pitch shifter, lowering the pitch as it's pressed but bringing back to pitch when I release. All of my searches have come up empty so I'm not sure if anyone has tried it yet, but figured I'd ask before I purchase a damper pedal and try it out. It seems like it should work though.