Expression Pedal Control of Output Volumes?

[rondesjardins]

Am I seriously the first person to start a topic in the Stadium forum? LOL.

Does anyone know if the Expression Pedal can be assigned to control the volume of the outputs of the Stadium XL? Meaning, can it be assigned to control the output level/volume of the 1/4" outputs? I am thinking it should be able to, as this might be important if trying to adjust volume of backing tracks being played via Showcase (when that feature is eventually enabled) with the onboard expression pedal (versus having to hookup and external pedal and running the output through that pedal). And, can this type of assignment be setup differently for each present?

I'm a long time HX Stomp user, and need to connect with my Sweetwater rep. to finalize my order. Exciting times.

[silverhead]

I would use the Matrix feature to balance the output level of the Songs (backing tracks) with your preset levels. Stadium is a different beast and it’s not always best to try to do things the  Helix way. 
 

The online Helix Stadium manual is available now, accessible in the Support -> Manuals area. Check out the Matrix (section is found in Quick Start -> Display area of manual’s Table of Contents).

[glideman]

I'm back from FAS Land (although I'll still be keeping my AFX III Mk II Turbo and FM9T.

 

Ready to try the new thing on the street once the pre-order gets here!!!

[rondesjardins]

On 11/18/2025 at 4:58 PM, silverhead said:

I would use the Matrix feature to balance the output level of the Songs (backing tracks) with your preset levels. Stadium is a different beast and it’s not always best to try to do things the  Helix way. 
 

The online Helix Stadium manual is available now, accessible in the Support -> Manuals area. Check out the Matrix (section is found in Quick Start -> Display area of manual’s Table of Contents).

Thanks. Yeah, I would certainly give that a try, but I need a way to control the output volume in real time. I play in a duo, and we use a BeatBuddy and a Looper for backing tracks (drums/bass) on various songs. For those songs, I control the overall volume of those devices, via midi (through a Morningstar MC8) to get their level to sit just right against our overall mix. My hope/plan is that I could eliminate the looper (for backing tracks) and use the Stadium XL (via Showcase) to play those tracks and use the onboard expression pedal to adjust their volume (if/when needed). Otherwise, if it can't control those output volumes, I'd have to look at hooking up another expression pedal (which I want to avoid having to setup another expression pedal).

Although, thinking this through...maybe setting the matrix mixer level (per patch/song), if it's using a backing track, would further simplify/eliminate the need to adjust volume in real time (at least for backing tracks). Hhhmmm.

Still, would be nice to just know if this is possible.

[silverhead]

The Matrix mixer operates globally; you can't set the Showcase Song level per preset.

 

You can assign the Level of an Output block to an expression pedal, but that only applies to the Output block of a preset. It does not apply to the Matrix output level of the Showcase Song (your looper backing tracks). This can be useful to dynamically balance the preset level with the backing track level. You adjust the preset level up/down depending on the backing track level. But this won't affect the level of your Beatbuddy.

 

Seems to me that your problem, as I understand it, is that your backing tracks are not properly levelled relative to each other. Some backing tracks appear to be louder/softer than others so you want to compensate by adjusting other levels. I think the best solution for this issue is to level the backing tracks before importing them into Showcase. Once your backing tracks are leveled they will sit well in the mix with your Beatbuddy and your preset levels (assuming they too are balanced among themselves). Then you set the Matrix levels globally and you don't need to think about it again; no expression pedal required.

 

 

 

 

[rondesjardins]

Yes, it would be great to level all of the BeatBuddy beats and looper tracks (we never run both at the same time). However, this is much easier said than done (especially with BeatBuddy), and every room/audience is different, so having ability to dynamically control the "Showcase" tracks output volume with the expression pedal would be preferred An alternative would be just to send it out on the 1/4" jacks and hook up an external volume pedal. For BeatBuddy, I had envisioned running it into one of the "Returns" of the Stadium, and then adding a volume pedal block to that channel to actively manage that level with the expression pedal.

For small time guys like me, mixing from the stage, being able to control those output volumes with the expression pedal is key to mixing in these external elements/audio sources (while also playing guitar, singing, etc.). If we had a sound guy, etc. this would be less of an issue. Thanks for the feedback and ideas.