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Introducing The ES-1 Expression Slider (demo video)
Thought I'd share this here just for fun. A little demo video I did for a hardware device that I built. Not an actual product for sale, just a prototype I built for myself to solve certain limitations of my Roland keyboard. My first ever hardware-device electronics project!
Comments
No real iOS involved here, except I used my iPad to record the video... which was quite challenging because I have no way to mount it for filming and had to pile up boxes to get to the right height, and still couldn't get the proper angle, and my iPad did fall to the floor at one point (fortunately landing on carpeting!).. A learning experience. Obviously, iPad mounts for tripods, etc. is a topic I need to research!
This is so cool!
Nice throw back to the Bubber Miley Trumpet with Plunger Effect.
I'm glad you iPad survived the fall.
Is there a little PCB in the enclosure with the slider?
Where and what does it plug into?
Nicely done… I enjoy your playing
Also via Walter Becker w/ Wah-Wah pedal in the 70s.
Yeah, if I had the need more often, I should probably invest in some kind of mounting system. Only thing I know of currently is something called the iKlip. My lowly iPad Air 1 probably isn't a very good solution anyway. All those slick videos on Youtube of overhead keyboard angles, etc. probably use an actual camera.
Passive slide potentiometer.
Connects via a TRS cable. It plugs into the "Control" input on the back of the Roland (normally designed to accept an EV-5 Expression Pedal.)
It will work with anything designed to work with the EV-5.. Or other devices w/ a TRS port.
I used an actual Roland XP-80 repurposed part that I got off Ebay for the fader cap.
What are the specs for the potentiometer? I suspect I have a Blueboard Bluetooth pedal that accepts an expression pedal that might re-purpose your invention to generate a CC stream
which could modulate a synth. I'm going to ohm out a pedal and compare to your specs.
That part was a little tricky. It took a few tries to get the right pot. I first followed the schematics of the EV-5, which uses a 10k linear pot. I ordered a 10k linear pot, but it wasn't behaving linear. Eventually a 100k pot was the answer.
So, 100k linear potentiometer is the best answer.
BTW, there is a commercial device called the Old Blood Noise Endeavors Expression Slider (horrendous name). I have one of those that I bought, still in mint condition, and it works great with a lot of different devices, but I no longer need it, so I'm looking to sell it, if you or anyone is interested. It's a more robust device, metal stompbox form factor etc.
OK, now that I’ve googled what the Blueboard is, I think a Roland EV-5 pedal is what you probably need, if you want a wah wah pedal-type of experience. I can’t find any info on specific brands of devices that work with the Blueboard’s TRS inputs, but the EV-5 is kinda the industry standard expression pedal, so I would be surprised if it didn’t work.
So, if you want foot control, EV-5. If you want a slider, then the Old Blood Noise.
So true. In California now we can get good advice over the counter.
My wife lives on CBD remedies and I just like the Gummy Bears in all varieties.
Chocolate covered coffee beans are up there too for me but the caffeine keeps me up.
You really need to know your specs to get the right pot.
I'll try the 100K... "Who's on first?"
Thanks so much!
Thank you!
OK, for the total Steely Dan stickler freaks out there... I need to amend my statement. All these years I thought that Steely Dan's cover of this tune was done with a wah wah pedal, but I just learned that it was done with a talk box!
The talk box (as I'm sure most of you know) is an effect where the guitar sound is fed into a tube in the mouth. I first became aware of the effect on 1973's "Rocky Mountain Way" by Joe Walsh, but it became widely popularized with Peter Frampton's Frampton Comes Alive album (1976).
This leads me to a further ironic realization. I stated that the ES-1 Expression Slider was my first ever hardware device. But I now remember that my first hardware invention was, in fact, a talk box (!), which I built in my parent's basement using my mom's funnel and piece of garden hose in 1974. 1974, the year of the release Pretzel Logic and Steely Dan's cover of East St. Louis Toodle-oo, which I had not yet heard at the time, and which I would not realize until just now employed a talk box!
When I was trying to come up with the right tune to demonstrate the ES-1, I stumbled upon East St. Louis Toodle-Oo and it somehow just felt like the perfect fit, entirely unaware that in some convoluted sense I was reconnecting with my first hardware experimenter's roots after all these years. Oh irony of ironies! 🤪
Time folds back into itself and memories corrupt reality with overstrikes. This two is a sign.
Twilight Zone shit... paranoid contortions of synchronicity.
Excuse me but this will keep the thread on the front page for another hour... easy. Someone will
reply "WFT?" or in the UK "What are you on about?"
Oh, man, you don't know the half of it! This whole project (from the dying of my XP-80 to replacing it with a different model of Roland workstation, to coming up a solution for the expression sliders I missed) has been a "long strange trip" indeed. Special thanks to @rs2000 who has been an unwavering source of support throughout this long process, and for encouraging me to dare to pick up a soldering iron again.
Thanks to everyone for your kind comments and for allowing me to share this small celebration of the end result.
Also, here are the "credits" on the track for anyone who's interested:
Drums: EZDrummer - Jazz EZX
Bass: Korg Gadget - Madrid
Piano is made up of two layered instruments:
Korg Module Salzburg
Arturia Jazz Player piano
Banjo: Sonic Reality OminiSoundz (Kontakt)
Clarinets - Kontakt Symphony Essentials - Woodwind Ensemble
Pedal Steel - Sampleheads Whole Lotta Country (90s Akai sample CD translated to Kontakt)
Synth Lead: UVI Falcon
@Lady_App_titude I must say I have rarely met anyone with such an amount of perseverance, yet in a woman.
99.9% of the girls I know would be plagued by nightmares and tinnitus when only thinking about all the insane challenges you took without hesitation. Sombrero off.
This combined with the minds of a very talented musician, a great buddy, an intelligent spirit AND a notable graphic designer must be one of a kind.
Now make that cat video your sound track has been waiting for desperately.
Awesome playing and great slider.
Also the Pedal steel player on the Steely Dan track is the one and only Skunk Baxter, and if you really dig deep on the history of the talk box, Frampton got the idea from steel player Pete Drake using it at George Harrison’s all things must pass sessions.
I encourage anyone that is intrigued by @Lady_App_titude's history of making, collecting and writing about
music tech to pose some more questions here:
https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/40807/ask-the-artist-lady-app-titude/p1?new=1
@Lady_App_titude Old BloodNoise Endeavors makes some really unique, nifty effect pedals.
Cool project. I have recently begun building my first raspberry pi based midi controller.
I'll bet she has spent more on IOS Apps than on hardware hacking... but not much.
I don't begrudge her the use of the cool software and hardware and she's cool about NOT making us feel like kids with toys. Just look at this list:
Guess at the overall spend to get these tools. For example.
You need to make money to justify these investments or just have a lot of discretionary
income or some great lines of credit.
Don't forget about bundles, and upgrade pricing ... and sales!
The NI stuff is part of Komplete and the Arturia stuff is part of the V Collection. I suppose if you bought these things individually it could be quite expensive. But a bundle, upgrade, on sale... It can be an excellent value. I neither make money, nor have "discretionary income or great lines of credit." I just bought into Komplete and V Collection years ago and then catch an upgrade deal every once in a while when it's on sale.
The only "value" issue with stuff like Komplete or V Collection is not enough hours in a lifetime to go through it all! Other than Falcon and EZDrummer, every other piece of software used on this project is stuff that's been sitting on my hard drive unused for years. I'm glad to finally find some excuse to use some of these things for the first time! Only been waiting since the late 90s to find use for that pedal steel sample!
I'm sorry... I should never have implied you paid retail. The truly skilled musician knows how to shop.
I'll be good. I just don't want to get sold on the desktop stuff with facts and evidence that I'm wasting my
time. I can make bad music for 10% of the usual spend.