MIDI Volume Pedal

I wanted to be able to control the volume out of the Dwarf with a pedal. For this, I used an analog Ernie Ball I had and put it right after the Dwarf and before the amp (or main board) in my signal chain.

But, that analog volume pedal seemed to filter or damper the signal which forced me to set a higher output level than I whished out of the Dwarf.

So, I decided it was time for a MIDI volume pedal :slight_smile:

I used an Arduino Micro with the code I made available on this forum in the past and adapted the Ernie Ball pedal to MIDI. I also 3D printed a front plate that also serves as the holder for the Arduino.

I now have a MIDI volume pedal that can still be used as an analog pedal if I remove the connections to the Arduino.

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that’s super cool!

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looks like a really nice job there, @Simon !

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Absolutely cool!

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Incredible Simon,

Thst’s what I love about this pedal and comunity. So you use it through usb port and assign midi signals to control some volume plugin in the chain?. I’ve been looking for this solution too. Is it difficult to implement? I have an Ernie ball pedal too. I was thinking of selling it but you made me wonder If I could try copying your solution. Actually I have a friend ho has a 3d printer so I think could be a great project!

If you want to tackle the Arduino universe, it is a very good and easy project to start with.

I am a bit busy today but I can find some time tomorrow to post the Arduino code and maybe draw a schematic for connecting it to the Ernie Ball’s potentiometer.

I am not sure if my 3D plate would fit your pedal model so I will let your friend figure that part.

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Ei thanks a lot!

I have Ernie Ball VP JR 25K. But don’t worry I’ll figure it out how to adapt de piece. Don’t worry I’m not in a hurry.

Here’s the link to download the Arduino code:

Simple MIDI Volume Pedal

The wirering to the potentiometer is so simple that I didn’t bother making a drawing. All is explained in the comments in the file above.

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Thanks.

You may consider two improvements:

  1. some kind of calibration: since depending on the pedal the readings could not reach the 0 and 1023 bounds you may consider a calibration cycle to correctly tune the analog read

  2. it could be useful to do some sliding window smoothing to prevent spikes

Great job

Z

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Thank you Simon,

I’ll shure give it a try and comment my results!