That's great. I also had the same idea and put two old organ foot pedals together for a two octave board, but that is as far as I got on the project. I'm also a brass player so I wanted a foot board controller, hands free.
This is awesome. I made my own 'taurus pedals' when i was playing in a Rush cover band by a long time ago by making keys on hinges out of 1 x 3" sticks of wood with push switches below them on a wedge shaped wood box. I wired it directly to the keyboard matrix of my CZ 101 keyboard (which is not touch sensitive so the keys are just on/off switches). The only challenge was learning about using diodes in the keyboard matrix so it all wouldn't short out.
Congrats for this innovative & brilliant work and thx so much for sharing it over youtube to inspire us. I have a YAMAHA Keyboard without aftertouch, and I primarily use it with Ableton or reason.
Can I add 'aftertouch' using a foot controller in my PC? My requirement is simple : for long notes in a wind instrument or violin I want velocity(volume) control & modulation. Kindly suggest.
There's nothing more I love than ideas to build your own version of something and save a fortune!!!! These look deadly man, I am going to try this!!!!!
Would kill for such electrical engineering skills. Sadly, I'm just a musician. I've been wanting to add aftertouch to a keyboard I actually like the feel of (since the two never come hand-in-hand for me), but it looks like it's not going to happen. Wish ya lived next door. :P
Love the acknowledgment of Mike Rutherford! You should play some Apocalypse in 9/8 and Dance on a Volcano on your Frankentaurus.
hi man..brilliant pedals.are they velocity sensitive though.?.....i also have a question. im trying to do this with drums/piezo's wired to the keys of a midi keyboard ....but im guessing it wont be velocity sensitive...any ideas on how i could do it so it is..without using a module/or arduino etc.....cheers rob p.s rush brilliant band...big fan.
This is great. I took mine off of an old Thomas organ but my soldering kills are awful. As soon as I can find a pro to solder those switches together properly..i'll be back in business
May I ask you a question? I have an old Yamaha keyboard, a cheap little synth and I want to do this. I see that you cut the IC board? Do you have any instructions for that, or can I just cut after a certain point.
hey this is great- it might be just what i am looking for- my situation is this- i am in a trio-acoustic guitar, pedal steel and drums and cannot find a bassist at all! i def. have old crappy organs and crappy keyboards laying around in my moms basement. can i basically saw-off or remove the pedals and then create something like you've made but not necessarily so synthesizer-sounding.i am hoping to make something that just sounds like a simple bass guitar. any advice?
You could look and see which keyboards you have give you the best bass sound. I remember getting a great sound from our old Yamaha keyboard which ended up being the "Tuba" sound. The Mac I use has a few great bass sounds, so you could try some virtual synths on a computer.
Hey thanks twocar,now where abouts did you solder your wires at into your midi? and did you need a pinpoint soldering gun ? I only bought this hammond for $40 out of a flee market i felt bad i tore it apart,it was in exellent shape,keyword WAS,lol,but i priced the hammond 125 XL's used before i tore it up to make sure it wasn't worth alot more then what i paid for it,turns out the tube models are the expensive ones,which this is transistor,i'm a John Paul Jones fan but a guitar player,lol
hey there,i bought a hammond 125 xl just for the bass pedals so i can play guitar and bass at the same time, i took the whole organ apart to take all the electronics out and put them in a smaller like guitar amp sorta box and now it don't work at all,lol..any ideas and ways to get this bass pedal to work using something like an yamaha midi keyboard or anything with an amplifier built into it..thanks
You could use a Yamaha or similar keyboard with onboard sound and MIDI and solder the wires from the Hammond pedals to it then shove all of that into an enclosure. That way you could play them through the keyboard's speakers or plug it into an amp. It would just take some trial and error to find out which wires went with which notes on the keyboard. That's what took me the longest time to figure out.
That's great. I also had the same idea and put two old organ foot pedals together for a two octave board, but that is as far as I got on the project. I'm also a brass player so I wanted a foot board controller, hands free.
freedan5001 3 months ago
"Taurus pedal sound" was disappointing
burningxdimx 6 months ago
This is awesome. I made my own 'taurus pedals' when i was playing in a Rush cover band by a long time ago by making keys on hinges out of 1 x 3" sticks of wood with push switches below them on a wedge shaped wood box. I wired it directly to the keyboard matrix of my CZ 101 keyboard (which is not touch sensitive so the keys are just on/off switches). The only challenge was learning about using diodes in the keyboard matrix so it all wouldn't short out.
elechliter 6 months ago
Congrats for this innovative & brilliant work and thx so much for sharing it over youtube to inspire us. I have a YAMAHA Keyboard without aftertouch, and I primarily use it with Ableton or reason.
Can I add 'aftertouch' using a foot controller in my PC? My requirement is simple : for long notes in a wind instrument or violin I want velocity(volume) control & modulation. Kindly suggest.
duttasanjiv 8 months ago
@duttasanjiv Please see our online forum at midipedals(dotkom) and I believe a similar question has been answered there.
Thanks for the feedback!
twocargar 8 months ago
There's nothing more I love than ideas to build your own version of something and save a fortune!!!! These look deadly man, I am going to try this!!!!!
maddermofo 9 months ago
Would kill for such electrical engineering skills. Sadly, I'm just a musician. I've been wanting to add aftertouch to a keyboard I actually like the feel of (since the two never come hand-in-hand for me), but it looks like it's not going to happen. Wish ya lived next door. :P
Love the acknowledgment of Mike Rutherford! You should play some Apocalypse in 9/8 and Dance on a Volcano on your Frankentaurus.
BaronvonCase 1 year ago
hi man..brilliant pedals.are they velocity sensitive though.?.....i also have a question. im trying to do this with drums/piezo's wired to the keys of a midi keyboard ....but im guessing it wont be velocity sensitive...any ideas on how i could do it so it is..without using a module/or arduino etc.....cheers rob p.s rush brilliant band...big fan.
100roberthenry 1 year ago
This is great. I took mine off of an old Thomas organ but my soldering kills are awful. As soon as I can find a pro to solder those switches together properly..i'll be back in business
lifesonfan 1 year ago
This video is great.
deepcure 1 year ago
May I ask you a question? I have an old Yamaha keyboard, a cheap little synth and I want to do this. I see that you cut the IC board? Do you have any instructions for that, or can I just cut after a certain point.
PJB1775 1 year ago
U are a genius!
Javic2112 2 years ago
Rad! We are building one as a backup pedal set in our rush tribute band!
obbus 2 years ago
I updated the info on this video with a link to my website with links I used and photos from my build.
twocargar 2 years ago
hey this is great- it might be just what i am looking for- my situation is this- i am in a trio-acoustic guitar, pedal steel and drums and cannot find a bassist at all! i def. have old crappy organs and crappy keyboards laying around in my moms basement. can i basically saw-off or remove the pedals and then create something like you've made but not necessarily so synthesizer-sounding.i am hoping to make something that just sounds like a simple bass guitar. any advice?
ztubs6 2 years ago
You could look and see which keyboards you have give you the best bass sound. I remember getting a great sound from our old Yamaha keyboard which ended up being the "Tuba" sound. The Mac I use has a few great bass sounds, so you could try some virtual synths on a computer.
twocargar 2 years ago
Hey thanks twocar,now where abouts did you solder your wires at into your midi? and did you need a pinpoint soldering gun ? I only bought this hammond for $40 out of a flee market i felt bad i tore it apart,it was in exellent shape,keyword WAS,lol,but i priced the hammond 125 XL's used before i tore it up to make sure it wasn't worth alot more then what i paid for it,turns out the tube models are the expensive ones,which this is transistor,i'm a John Paul Jones fan but a guitar player,lol
joerowzen2008 2 years ago
hey there,i bought a hammond 125 xl just for the bass pedals so i can play guitar and bass at the same time, i took the whole organ apart to take all the electronics out and put them in a smaller like guitar amp sorta box and now it don't work at all,lol..any ideas and ways to get this bass pedal to work using something like an yamaha midi keyboard or anything with an amplifier built into it..thanks
joerowzen2008 2 years ago
You could use a Yamaha or similar keyboard with onboard sound and MIDI and solder the wires from the Hammond pedals to it then shove all of that into an enclosure. That way you could play them through the keyboard's speakers or plug it into an amp. It would just take some trial and error to find out which wires went with which notes on the keyboard. That's what took me the longest time to figure out.
twocargar 2 years ago