What brand Expression Pedal are you using?

Stay away from the Moog EP-2 Expression Pedals. They are good solid pedals and work great with the moogerfoogers and i'm sure other things as well, so i'm not dissing them at all, but they do not work well with the timefactor or modfactor. I think its because the EP2's range is from -5v to +5v CV and i think the eventides only use 0-3v, so the range of motion that had any effect on the eventides was tiny and useless. I'm thinking about trying the Boss FV-500's. They look solid and dependable. So many of the other options look so cheap. hope this helps. Anyone have any other suggestions?

The Boss FV500L (You must use a stereo cable). I also used the Roland EV-5 and it was okay but didn't have enough sweep. In a live situation it changed the parameters too fast. The Boss unit is great. I tightened it up and it's perfect BUT it's really big so people have to keep that in mind when buying.

So any other choices besides the Roland and Boss that work with both Factors. Rocktron Hex, Alesis, EB etc.

The Rocktron Hex looks like a great pedal but I can't find any specs to see if it's compatible.

I have a Rocktron Hex and it changes 0-100 very fast like a quarter of the sweep so I think I will have to find another one.. this one is not working properly…

I?m using the line 6 ep. (the ones for the modeler pedals) works very well and the transsisions are pretty smoth. also I?m running my tf with the one spot power suply.

cheers

Pigtronix expression pedal work good

I'm using a pair of EV-5s for my TimeFactor/ModFactor. Not my favourite pedal…I prefer something a bit more substantial BUT I'm not looking for fine control (like I would with vol/wah) so it keeps the weight and space to a minimum on my pedalboard. 

the one from line6.works great. 

Hey, I'm resuming this post because I'm interested in the Boss one. I heard that sometimes you do get some issues with that, though (like dead spots, and so on). Is there anyone annoyed with that problem, or has anybody ever got into that?
Thanks a lot!!

I am guessing the problem people are seing is with the impedance of the potentiometer in the expression pedal.

I have used a FV-500L a few years back which seemed to worked fine for me.

But I prefer the build sweep etc of the Mission Engineering pedals, I have two and I used to use one with the ModFactor and PitchFactor … it is dual channel.. you toe press to switch between the channels…one used to control the PitchFactor and the other used to control the ModFactor.

Although I have gone MIDI now, so the Mission Engineering pedals plug into my MIDI controller rather than direct into the Factors / eclispe.

I've used the Boss FV-500L, and had no issues at all. An excellent pedal with great build quality. You need a large pedal in order to get fine control over the values, anything plastic / small just feels imprecise and liable to break with enthusiastic use.

I have the PF and Space and I use the VPjr 25K.  I used to use the Roland EV 5 on my PF.  I prefer the VPjr as it feels more solid to my foot!!

I use an Ernie Ball VPjr 25K and another big old Ernie Ball Volume pedal. The VPjr works flawlessly with the Factors… the old one, not so much. But, I plug them both directly into my Liquidfoot Jr. and that calibrates to whatever expression pedals you use. So, the Impedance of the old one isn't an issue for me.

If I were to plug straight to the Factors instead of going through the midi controller I wouldn't hesitate to get more VPjrs.  They're pricier than other options but, as roverdog said, they seem *way* more solidly built. 

Thanks a lot mates. I do believe I need to get something sturdy, thus the options fell on either the Boss FV500L or the VPjr. I was puzzled, though, by hearing that the kevlar cable in the Ernie Ball is not so reliable and eventually it could end up breaking (but Eventide Support told me that it's your weapon of choice as an expression pedal…I do trust the guy). I'm going to make up my mind by the end of the week.
So, if anyone wants to share his experience with us, you're welcome! ^^

Ernie Ball VP Jr 25k +

Definitely get the Ernie Ball VP Jr. 25k. It works perfectly with a nice full sweep and only needs a mono cable. Make sure it's the 25k model for active pickups and not the 250k ohm for passives.

Has anyone had issues with the EV-5/PF combo where it will be at 100 in the toe position and as time goes on it will only reach 95-85 in the toe position (using a PitchFlex effect)?  I thought it was initially a power issue (I'm using the eventide PS) and thought plugging my board into a power conditioner would solve the problem, but I had the same problem plugged into a conditioner the other night.  Might just spring for a VPJr. 25k anyways but it's a weird problem and was wondering if anyone else has experienced it.

As a matter of fact, yes I have.  Quite a lot.  It has nothing to do with the side-mounted 'trim" pot position, either.  (I bypassed it as a test on one EV-5 pedal.)  And it's not isolated to the PitchFlex algorithm only.  After some repeated use , it may lock to a range of 0-86, or 0-99 (version 3.0.0[19] installed).

If you carefully remove (just) the expression pedal plug, you'll see the display "snap" to 100 (or full single value) briefly.  After plugging the EV-5 back in, I find that the full 0-100 range holds again for some time.  I'm not sure how often it happens, but it's enough to be irritating.  On rare occasions, I've had to power-down the PF to get the combination 'behaving' again.

I've been assigning a MIDI CC to the PED destination in the System settings, and that proves to be very reliable.  But I still use an expression pedal direct-to-PF as well.  Root cause of the problem?  That's puzzling.  The only thing 'unusual' about the EV-5 is the 10K pot, and that auxiliary trim.  If it's on the PitchFactor end, it's difficult to reproduce the conditions that can cause the problem to recur 'on demand'.

I have the same issue with the VP Jr. 25k… I already tried mono/stereo cable and another psu, but that doesn't help.

greetings
mave

I know this thread isn't so curent anymore, but I want to caution others about my experience with the Alesis FS2 Expression/Volume pedal:  I got it for next to nothing so I can't complain much, though it must not have the proper pot values/etc… It simply doesn't change TF values from 0 until the pedal is roughly half way through its range of travel(!)… From that point it is too sensitive incrementally, jumping up to 100/etc. without much hope for fine adjustment.

I believe our Tech Mods here explained that it's a result of incompatible component values inside the exprs. pedal's circuitry(?)  Its easy enough to get at all those inside components if u aren't worried about potentially ruining the pedal by ur own amateur tinkering skills :-p  Any advice as to proper values of the components that could make the FS2 useable with Factor pedals? If a few $ components can bring it out of my junk bin… wunderbar!

I'd just like to add since nobody mentioned it…

The M-Audio EX-P functions perfectly with the PitchFactor.

It is cheap and poorly constructed, not suitable for gigging IMO.

But for 30 bucks new, it doesn't hurt to have a couple lying around the studio.

A few thoughts:

1) The "creeping maximum reduction" is probably caused by the pedal's autocalibration – if you hit it very hard, it will view this as a maximum (100%), and thereafter it will be hard to reach high values without hitting it equally hard. This implies that the pedal doesn't normally reach its maximum under gentler use, so some adjustment of the pedal end stop may be helpful.

2) When the pedal is only operative over part of its range, this suggests that the pedal's pot has too high a resistance – it should be an expression-type pedal of about 25K, whereas a guitar-type volume pedal may be 250K. Note that some pedals have a range adjustment knob, which can be useful.

+1 for the M-Audio EX-P…been using one for both my PitchFactor and Space and works great. Agree, it's definitely cheap-o build quality, but for my -in-studio usage I find it perfect (have used it as well in on-stage scenarios too).

hey guys…just got a TF…looking into pedals.  The ernie ball vp comes in a 25K for active instruments and a 250K for passive instruments…

…which is recommended?

Hope you like it !!

See UM for more info on pedals. Or, if you're not a big reader, try the 25K one (the 250K one will have less range, cos the value is too high).