CME GPP-3: similar products? USB piano pedals (Page 1 of 2)

Thanks for the reply.
Yes, I found that topic.
But it seems that it's impossible to find nowadays. So, any similar device?

Me too.
My sustain pedal is a mere switch, it is on 1/4 inch plug.
I want a 3 pedal set-up and want to NOT buy a whole new D/P or midi board
just to get that.
I suppose it will have to be USB and somewhere/somehow I might need some sort of a USB midi merge box to get its output into the midi note stream.

Not to play designer, but I am not at all sure that I need more than 127 levels (7 bits) out of a pedal, but if a 14 bit version is available for a little more money I would probably buy it.

Those are ON/OFF pedals.
And as you can read on that page they're not available anyway.

There are many cheap-ish midi controllers that have two pedal inputs, usually one switch and one continuous controller (for example, the Behringer UMA25S).  You can also get something like the Novation Remote Zero, which I have, or the Behringer BCR2000.  You could get two MIDI Solutions pedal controllers, but it's way cheaper to just get a controller with additional pedal inputs.  You'll need to get a continuous sustain pedal like the Yamaha FC3 to plug into the "expression pedal" jack.

Yes, that's exactly it.  It seems bizarre, but buying an auxiliary keyboard is actually the cheapest solution.  You will always need to run your pedals through a MIDI controller -- the CME GPP-3 was just three pedals connected to a MIDI controller inside of a box.  I would recommend something like the Novation Remote Zero.  This way you get MIDI controls that might actually be useful to you (i.e. knobs, sliders, and buttons) instead of more piano keys, and it doesn't look silly.  Also, if you're concerned about having too many plugs lying around, make sure that the controller can run off of USB bus power -- most of them can.

Note that you can still use the pedal input on your main keyboard, so you will end up with three pedals.  You will of course have to assign different CC's (or MIDI channels) to each pedal.

I have been searching on the web but have not found any other complete pedals - I use the GPP-3 myself and that's really good, have you actually looked if any are offered on ebay perhaps?

What I did find though is a kit for a pedal - it seems to be made for 4 pedals and you still need a lot since the kit only seems to include the electronics but maybe worth looking at?
http://tomscarff.tripod.com/foot_pedals...B_MEGA.htm

Hans

http://www.thomann.de/gb/fatar_vfp315_s..._3fach.htm

Had no idea that Fatar had a similar product to the GPP-3...
cool
Hans

Can't really find anything about that.... and on their website I only find this one:
http://www.fatar.com/Pages/VFP3.htm

Both are not USB btw

here's the users manual for the Fatar:

http://www.synthax.de/media/files/studi...ide_V1.pdf

looks like it's just switched and kind of a weird output configuration to boot

I have the CME. Very bug-prone (this is my second and it's starting to output incorrect values which is not helpful).

There is no second-hand stuff. You can only find shops (not normal users) that sell the GPP-3 but all those don't actually have it (out of stock).

About all the links posted.
When you read things like:

it means that it's a on/off pedal. You can also guess it by the photos.
The only USB not on/off stuff in the market are expression pedals, but those really doesn't suit for a piano pedal.
The other links that have been posted are "actual piano pedals" but they're all jack (not USB).

I've found that months ago and I also emailed them. They have only one unit, but they only ship to Canada.
So if you live there... well, you can get the last GPP-3 unit in the entire internet.
As you said, despite all the bad stories about that product.

Here is a GPP-3 that's on eBay now:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/cme-gpp-3-pedal...2334b78132

The Fatar is distributed  & re-badged by StudioLogic.
It is also generally believed to be the Kawai 3 pedal unit that comes with their VPC-1.
That is VFP3-D in its original form (there being one "D" indicating one D_ynamic pedal; sustain)

The VFP3-2D is the one with pots on left and right, switch in center. 
Actually GETTING one is the DIFFICULT part

Hard to believe nobody has started up a "cellar shop" to make a decent 3 pedal midi "speaking" unit.
Perhaps there are only a dozen people wanting it

VFP3 doesn't have USB.

This thread is for people that have a keyboard that doesn't support continuous pedal and so need a USB pedals system.

I'm not sure this would help, but you could check the Yamaha P-105 with its 3 pedals (not a usb one) the LP5A. It's my guess but this could work with pianoteq.

I will, and I'll let you know

Anything to report ?

I get back to this problem once in a while, then I just PLAY and forget about it.

I went to a PTG meeting last week and started thinking YET AGAIN about 3 or more pedals.
I have seen a number of electronic keyboards built into piano cabinets and I got to thinking about lyres AGAIN and how nice it might be to have one with pedals just like a grand.
I could get a nice set of brass pedals for around $100, but that is ONLY the pedals.
They would need something to hinge on and electronics....  it would be expensive.

This is an interesting site for acoustic piano pedals and other acoustic piano parts;
http://www.vandaking.com/grand-piano-pedals.html

It "helps"

Building it may be a 1 day project for YOU, scrounging around for all the bits and pieces would take me a week or three and probably put a couple of hundred miles on a vehicle.

PLEASE post further if you intend to build a batch of these, I have a rough idea of your likely costs and respect your right to make a fair profit if you want to do this as a part time business

SERIOUSLY, I think you have an immediate market HERE for 20 to 30, maybe hundreds once news spreads.
e.g. to pianoworld forums & beyond.

Great work! And nice documentation!
I like the idea of the 1M-pulldown-resistors to be protected against contact-problems of the poti in the pedal. I integrated it in my Arduino Nano project today (just had to plug the resistor into the breadboard :-)

http://www.forum-pianoteq.com/viewtopic...69#p938169

I do not understand, what is the idea of the squareroot in your code:  float sensorSq = sqrt(sensor01);

Would you please be so kind to explain it to a programming noob like me?

cheers

Ah, thank you, manoreken2!
Yes, the response of the sustain-pedal can be calibrated with pianoteq alone, nothing else needed. I did this procedure with my Roland DP-10 this morning (after using just the defaults for a few weeks).

This is my result with the calibration-assistant:

The assistant detects, that the output range of the Arduino is 0-127 and automatically suggests/sets point 1, 2, 4 and 5 in the curve.

The midpoint for half-pedalling (point 3) is a bit tricky with the assistant. I could not determine it very reproducibly with the assistant-help. So I measured the throw(?) of the Roland-pedal at the tip (26 mm) and pressed it down halfway (13 mm). The assistant then sets the midpoint to [60; 64].

It is a good idea, to finetune the midpoint further manually in pianoteq with [x; 64] for individual preference.

thnx

PS: The curve: [0, 10, 60, 117, 127; 0, 0, 64, 127, 127]

Another expression pedal to usb converter.

I've downloaded and tried the software, which is really nice and intuitive. Interestingly, the signal can optionally be filtered which should help with noisy/old potentiometers. The company is from Sweden and seems respectable. They've replied to me very quickly and have confirmed that they ship worldwide. I've just ordered one.

Who likes to have three (up to eight) continuous controllers for a reasonable price, could think of this:

A merge of manoreken2's code with my Arduino Nano prototype, 2 hours of work and around 10 EURO of invest:     

Jack socket, 6.3mm stereo
3 x 0.27 €

Arduino Nano
5.70 €

shrink tube
1.55 €

:-)

It is not so difficult.

Just connect a pedal-poti with 5V, Ground and one of the analog inputs of the Arduino.

Connect the Arduino with a USB-cable to your PC. 

Install the software Arduino on your PC. It is free available for Linux and all other main Operating Systems.

Put my little program that I posted here in a text file and upload it to the Arduino nano hardware via USB (just one klick in the Arduino-Software).

Install an USB-to-MIDI program like 'ttymidi' or 'hairless' or others, that I don't know, on your Audio-PC.

That's basically all.