Other uses for the pedal interface
2001-09-26 by J. Larry Hendry
OK, since I was involved in the development of the MOTM - universal pedal interface, and since the list is slower than a federal tax rebate, I thought I would offer up some alternate uses for a MOTM-850 pedal interface. 1 - DC offset. Great when you don't want to tie up a mixer for offset of DC or LFO. Change AC to DC pulse or vice versa. You can use the internal offset control or bais with an external source. DC or LFO into either pedal input or mix input. 2 - Reversing attenuator for DC or LFO -- DC or LFO into the pedal input. 3 - DC or LFO mixing -- You have a 2-in, 1-out out mixer. One input is the pedal input so it is reversible attenuation. The other input is straight attenuation via the mix. Bias that 320 output when you want it. 4. single voltage source. +/- 2.5 volts 5. gate / pulse extractor / delay. Say you want to generate a gate from some rising voltage. You can use the voltage out of an EG or evn LFO and extract gate pulses based on the threshold gate setting on the pedal interface. Gate the EG, use the EG attack and decay and the 850 threshold to determine gate on and off times, 6. S-trigger converter - gate into pedal input, s-trig out (board selectable) Great for interfacing some of that old Moog stuff. 7. Use a pair of 850s for a wild joystick controller that can be set to generate 2 separate gates for different directions of the joystick travel. Each joystick axis is scalable and baisable (and there is that mix input). Perhaps that will hold you joystick fiends over until there is an official MOTM joystick module. So, "pedal" interface is just the surface of what can be done with this simple utility module. What separates the MOTM-850 from the generic brand "X" pedal interface is the fact that the pedal input can be resistive OR voltage input. The input is normalized for 5 volts DC input. So you also get..... 8. Scaling /offset/ gate generation for that generic CV pedal you have that does not have those features (it is after all a "universal" pedal interface. Speaking of federal tax rebates, I have a suggestion if you have not spent yours yet. Look at the check. See the Statue of Liberty? Send part of the money to one of the relief agencies for the NY and DC clean up and survivor support. Larry Hendry