I have purchased QC and tried using it with my Hotone Soul Press II. I just wonder if it’s even a possible scenario, since there are 2 expression ports on the QC, and Hotone has only one EXP output.
The desired result: use expression pedal for adjusting effect (wah/pitch/etc.) and turn on/off these blocks when I press footswitch on exp pedal, like a normal wah pedal would operate.
I presume this is done via “Switch” mode in assigning menu, but it does not work that way. The weird thing is that “Heel-toe” mode seems to be overriding on/off behaviour even when “Switch” mode is selected.
I’ve double checked - I’m not triggering footswitch of the pedal, since Heel-toe behaviour works when pedal is around 90-95% pressed.
Soul Press is listed as one of supported pedals on QC support page, but I wonder whether it implies that on/off feature with footswitch works as well. Or I need an expression pedal with two EXP outputs?
Hey Spacecrawl!
Yes. I have been using 2 hotone soul presses with my QC for some time now. They work perfect.
Here’s the thing, something was changed in the last OS update, and it’s not been possible for me to program the hotone expression pedals to properly do what you are asking them to do. But any preset I made before the OS update, works correctly. So I usually just copy the WAH block from an old preset into a new one I’m building and all is well.
I’m going to post a preset for you to try out. It has the wah in it that I use and hopefully it will work properly on your rig. I have my hotone connected to expression pedal input 2 for WAH. So maybe start there. If this works you should be able to copy my wah block into other presets where you wanna use a wah and have the on off button turn the wah block on and off.
Make sure that your Hotone is set for expression, and you’re connecting a TRS cable from the output side of the Hotone to the expression pedal input 2.
I’ve tried to use your preset, however, it seems that it’s not working. I’m referring to EXP functionality only, since I don’t have your IRs. My unit seems to be pretty new - it had latest firmware out of the box, so maybe it’s the reason for that.
I’ve downloaded your preset, used a Boss TRS cable and connected Hotone via EXP out to EXP input on QC.
I’ve tried downloading and deleting preset several times with different mid-steps: EXP2 and then EXP1 inputs, I use “Switch” setting, tried both options for Latch emulation (I’m still trying to wrap my head around what all these settings do), but overall result is the same: wah pedal gets turn on and off by simple movement of the pedal. The only difference is if i use “Invert range”, it turns on/off in upper and lower position of the pedal.
So, it’s just my assumption, but I think that Heel/toe mode is working in Switch mode as well. Stop mode works as expected.
Gonna try to search for other workarounds, but for now I’m just using one of QC’s footswitches to turn wah on/off. Though it’s really not ideal, since I’m using QC as a desktop unit.
It seems that I’m off to a rough start, though overall the unit sounds great.
If you’re trying to use a physical switch on the pedal, it has to have it’s own trs output that you plug into the other expression pedal input. Looks like your pedal is a combined wah/expression pedal? It doesn’t look like you can use the toe switch on that one.
If that’s the case, then it’s a real bummer. Though sleiweke said that they had no problem with Soul Press until last OS update.
Don’t really want to spend more money on a new expression pedal, but it seems that it might be the only way. Of course, I can use it as a regular wah pedal, but that way I won’t be able to adjust pitch-shift or volume.
But what are the pedals that support this feature? From what I see, Boss EV-30 might do the trick.
Yeah, this is basically what I’m trying to do. We’re both using Hotone EXP pedals, but yours is first revision. I presume it has a combined output for everything and then you select a mode. I have Soul Press MKII, which has a dedicated expression output. I’ve also recorded a video. I think that I’ve did everything as it should be, so at this point I’m not sure whether it’s QC’s or Hotone’s problem. Or I’m just stupid.
I don’t think it’s you. Like you said it might be that the newer version hotone is doing something differently that the previous version. When you click the foot switch what does it do? Does it disengage the expression pedal output? I think that’s what mine is doing that makes the wah block turn off.
No, it actually does nothing. Wah turns on/off only when the pedal reaches certain threshold.
Out of curiosity I tried to use other outputs. Moving the pedal does nothing, but pressing footswitch actually adds 0.50 to exp value.
Anyways, I’ve sent an email to Neural and Hotone support. Gonna try both options. Though for now Neural suggested basic stuff like recalibrating the pedal, which won’t do much.
It’s a shame that this is how it’s starting for me with a 2000 USD unit. Though sound itself is really good.
Expression pedals function basically like this: The pedal moves a potentiometer (or other similar device) that’s connected to a TRS jack and changes the amount of resistance seen by the QC. The QC converts that resistance into numbers 0-100, which control the assigned parameter.
A switch can only send two different resistance values, let’s say 0 and 100. The QC interprets that as let’s say 0=off 100=on.
You can’t have both components wired to the same jack, since it can only be at one value at any one time and that value will control whatever is connected to it.
This leads to it being basically impossible, as far as I understand, to have both the pot (expression) and switch connected and functioning as you want to via the same jack.
Well, sleiweke has uploaded video in this thread where everything is controlled via one pedal and one output of Hotone exp pedal. So it should be possible, or there is something that I don’t understand. His revision of hotone has only one output for exp.
But I got confirmation from Hotone support, that second iteration of soul press can’t do that in exp mode. What a weird downgrade.
Ahhh, the soul press 1 switch toggles a true bypass and has to be pressed to engage the expression pedal. So apparently it cuts the connectionfrom the pot to the exp output jack. The qc would probably see that as unplugging the exp cable? What will happen to the fx block if you unplug the cable? Will it bypass?
Unfortunately I can’t check it, since I’ve already returned the pedal to the seller.
But If I plug in TRS cable, and then assign Wah pedal control to “Switch” it turns off/on when I touch cable end with my fingers. So I presume you are right.
Unplugging the cable by itself does nothing.
Anyways, I did as sleiweke suggested and ordered a used original Soul Press, as it seems that there is no comprehensive list of compatible EXP pedals.
As an update: I got my Soul press V1 today. It works, though QC behavior is still not perfect. Footswitch works as planned, but if I depress the pedal to the max, it still switches the effect. Gosh, this is frustrating.
Though at least I can work with it right now.
Try these settings. It will still go into bypass mode when the wah is left all the way in the heel position. But otherwise for me it functions like a wah normally does. And I turn it off and one with the soul press 1’s switch.
These are basically the settings I’m using right now. And this is my problem - It turns off when it’s all way down (below 0.05 value).
I found a workaround for wah pedal: on Soulpress you can adjust bottom value, so it can always be higher than 0.05. Which is OK for wah pedal, but doesn’t work for pitch-shift or volume all that great. The ideal solution would be “Switch” mode, but unfortunately it turns off at about 0.50 value, so it’s behavior is even less ideal.
Once again I’ve contacted Neural’s support, because this behavior still feels wrong, though much more usable than before.
If nothing else, I might eventually try to use dual EXP pedal, but will try to make my way around with Hotone for now.
If you press the foot switch, what happens to the value on the QC? It should be 100 when you press the pedal toe down, so when you press the switch after this does it drop to 0? If this happens, then you’re simply using the auto engage on the quad cortex to switch the fx off. It will also turn off if you bring the heel down, because the exp pedal is giving a value of 0 (or close to 0). It’s not a separate funcion of the switch that is bypassing the fx.
It’s not magic. The Soul press can still only send one value to the QC at a time through one output. You say you can limit the exp value on the pedal. That’s what you need to do to make it work like you want it to, it’s a compromise. For an actual foot switch function, you need to have an exp pedal with a separate output for the switch and use both exp inputs.
Yeah, it goes from 1.00 to OFF. I finally found my workarounds, though I think I should just get a 2 EXP output pedal.
If anybody ever faces similar problem, there is a way to make it work in an ALMOST normal way (though your pedal should support the adjustment of minimum value):
For wah I’ve set a minimum value of the pedal itself to 0.05, so that it does not turn off when I fully depress the pedal. It doesn’t really bother me while using wah, since difference between 0.05 and 0.00 is very subtle.
For pitch shift I’ve assigned minimum value of MIN RANGE setting in Pitch Coarse in QC at 47% so that 0 semitones is at fully depressed pedal, and 24 is at fully pressed pedal. Also I’ve set very low switch delay, since when I press footswitch, it momentary sets pitch-shift value for -1, but then returns to 0, once the block is turned off. If you set Switch delay value to less than 50 ms, it’s unnoticeable. Though it won’t work for a divebomb setting, since minimum value on a pedal would not allow you to go below something like -21 semitone.
For volume I’ve assigned 0.05 minimum value on the pedal itself and set a block to a LOG curve, since with linear curve you can still hear guitar at 0.05 value.
So, yeah, general advise: buy expression pedals with 2 EXP outputs.
