Adding MIDI to an organ pedalboard with the MIDI Boutique mpc32mqh-kit

Add MIDI to organ pedalboard using the MIDI Boutique mpc32mqh Hall-effect sensor kit
www.midiboutiq... I use it at home with Hauptwerk software.
It should be noted that this is not the only way to line up the sensors to the pedals. I chose to put the sensors horizontally under the levers, which required gluing various sized pieces of wood to the levers so that they will all depress to the same depth. I could have also put the magnets on the ends of the levers, and arranged the sensors vertically in an arc behind them, so I wouldn't need to add wood to the levers. I didn't do that for a few reasons. First, working with straight lines seemed simpler to me than trying to mount the sensors in an arc. Second, it seemed simpler to attach the sensor bed to the pedals horizontally (vertically would require two pieces in an L shape). And lastly, the whole thing takes up less room behind the pedalboard this way. But you may prefer the other way, or you may come up with some other solution better suited to your pedalboard.

[@profeluisegarcia]

Beautiful. clean,very well explained video. It will very useful for enthusiastic hauptwerkians whose main difficult is how to install a midi system to used pedalboards (as it happened to me¡

[@musicteacha]

great video, great builder! thanks for sharing

[@danconte4874]

ASMR with power tools, love it! Obviously a very handy guy. Excellent instructional video.

[@jdpetkov]

Thanks, Aaron!

[@matthewdennett1965]

Amazing!

[@mikethemagitian1156]

Big thumbs up

[@DonPedro6901]

Impressive!

[@GregDoerfler]

Thank you for the crystal clear explanation! The info is super helpful and your instrument is beautiful. A couple of questions: 1) In one place you state mpc32mqh and the other mpc32mqr (ending in H vs R). Can you clarify whether it is reed or hall effect version you used? 2) Is there a standard distance between the great (or lowest manual) and pedal board you're aware of?

[@AaronAndrewHunt]

1) Hall effect sensors. 2) No, I just determined a comfortable distance experimentally.

[@GregDoerfler]

@@AaronAndrewHunt thank you!

[@dariusjames7858]

I have an old JG3 garbage pedal by Jared Gold that I think I want to try this with using my Hammond.

[@fasttrax]

Got a kit today, gonna try to add it to a Hammond B-3

[@richsackett3423]

How did it go?

[@shadrac_george]

Thank u fr the video

[@abc-yv2js]

Question. I buy the kit and the contacts go to the contact strip under the pedals. What does the other end go into? Do I need a power supply?

[@AaronAndrewHunt]

When you buy the kit everything is more or less self-explanatory, but midi-boutique.com can answer whatever questions you have about it.

[@abc-yv2js]

@@AaronAndrewHunt Thank You

[@gregclose9712]

Hello. Nicely done video. I’ve learned a lot and have just obtained a pedalboard and will be ordering the kit. I am also very curious about your lovely wooden laminate keytops, if at some point you are able to share what you used and how you affixed them to the controller keyboards. Thank you.

[@AaronAndrewHunt]

Thank you, Greg. I still have not got around to making that video but I still plan to do it some day.

[@carlchristoph5700]

@@AaronAndrewHunt That would be great! The Keyboards look really beautyful and I also would like to build some that way.

[@minka866]

@@AaronAndrewHunt , we would like you next video talk about keyboard.

[@gregclose9712]

Hi Aaron. I’ve never made a video, but I would imagine that a lot of time and energy goes into it. I would be grateful for just a few words of written explanation of what you did, and which products you used to make those keyboards look so beautiful. Just a thought. If you can find a moment sometime. Be well.

[@AaronAndrewHunt]

@@gregclose9712 I'm sorry, I would have replied but I simply didn't see this comment two years ago. A couple of days ago I finally posted a video which shows how to laminate the keys kzbin.info/www/bejne/g2WmpaCJe8SobK8

[@nelloz2461]

Thanks Aaron. I wanted to ask you: in which order should the sensors be placed? That is: must the last sensor, the one furthest from the flat cable, be positioned on the lowest note or on the highest note? Thanks for the reply.

[@AaronAndrewHunt]

You can see around 4:24 on the cabling I received the lowest note is at the end of the cable, furthest from the ribbon. I could not tell you however if all cables would be wired that way, you would need to ask them.

[@nelloz2461]

@@AaronAndrewHunt thank you

[@nelloz2461]

Thanks to your video, today I finished installing and testing the midiboutique kit for the pedal board. Everything works. Thanks again

[@AaronAndrewHunt]

@@nelloz2461 Glad to hear that! And I'm glad the video helped :)

[@stephenjaeger5624]

I was inspired by your video that made the process look much easier than anything else I read/looked at. Now I have an old Wurlitzer 25 pedals pedalboard wired up. I was wondering what you did to stabilize/secure the ribbon cable as it leaves the pedal assembly and what you did with the encoder board. I am trying to visualize how to tidy up the loose ends, so to speak, but just not coming up with an idea.

[@AaronAndrewHunt]

Thanks, Stephen. I simply hid everything with that wood attachment, didn't mount the PCB or do any "tidying up" in fact. It just sits behind the pedalboard.

[@stephenjaeger5624]

@@AaronAndrewHunt Thanks. That is pretty much what I did

[@linblosune]

Will it be a series connection or a parallel connection to the Pedal sensors?I am a novice.

[@aluduru]

Dear Aron, I have a project using a Rodgers pedal board, I'd like to here your advise on how it's wiring should be

[@AaronAndrewHunt]

I have no information about your pedalboard. You'll either need to figure out the wiring by trial and error, or find the technical documentation. Jordan Petkov of MIDI Boutique may be able to help you.

[@jlee29170]

Can this be adapted to work with an Allen organ pedalboard which relies on magnets as i understand?

[@AaronAndrewHunt]

No idea. Better to send questions like this one to MIDI Boutique (link above)

[@laro1002]

Hi Aaron Great video - did you connect the expression pedal to the mpc32mq too?

[@AaronAndrewHunt]

Thanks. No, I don't use an expression pedal. But it's not hard to connect one. Just make sure the potentiometer is the within the stated resistance range.

[@vittoriobacchiega9118]

It is possible to connect up to 5 swell pedal (potentiometers) and up to 8 switches for pedal pistons)

[@stephenjaeger5624]

Does the kit come with directions? Is there a min and max distance between the magnet and the contact? Your video is so helpful and you made it look relatively simple.

[@AaronAndrewHunt]

Yes, there is documentation at the MIDI Boutique website. The magnet has to reach a few millimetres above the sensor. The position can be a bit tricky and I would actually recommend using larger disc magnets. If the bushings in the pedalboard are old and thin (as they are in mine), the pedals can sometimes shift horizontally such that the magnet sometimes misses the sensor. For me this happens sometimes only on two of the upper pedals, which I am playing so rarely anyway that I haven't taken time to install larger magnets there (or alternatively, replace the bushings).

[@stephenjaeger7683]

Thank you. I am looking for a pedalboard now

[@stephenjaeger5624]

Picked up Wurlitzer pedal board. Already has reed switches which I will remove. Ordered the kit with the Hall switches. Here's hoping I can do this. Thanks for the video as I am sure it will help me.

[@bryanjaramilla3048]

Is the kit install, plug and play?

[@AaronAndrewHunt]

Yes, but you can see in the video that some work is involved.

[@timowolff1105]

Where did you got the manuals from?

[@AaronAndrewHunt]

I made them from Yamaha NP-11 keyboards.

[@ronaldpierre9017]

@@AaronAndrewHunt Hi, did buy the manuals black or you changed the color?

[@AaronAndrewHunt]

@@ronaldpierre9017 before laminating I made the white keys black. Over larger areas I used black polyethylene tape. On edges, corners, and hard to reach places, I used black paint, touched up with black permanent marker.

[@tomdwij]

lad

[@Ted655687653]

It boggles my brain that you didn't let us hear played notes to verify that it actually works.

[@AaronAndrewHunt]

Of course it works. I show that it works in the video, using MIDI Monitor. It was too much trouble to add video of playing the pedalboard. I wanted to do it, but I don't have everything needed to make that easy. The video shows you exactly what the title tells you, and it works.

[@AaronAndrewHunt]

... I finally got a couple of other old used cameras and recorded myself playing it here kzbin.info/www/bejne/jaK8i6hpltJqh7s