I’ve never used a whammy pedal. But I just got a pit gig playing guitar for Mean Girls (the show) and it calls for the whammy. No way I’m paying 300 USD for a digitech pedal.
Can my Moog expression pedal be used? How would I go about that?
If you have a DAW you can use with MIDI and your expression pedal this might be a good option:
https://www.kuassa.com/products/efektor-whammo-pitch-shifter/ You might try that (there’s a free trial also if you want to make sure it works for you), I don’t personally own it but I am planning on purchasing it soon. On the wah version, you can tie your midi controller’s expression pedal or whatever with MIDI Learn in Reaper to pedal position in the vst. So I would imagine it’s the same with the Whammo. Hope that helps.
1 Like
Hi Bill, theoretically that is possible but you have to bear in mind that it only makes sense if you play a VST that supports pitch bend. Further it would require that only the VST is sounding since the pitch of the guitar can’t be affected.
There would be other options, like NI Guitar Rig, that has pitch bend effects you could control via a MIDI expression pedal (not sure if your Moog expression pedal is MIDI or not). To control anything in MG2 you need a MIDI pedal too.
1 Like
to get your moog expression to talk to your computer you need something like this:
https://www.audiofront.net/MIDIExpression.php
alert: they will ship today, but are closed from sat - feb 13.
i don’t have any personal experience with these products, another user on this board linked to them before.
i own the ‘whammo’ that @Bolt mentioned, it works well for my purposes, but i’m not doing any of the typical bill and ted / steve vai stuff. ‘whammo’ has a ‘dive bomb’ setting which may provide that type of thing if the mean girls book calls for it.
1 Like
@bil Audiofront products are excellent, and I’ve been using 2 of them for years: the MIDI Expression Quattro (4 inputs) and the MIDI Expression iO (4 inputs + 2 MIDI in/out).
A standalone application or plug-in version allows full customisation of each device and saving of presets.
If you’re on a tight budget and only need one controller, there’s the MIDI Expression (1 input).
Otherwise, don’t hesitate to get the Quattro for twice the price of a single input: use it, for example, with a double footswitch to navigate through patches (up/down), 1 expression pedal to manage gain or mix, 2 other pedals or 2 dual footswitches to control other parameters.
Notes: regarding a whammy plugin: it must be able to receive MIDI data, and you need to know the MIDI implementation to assign the right value to the expression pedal, as the Midi Learn function doesn’t work in Midi Guitar for third-party plugins.
1 Like
You guys are the GREATEST. I ordered the midi expression. The information here is most helpful as I navigate this mysterious midi terrain.
The pit gig will go fine with or without a whammy facsimile. I’ve played a hundred shows like this, and it’s all accompaniment. If the pit band is good at their job, they vanish. They’re heard but not consciously seen. Audience is focused entirely on the actors on stage.
Whammy update: my Audiofront MIDI Expression device arrived in the mail today. Works great with the Moog ep-3. AND… MainStage has a virtual whammy pedal! I got them all working together before dinner. Sounds pretty awful, but I’m just getting started.
I love having the ability to use this pedal for anything, with the audiofront device. I’ll try volume pedal assignment next.
Thanks again for the helpful information.
I’m glad you’re enjoying this device, which is very useful and efficient.
Remember that there’s a lot you can do with the Audiofront application, such as calibrating the pedal, adjusting the curve or the speed of responsiveness of the movement, and so on.
how did the show go?
adding a couple of possible uses: modwheel and blend between guitar and synth in mg2.
Yes, it’s going to be super useful. Thanks for the pro tip, Herold.
There’s only been one band rehearsal for the show. A sitzprobe next Wednesday, then dress rehearsals and 4 shows the following week. I’m about ready with the plugins, live rig and instruments. Have not learned the book yet! It’s 97 pages. although many of those are rests and tacets.
I’m eager to try that mod wheel idea. Thanks kimyo.