Support

For pedalboards we can provide you two types of scanners which will convert the key presses into MIDI data for your MIDI interface.

If you 8 x 8 matrix wire the pedalboard, you can use our MKSC4a product . If you parallel wire it, which means 1 wire per key with a +12V common wire (A.K.A. a contact rail), you can use our MKSC1b board.

The difference between parallel and matrix wiring is this:

Parallel wiring uses a single power source (usually +12v) connected to all the keys and one - wire coming from each key. This results in 62 wires from a 61 note keyboard.

Matrix wiring groups the keys into an 8 x 8 matrix. Think of it like a checker board with 8 squares on each side. To find the address of any square, there is a row and a column that is unique to that square. That is how 8 x 8 matrixing works. The result gives you 16 wires out (8 for each side of the matrix) instead of 62.

If it sounds like you will be using a parallel scanner, you will need one scanner for each keyboard or pedalboard.

Since the pedalboard will only use up to 32 of the inputs, you can use the leftover inputs for pistons, tabs or toe studs if you are going to use Hauptwerk.

For the pedalboard, I generally recommend the MKSC4a. Especially if you have magnets on the pedal keys already. This is the scanner we use in our pedalboards and we have a pedalboard switch kit to make it easy for those with the magnets. It has 3 swell shoe inputs built into it.

If you have our keyboards, the MKSC4a is not so crucial since each one of the keyboards also has 3 swell shoe inputs in the back. The MKSC1b is much easier to wire up than the MKSC4a. So if you have the keyboards, you may wish to use the MKSC1b for the pedals and let the keyboards scan the swell shoes for you.