Don,

Nice rendition of "Before You Accuse me".

The foot pedal is a choice for someone who needs to keep both hands busy on an arranger. I started out many years ago as an organ player, but as soon as they became affordable enough, I switched to synthesizers. For me the pitch wheel became an extension of my playing, but I like a joystick even better, since it allows me to control both mod and pitch wheel bending, at once.

I just don't think I'd feel comfortable with a foot pedal for pitch bending. Sometimes my technique includes very rapid but barely perceptible bends that are meant to imitate string resonance. I don't think my foot would do as good a job here, no matter how I might try. I've tried assigning pitch bend to aftertouch on another keyboard, but that really didn't have the right feel for me either, as opposed to a pitch wheel / joystick.

Even when I play an arranger, I can pretty much free the left hand up enough to throw in some pitch bend articulations into a solo, as long as I stick to simpler chord changes. I set up my PA80 to recognize both single and multi fingered chords, so that I can manipulate the joystick with my ring finger while I change chords with my thumb and index fingers.

Squeak makes a good point. Before you try to emulate different instruments, it's good to give a good listen to some well played examples, while trying to focus on and picture what the player is doing with the instrument.


AJ