Hi to all.
I recently bought a foot controller.
In performance mode the default foot controller 1 is [removed]number 11) and basically it controls the main volume of my XS. This works well (so th pedal is not the problem) but yesterday I wanted to assign it to the time Attack parameter (I guess the number is 76 or something near it) but I couldnt, the pedal wasnt working on that parameter, I guess it also wasn´t working for some other parameters…

After that I also assigned the Assignable knob 1 to the Attack parameter and the knob also didn’t work....

Just to add, if I assign the foot controller or the assignable knob 1 to the time Attack parameter, the 3rd knob that is specifically assigned to the time Attack stops working…

am I doing something wrong???
please Help

“...am I doing something wrong???”

Perhaps. It may be many different things or just understanding how to accomplish what you are attempting to accomplish.

You purchased a Foot Controller. Hopefully a Yamaha FC7 pedal as we can vouch for how it will behave or should I say, how it should behave.

The default for the FC7 plugged into the first Foot Controller jack (FC1) is to send cc011 Expression. This is programmable on a per PERFORMANCE basis. So what it sends is your choice. Expression is not MAIN Volume - by the way… cc007 is Main Channel Volume - all PARTS of your PERFORMANCE would jump to equal levels and would change together as you moved the pedal up and down. cc011 Expression will keep the relative proportion between the different PARTS (so musically it is more useful… thus the reason it defaults to Expression and not Main Volume).

As you correctly stated, there already is a Controller dedicated to ATTACK Time (cc073) - assigning two Sources to attack time will promote an argument (more on that later). As you increase the controller (knob) from the 12 o’clock position, you are increasing the attack time (slowing the rise in volume… basically, increasing the amount of time the amplitude envelope takes to reach full volume). Actually, you are offsetting the Amplitude Envelope Generators of the involved Elements.

If you want to use a Foot Controller to do this it is highly recommended that you use the device number function designed for this purpose. Here’s how:

MIDI provides for a genric Controller device number - one not dedicated to a specific thing like cc007 (Main Channel Volume) and cc011 (Expression)… this genric Controller device number is cc004 (coincidentally) called “Foot Controller”.... Its purpose is for when you want to define a function within a Voice so that you can have more detailed control via a pedal.

The other Foot Controller jack (#2) defaults, by the way, to send cc004 (Foot Control). The reason, because it is a very common thing to want to control something other than Volume with your foot, and to do so in addition to controlling Volume.

So just what does Foot Control (cc004) control?

The answer is: almost anything you’d like. Call up the VOICE (in VOICE mode) that you want to control the Attack time via a pedal.
Press [EDIT]
Press [COMMON EDIT]
Press [F4] CTRL SET (Controller setup)

Set the SOURCE (the physical controller) = FootCtrl2(04) (Foot Control 2)
Set the DESTINATION (the parameter you want to control) = AEG ATTACK
Set the DEPTH to a (+) positive value (say +63)
Check the individual Elements 1-8 that you want to control

As long as the dedicated Attack Time KNOB stays at 12 o’clock, the FC2 pedal function will slow the attack in toe-down position and be normal when heel is down.

If you additionally move the Attack Knob, you may completely defeat the Foot Controller. For example, Attack, for the knob is immediate at 12 o’clock and slows as you turn clockwise. 0 through +63.
If you move counterclockwise from 12 (0 through -64) you will notice attack cannot be any more immediate than immediate (something to do with the space-time continuum) :)

If however, you turn it fully counterclockwise, the FC2 pedal assigned to AEG ATTACK is now battling against the -64 setting of the KNOB and the toe-down position (+63) simply returns you to normal Attack Time (or -1 if you are stickler for accuracy).

Hope that helps. Simply edit the VOICE and use it in your PERFORMANCE. Keep the KNOB at 12 o’clock and don’t use it. When a Voice or Performance is recalled the KNOB are all zeroed out - so the position does not matter.

Thanks a lot man I’ll try this.

But why in the performance mode you can directly “assign” the attack to whatever foot controller you want without doing it via cc004 and editing the voices...or even put the attack to the assignable knobs??

I play in a band and i complement my XS with a rack so I usually play in master mode to control the voices in the rack using the 8 zones…
I know that i can assign th knobs to a cc of each zone but is it possible to control the attack or any other midi cc of the rack and the motif xs at the same time? (i.e using the foot controller to adjust the midi cc at the same level)…

Thanks a lot