flip, you just try getting replacement pots for the FC-300.
over 2 months i’ve been trying. Roland just does not give a damn. they push you off to their dealers and service agents. my local dealer said Roland service were notoriously bad at replying. the dealer is still trying to get info of availability. the service agents don’t bother to reply or don’t supply parts if they do reply.
the FC-300 uses a Roland specific flavour of the Alps RK11 10k pot. the closest you can buy is RK11K1140A3L which has the right shaft, bushing and dimensions. all of which you’ll need to get it mounted on the board and connected to the pedal mechanism.
it has the wrong resistance taper. you can’t order the log taper variant from Alps unless you’re going to buy a lot. Alps brushed me off even after saying i’d order the min 1600 items.
so i fitted the RK11K1140A3L.
even after calibration you’ll get midi cc’s of 55-127.
thankfully, it’s a doddle to map out that limited range to a full range with Cantabile. the loss of resolution isn’t really noticeable on a foot pedal.
contrast the terrible Roland support with Novation:
i had a dodgey pitchbend on an ageing 61sl mk2. quick webchat on their website. asks me to recalibrate. i’d already tried it. he forwards me to technical dept. they email the next day. i reply. 2 days later a new pitchbend assembly pops through the letterbox completely free of charge.
the FCB1010 is great value. the expression pedals use LEDs and a graduated optical filter. neat idea; no pots to wear out. they feel great and are very accurate.
the buttons are a piece better on the FC-300 though. if you’re going to use a button on the FCB1010 for sustain then you’ll have to learn to keep it deeply pressed or it’ll stop sustaining just at the moment it sounds worst.
there is a mod to swap the micro-switches that looks doable.
my FCB1010 (and i’m sure it’s an isolated case) has mental health issues though. the UNO rom would forget settings after not using it for a week or so. and now the FCB-505 rom which worked great for a few weeks, is like it’s shifted a bit somewhere. seriously odd.
A blast from the past for you Neil. Did you ever get the replacement pots?
Lack of funds meant I went for the Behringer FCB1010 and I have blagged a UNo chip. But I too have run into Roland’s “support”. I had issue with the expression pedals, and someone suggested it might be down to the quality of the MIDI lead. My existing one is falling apart, so I invested in a Roland UNO-Mark 2 which needs the Roland driver. However it downloads but simply doesn’t work . I read up on their info, then tried to contact support, which needed the name of the product I was querying about, only to find that their database doesn’t recognise their own product. I therefore cannot contact them because going through “support” is the only route. So I now have a beautiful MIDI lead that I can’t use, because Roland Support seems to be blocked because they have had a great big truss rammed up their backside. I could only wish!
hi,
nah, i never got the proper pots. it’s fine with 55-127 expanded to 0-127.
i keep away from Roland gear generally, though the Handsonic range is a winner if you like finger/hand drumming. 10 years since the HPD-20 was released…surely an update is on the horizon?
Touchwood my FC300 that I brought is currently fine, but it makes me pleased I blagged a spare one a few years back as I am quite dependent on it. Then again if I was forced to change, I would program it all in Cantabile now
