The boss ev-5 is the best one I've run across- I've tried a few others and the feel and taper of them wasn't as good as the boss. It sucks how expensive the ev5 is though.
Actually, this makes me wonder if an expression pedal like the Boss/Roland will actually work. Anyone know for sure? https://www.warmcola.com/ssl/products.asp?id=69&cat=Pedal+Voltage+Convertor
You are correct- the jacks are for voltage control from analogue synths. Doepfer and a few other modular analog synth companies make modules to enable foot control of voltage- but it is a lot more complicated than just using a regular expression pedal.
Apparently you can wire up a 9 volt battery to a volume/expression pedal, and turn it into a CV pedal, but I'm hoping to find something a bit more sturdy/dependable. The only thing I've been able to find is the Moog 1120, and it's discontinued. Ack. Doesn't anyone make an actual CV pedal anymore?
I think we're crossing terms up here. To try and straighten them out: most Moog derived synths use a voltage from 0-5v dc to control parameters from rate to pitch to volume. Many synths and modules supply a 5v source and the CV pedal acts as a pot to lower that voltage to what you want-for instance the Mooger/Fooger gear provides the voltage, so all you need is a passive CV pedal. Other gear doesn't provide the voltage and requires the pedal to carry its own power, you could certainly use a 9v battery with a transformer or pad to get it down to 5v (doesn't the Boss pedal have a built-in pad, so all you'd do is wire the 9v battery inside the pedal somewhere?). Probably easiest to contact Frostwave and see what they recommend, but from the sound of it, you may need the internal voltage. It seems to me that the Mooger CP251 pedal may allow you to use a passive volume/cv pedal to drive other modules, but it's more expensive in the $250 range (although it has a lot more functionality than that). You could also use a midi control pedal with CV functions (like a passive volume into a Zoom 8050 pedal) and a midi-analog convertor!
Damn, this would end up being a lot more involved/pricey than I thought! I was under the impression that there were current production pedals that provided their own voltage, like the old Moog 1120 did. I wonder if someone could make me one for not too much money. I could use this [https://www.warmcola.com/ssl/products.asp?id=69&cat=Pedal+Voltage+Convertor] in tandem with a regular volume pedal, but it would take up extra room and it costs $130.
