How To Notate Effects Pedals?

Let's say I was writing a piece for solo elec. violin, and it uses an octaver pedal. How do you put that on the score?

Hmm. I'd notate it just as you would any other foot marking... like a piano.

Let's say I was writing a piece for solo elec. violin, and it uses an octaver pedal. How do you put that on the score?

Does the pedal need any real-time activation (Whammy / Wah?) or simply ON / OFF instructions?

If the latter, I would just indicate in plain English: "With Boss OC-2 (or similar), one octave down" with clear ON and OFF written where necessary.

If needing more specific instructions (i.e. Whammy or Wah rocker actuations) use something like: and to indicate pedal positions...

Or (as a quick googling found):

If you want a specific open/closed pattern, I suggest:

+ = open (high sweep)

o = closed (low sweep)

Hairpins are used for long sweeps or slow changes to the effect, for example:

o < +

With the hairpin stretching across however many beats necessary.

Thanks moderators, the music is straight 16th notes, with every 8th note one or two octaves "under" the main melody, forming a sort of bassline. Should just write "ON" over the relevant notes then or maybe use a down arrow instead?

I tried googling "effects pedal notation" but I didn't find anything with that. Robin J if you could give me a link to that page, that'd be great!

Thanks moderators, the music is straight 16th notes, with every 8th note one or two octaves "under" the main melody, forming a sort of bassline. Should just write "ON" over the relevant notes then or maybe use a down arrow instead?

I tried googling "effects pedal notation" but I didn't find anything with that. Robin J if you could give me a link to that page, that'd be great!

How fast is this happening? regardless of tempo, I expect it'd be a joyous pain-in-the-donkey to have to click a pedal on-off-on-off-on-off-on-off-on-off-on-off-on-off-on-off-on-off-on-off-on-........At anything faster than really slow it might be impossible....

[perhaps a less strenuous alternative would be to have the effect along with a volume control (or, better yet: a momentary mute footswitch). Have the effect on all the time, but control when it's heard - that way the performer need only put their foot down when the effected sound is needed]

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The info I found was written in the comments on this blog post; however, you're right, there's not much to be googled on this.

http://www.musicianwages.com/the-working-musician/music-notation-for-guitar/

From what I've found, there's not really any standardized notation system for electronics and such, so I expect you're best to invent your own and explain it well. Another thing that may work would be to sit down with your musician and ask them: "how would you like this effect notated?".

:dunno:

Good luck!