Re: Most programmable midi foot controller

[Zoe Keating <cello@zoekeating.com>]

the FCB1010 has been a great pedal for me. 

i've used one for almost 5 years, although i had to replace it last year when i accidentally blew it up (european power + no coffee that morning)

i had the occasional problem with junk midi messages (i.e. messages being sent that are not programmed - i caught these in my midi monitoring app). but after getting a new eprom from behringer, those issues disappeared.

their manual is hard to understand, but user groups have spawned as a result.

one confusing thing is the way behringer and people talk about SWITCHES and BUTTONS.

- this i how i think of it: each patch (a patch being all the messages contained in a single button press) is made up of activated switches

- the possible switches in a patch are: 1 midi note, 5 program changes, 2 controller changes, 2 expression

- so, in other words, you can send, all at once, in a single press of a button: 1 midi note + 5 program changes + 2 controller changes + whatever each expression pedal is set to (i don't use the pedals)

- each of those switches can send midi messages on a different channel, so you can talk to a bunch of devices simultaneously

- and if you have, what is it, 10 banks with 10 buttons each... then that is er, 100 possible midi notes, 500 possible PC messages, etc...

hope i didn't get anything wrong there...

so some limitations are: 

- since there is only 1 midi note switch, that means you can send notes to only one device.

- with 2 CC switches, you can send to 2 different devices.

-(well you can send wherever you like, but obvious chaos would result if everything was on the same channel!)

so if you have multiple devices to control and they ONLY respond to midi note commands (?), then you're out of luck (UNLESS one of those devices is on a computer...because you could use a conversion app like midipipe to change PC message on a channel to note messages). but i don't have devices like that.

i talk to my electrix repeaters with PC and CC messages and the computer with Notes.

is that too much information???

-zoe

On Sep 14, 2007, at 12:34 PM, James Richmond wrote:

Wow...

I go out for a couple of hours and get a shedload of replies.

Thanks ppl.

Behringer FCB1010 - $150

  - Cheap, reasonably flexible, but large.  10 functions per bank.

    Silent switches.  

I had a look at the manual- I thought there were only 2 programmable switches that I could assign midi note numbers to it and the rest of the switches selected patch numbers.

Is it more flexible than this?

I can live without power over midi as it has an integrated powersupply.

I usually avoid Behringer due to build quality issues- how do ppl find this?

Digital Music Ground Control Pro - $400

  - Compact, rugged, expensive.  Noisy switches.  More powerful than

    the FCB in some ways, less in others.  8 or 12 functions per

    bank depending on how you configure it.

I have the original Ground Control and it is frustrating as hell as I can assign controller numbers to each of the top line of pedals BUT because they are controller numbers that you cannot specify a value for the ECHO PRO doesn't quite understand what is going on.

For Rec/Play/Overdub I have to press the button twice, which makes seemless looping a big PITA. Rev and 1/2 speed are a single press though because they do not respond differently to a 0 or 127 value.

I thought of getting the DL4 pedal version but it only has 14 secs of memory and shares a button for 1/2 speed and reverse, which is where I do most of my work with it.

I also have an ADA midi pedal but that is the one where I have to bank up and down to get to different functions.

All I want is 6 configurable buttons.

Maybe an EDP is the way to go instead?

The search continues.

Regards, 

Jim Richmond

-- 

Zoë Keating

Avant Cellist & Composer

Contact info:

Telephone: 707.827.3217

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Zoë Keating

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Camp Meeker, CA 95419, USA