Yamaha MFC10 midi foot controllers and the EDP-1

["d.nix" <d.nix@comcast.net>]

Hello everyone-

I'm a new member of the mail list, but already after just a week or so been
quite impressed with the breadth of knowlege here. So here's my situation
and question... I'm a guitarist in a trio playing somewhat traditional 
style
post-rock/post-metal instrumental music. I've come to embrace the idea of
using looping technology to expand and flesh out whats possible, to thicken
our sound, to give myself a rhythm/second guitarist... Not as unique or as
innovative as what some of the people here are doing, but thats what I'm up
too. I saw the band 'Russian Circles' perform live here in SF a few months
ago and was just amazed at the live sound they could create with just a
trio; both the guitarist and bassist used loopers and delays to build up
multiple layers of sound - both rhythmic, structured parts and ambient bits
to tie things together. Lots of fun, and very inspiring. So I immediately
went out and bought a Boss RC-2, and HATED it. That lasted only a few 
weeks,
then I bought an Akai Headrush E2, and LOVED it. I've been working with the
band to incorporate it and structure material to take advantage of what it
offers, etc, and continue to do so. However I decided that I need greater
loop times and more detailed control of the loops, so I recently sprung for
a recent manufacture EDP-1 with the foot controller - well, as recent as is
possible... It has the latest LoopIV software, etc, and I can see I have
quite a learning curve ahead of me...

One thing that becomes rapidly apparent, is that the ability to arbitrarily
jump from one loop to a different loop in a single switch press requires a
midi programmable foot controller. My experience with midi is next to nil,
and what little there has been, has not been very encouraging, tho all 
quite
a while back, and with different hardware and goals in mind. I see there is
a fair amount of support for the Behringer FCB1010, with aftermarket mods
and editors for programming, so I could, and may, just go with that.
However, I may have a chance to pick up a fairly new Yamaha MFC10 
controller
for quite cheap, so I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with it... 
in
particular with programming it via a computer based GUI editor... I have no
patience with the 'Riverdance' button press programming thats native to
these sorts of devices... Is there a GUI editor for the MFC10 floor unit?
And for that matter, are there other, perhaps physically smaller units that
are reccomended? I am aware of the Gordius hardware, which looks 
impressive,
but I'm not quite ready for that sort of expense just yet...

Suggestions or reccomendations?

Regards-

Dave