Re: softstep report #1

[Todd Matthews <gtmatthews@gmail.com>]

Do you only run the software to set the softstep up and then the hardware saves the settings for stand alone performance or does the software have to be running in the background?

On Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 12:18 PM, Zoe Keating <info@zoekeating.com> wrote:

Hello Erdem!

I haven't explored yet anything other than pressure. This works very well, and you can set the sensitivity.
There is a very helpful GUI that shows you in real time how the pad/button is responding to your toe press.

Nothing "gives" or clicks on the softstep. Its just a rubberized pad. This sounds disorienting, but what I've found so far is that if i press while looking at the GUI, I get a sense of the motion. Then once i've trained my brain, I can close the GUI start using it.  I don't know how to relate that to a wah-style mechanical pedal because I've never been successful in using those.

I have to put my experiments aside now and get to San Diego. My hope is to incorporate the SoftStep for a show in SF on Oct 12.

(sorry to miss the Y2KX! I leave for New York the day after)

best, Z

On Oct 7, 2010, at 3:20 AM, Erdem Helvacioglu wrote:

dear zoe and keith,

could you  comment on the use of continuous controllers of the softstep? i really wonder how the pressure, x-y axis works and how it "feels" like compared to other hardware expression pedals?

5 degrees of continuous control for each pad:
X- and Y- axis, Clockwise Rotation, Counter-Clockwise Rotation and Pressure. These control sources are mappable to any MIDI or OSC destination

thanks and best.

www.erdemhelvacioglu.com

New duo album with Per Boysen out now.
http://erdemhelvaciogluandperboysen.bandcamp.com
----- Original Message ----- From: "Zoe Keating" <info@zoekeating.com>
To: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2010 4:31 AM
Subject: softstep report #1

think I'll report as I go, since otherwise I'll never get around to it!


I downloaded the software, plugged in the pedal (comes with a nice  long USB cable in case you need to be far away from your computer),  launched the software and the pedal lit up with its friendly blue  leds. (reminds me of the dashboard of a mini cooper)It goes without  saying that the pedal is small, lightweight and cute. Its not TOO  small though. The numbered buttons are the same size as the one on the  FCB1010. The navigation arrows are small and I have to look at my  toes, but I think I'll get the hang of it.

I'm a bit impatient with manuals, so I decided to poke around the software interface first. I didn't get very far, and had to go and  read the manual ;-)
I was stumped at first by all the modes, figuring out what was  clickable, trying to read the tiny fonts, and understanding the naming  terminology. However, after almost 2 hours of blundering around I  managed to grasp the rudiments of the interface and modify some of the  presets. Now I'm mapping these to run to the basics of my set. (I'm  told documentation of the presets is coming, so this will be a quicker  process).

As I started to realize the depth of what the SoftStep does, all the interface modes begin to make sense. Every single thing is  customizable, from what kind of footwork the buttons respond to, to  how the lights behave (do you want a green light when you press?), to  how you want to page through your banks. I'm not even scratching the  surface of this pedal yet. So I'd rather have a complex, nested  interface where I can control any and everything, to an out-of-the-box  pedal that is not customizable at all.

So far I've got one "scene" (or what I would call a bank) that sends Program Changes on Channel3 to MIDIPipe and one that sends notes to Ableton on Channel1. Each scene is accessed by going left or right  with the navigation arrows. When I'm in my program change scene, the navigation up and down arrows increase or decrease in increments of  10, just like you'd expect.  Now I have to make another scene of notes  for Ableton, and two scenes for SooperLooper and do some more  experiments with how I want the pedals to respond to my edwardian  boots and how the red and green lights should behave.

That's it for now.

Happy times!!

Zoe