Midi Foot Controller DONE! *buildlog with pics*

**StephanV** · 06-26-2011, 09:25 AM

Looks great! Not sure why one would put rotaries on a midi foot switch though, seems like a highly impractical approach to me. Why not use faders? (Edit: I know that analog effect pedals have them rotaries, but that makes sense because they don't have other controllers or laptops to control the parameters)

Are those leds controlled through MIDI btw? Never knew you could do that with a gamepad!

**deathstarchris** · 06-26-2011, 09:41 AM

Very cool!
Do you like the action?
Would you change anything?

**fullenglishpint** · 06-26-2011, 09:46 AM

Very nice.

**rudeez** · 06-26-2011, 01:47 PM

Originally Posted by bartboy

Awesome job what was the overall price range on something like that?

Think i've spent around 100 euros in total. Not really sure but something like that.

Originally Posted by mikeluv

a little bit cramped for a foot pedal controller tho, especially the top-middle switch.

Actually it's not, might be the pictures lying, also i got quite small feets, for me it works great

Originally Posted by extraclassic

Looks really good. That brushed aluminium look vinyl finishes it off nice and I like the font you chose.

Thanks! Im pretty happy with the look of it, i love handwritten fonts and the "hand of sean" is one of my fav!

Originally Posted by StephanV

Looks great! Not sure why one would put rotaries on a midi foot switch though, seems like a highly impractical approach to me. Why not use faders? (Edit: I know that analog effect pedals have them rotaries, but that makes sense because they don't have other controllers or laptops to control the parameters)

Are those leds controlled through MIDI btw? Never knew you could do that with a gamepad!

I'll choosed to have them since i wanna be able to controll a few VST parameters during liveshows, the reason i built it is for live usage so.
Faders would have taken to much space in the box.
The leds are "hard" controlled, the switches are actually on/off switches but they work great for displaying midi signals aswell since the midi send note is on during the time the switch is down. I diden't knew either before i tried it out and spent some time on diffrent configs with the soldering on the switch. Finally i got it working!

Originally Posted by deathstarchris

Very cool!
Do you like the action?
Would you change anything?

Im really happy with the result besides that the pots dosen't respond before 11 a clock. I tried a bunch of brands but results were always the same.
Also the fail of having the pot leds dimmer kinda bums me.
Im probably changing the hardware for something better then a gamepad quite soon. Not sure to what tho since i don't wanna go with chips like Arduino, have no programming skills whatsoever so.

**extraclassic** · 06-26-2011, 03:07 PM

I've used a Saitek p380 Gamepad before and run into similar problems. The inside looks the exact same as yours. The problem you’re having with the pots is because you have separated the 2 boards. (I did the same)

Some things need to be connected in order for the pots to work properly. Easy fix would be to join the two boards back together and your pots will work how they should (Like magic

)

If you have thrown it away? :eek: Certain software lets you correct the problem too although you will only get half the resolution.

**deathstarchris** · 06-26-2011, 06:14 PM

Thanks for the info.
Great job!

**nuke5** · 06-26-2011, 07:57 PM

very nice build man!

**BlackJesus** · 06-26-2011, 11:44 PM

That is a very clean build!! I would've switched the encoders with a pair of expression pedals on each side so I could have better control but thats just me

**MiL0** · 06-27-2011, 03:42 AM

that's a really nice finish - great job!

**rudeez** · 06-27-2011, 04:05 AM

Originally Posted by BlackJesus

That is a very clean build!! I would've switched the encoders with a pair of expression pedals on each side so I could have better control but thats just me

True that but i have no need for exp pedals since i made it for a special purpose, i use a line 6 pod x3 for the fx normally and this is just a compliment to that setup to control VST hosted on a 10" netbook in the rig.

I ran in to some serious problems yesterday tho...
Having the 3pdt switches which has on/off functions don't work out quite well.
Think about like this, i want to bypass a VST plugin, if i map a button to a bybass function it turns out that i press it the vst goes bypass, i press it again and it releases the switch, and i press it again to turn of the bypass and then i need to press it once more to come back to a state were i press it again the bypass is on again, so basiclly i need to press the switches twice to turn on/off things. That due to the switches are on/off and not on/on.
I have no idea how to solve the issue because i need those indication leds to be able to monitor whats going on. I guess a gamepad wont cut it.