BEST MIDI FOOT CONTROLLER - I know, done to death, but c'mon

[Zachman]

I would go for the Liquid.. foot...

Let us know if you can get one. Reading the LF forums, unfortunately seems as if the developer has just ceased all contact with potential customers. That's a chance you take with these garage manufacturers. The LFP is such a cool looking piece too....what a shame.

Pure speculation....but it wouldn't suprise me at all if that same guy had involvement with, and ultimately caused the delay in another controller that many have been waiting on.

Yup... This is the very reason I went with CAE--They're still in business after a LOOOONG time. Axcess Electronics' FX-1 was a consideration (They're now out of business). Skrydstrup R&D is WAY more expensive and is based in Europe so I had reservations re: tech support (should it become necessary), and the others at the time, simply didn't offer features that were required for my setup.

 

[Ventura]

THESE past two posts are 100% the type of fodder for thought I am SO in need of...

THANK YOU!!!!
V.

 

[Flump]

Pretty much everything worth mentioning has already been mentioned, but from personal experience I LOVE the Rocktron All Access. It would probably suffice for 99% of guitarists rigs out there, Rocktron has great customer support, and the thing is built like a tank (although basically everything in this thread is built like a tank).

 

[Zachman]

THESE past two posts are 100% the type of fodder for thought I am SO in need of...

THANK YOU!!!!
V.

Happy to contribute. Best of luck on your rig build journey.

 

[Little B]

If you mean thee best,none better,ultimate, etc, etc...
Skrydstrup- by far and away...if you can afford it, this it...(the edge,etc)
Axess fx1..unfortunately out of business..man, what a great board though
Bradshaw rs 18 and 10...the best back in the day-lots of people still like em today
liquid foot....probably the best up and comin one
from here...your boards are still great for sure, but theyre limited in what theyll do-compared to these above..weve used most of these..also,something moot here,but it ended up being a big deal down the road for us(your lesser boards dont have a window to personally name your own presets)like i said, it didnt seem important,but in the end it was a lot nicer to see and read(in an instant) a name than just a number which got confusing if you have a bazillion presets of something..thats the long and the short of it...

 

[lordriffenstein]

Not sure what you guys think is so special about the Skrydstrup. With the exception of a global preset and 1 more preset per bank, it doesn't have the features of an All Access. Yes, it is build well but so is the AA. The AA has far more flexibility than the Skrydstrup and so do a number of other boards.

The Axess FX1 was really cool, I hope Mario can return to the music business. Forget about Liquid Foot, it's simply impossible to deal with that guy. The CAE stuff is still great although lacking in features as well. The Paul Lenders GasPedal is cool, not feature-loaden as some but still good stuff, it's expensive though. The GC Pro is very cool if you need something that is good and you are on a budget. The MarkL board is expensive if you are in the US but it has a good set of features (eg. you can use ALL IAs, even if you don't have the expansions) and they are always expanding on it.

 

[JC-Tonequest]

If you are looking for something powerful with a small foot print the Axess MFC5 is hard to beat. I have one for sale if you are interested. $190 shipped CONUS. PM me if you are.

 

[JC-Tonequest]

Oh, I see you are in Belgium. Why not get a Gordius Little Giant. It's one of the most powerful midi foot pedals I have ever come across. They are based in Belgium as well. I just got mine. That is why I am selling my Axess MFC5. Xavier (the owner) is very responsive and helpful with any questions you have about his products.

http://www.gordius.be/midi-footcontroller-lg.php

 

[lordriffenstein]

Oh, I see you are in Belgium. Why not get a Gordius Little Giant. It's one of the most powerful midi foot pedals I have ever come across. They are based in Belgium as well. I just got mine. That is why I am selling my Axess MFC5. Xavier (the owner) is very responsive and helpful with any questions you have about his products.

http://www.gordius.be/midi-footcontroller-lg.php

If you are talking to me, then this is my board:

So I don't really need another controller

 

[Little B]

hummm..in response to lordriffenstien a few back;..the roctron all access?..weve used that one in the studio and it is nice,but in no way on par w/ skrystrup/bradshaw/liquid/and mario's stuff..these boards go waaaaaaaay beyond i.a./cc's CC's/ and multiple midi's....weve used em,on the road also,and its more or less like runnin a vette,then runnin a lamborgini,,,both are obviously worthy, but one has a lot more to it...from what ive read though, i think the "poster" is looking for something for less money.....ive personally had lengthy conversations w/ Steen Skrdstrup, Bob Bradshaw and Mario over the years...these guys- all fantastic guys...well.....they all know thier stuff,if you have the strangest, most alienated switching problems,these guys will make a solution and stand by it...thats what i look for when im spending serious moola on a switching system...take care...

 

[Ventura]

hummm..in response to lordriffenstien a few back;..the roctron all access?..weve used that one in the studio and it is nice,but in no way on par w/ skrystrup/bradshaw/liquid/and mario's stuff..these boards go waaaaaaaay beyond i.a./cc's CC's/ and multiple midi's....weve used em,on the road also,and its more or less like runnin a vette,then runnin a lamborgini,,,both are obviously worthy, but one has a lot more to it...from what ive read though, i think the "poster" is looking for something for less money.....ive personally had lengthy conversations w/ Steen Skrdstrup, Bob Bradshaw and Mario over the years...these guys- all fantastic guys...well.....they all know thier stuff,if you have the strangest, most alienated switching problems,these guys will make a solution and stand by it...thats what i look for when im spending serious moola on a switching system...take care...

Well, me being the 'poster', it's not so much about $$$ as it is practicality and really, meeting my needs as a hobbyist and not some touring pro musician. I'm willing to pay the bucks, that's for sure, but it's not just a matter of buying the highest priced best piece out there, it's about researching the best piece for my needs. Now it's come to my attention that more than likely, the GCP will do the job I need it to do - in spades. I like the footprint of the Rocktron better, but I like the display on the GCP better. My 'needs' if I can call them that, go a bit beyond 'just' the controller. I'm starting to realize I need to get into some loop station circuits and multi lead brains in order to do what I want. Feel free to chime in here, but here's the deal:

- 3 Eventides, used both via foot, and via MIDI foot controller to access individual AND combined preset patches.

- about 6 or 7 analog stomps, all of which can be accessed by foot, no problems.

- of the Eventides, I want them to be able to go through the amps parallel buffered loop AND I want them to be in front of my amp AND I want them to split up at times with 1 or 2 in the loop, the remainder in front. This is where the circuit brain is gonna be needed.

- I may wish to punch a couple of the analogs into the loop mid set through as well, and then be just as able to pull them back in front with one stomp.

- gotta be as noise free and as tone suck free as possible.

- the MIDI FC will work the presets of the Eventides, and my amp channels when used with my VH4S.

- The MIDI FC will strictly work presets of the Eventides when running through my Bogner.

That's the deal. The pedalboard needs a GTR IN, and on the output side, 1 MIDI (to amp, in the case of the VH4S), and 2 outs - 1 for direct, and 1 for loop (stereo amp to boot so all the pedal will be set up with stereo double outputs but a smart gate right near the end will decipher whether or not it's getting pumped into a stereo head (VH4S) or a mono head (XTC)).

Peace,
V.

 

[Zachman]

hummm..in response to lordriffenstien a few back;..the roctron all access?..weve used that one in the studio and it is nice,but in no way on par w/ skrystrup/bradshaw/liquid/and mario's stuff..these boards go waaaaaaaay beyond i.a./cc's CC's/ and multiple midi's....weve used em,on the road also,and its more or less like runnin a vette,then runnin a lamborgini,,,both are obviously worthy, but one has a lot more to it...from what ive read though, i think the "poster" is looking for something for less money.....ive personally had lengthy conversations w/ Steen Skrdstrup, Bob Bradshaw and Mario over the years...these guys- all fantastic guys...well.....they all know thier stuff,if you have the strangest, most alienated switching problems,these guys will make a solution and stand by it...thats what i look for when im spending serious moola on a switching system...take care...

Well, me being the 'poster', it's not so much about $$$ as it is practicality and really, meeting my needs as a hobbyist and not some touring pro musician. I'm willing to pay the bucks, that's for sure, but it's not just a matter of buying the highest priced best piece out there, it's about researching the best piece for my needs. Now it's come to my attention that more than likely, the GCP will do the job I need it to do - in spades. I like the footprint of the Rocktron better, but I like the display on the GCP better. My 'needs' if I can call them that, go a bit beyond 'just' the controller. I'm starting to realize I need to get into some loop station circuits and multi lead brains in order to do what I want. Feel free to chime in here, but here's the deal:

- 3 Eventides, used both via foot, and via MIDI foot controller to access individual AND combined preset patches.

- about 6 or 7 analog stomps, all of which can be accessed by foot, no problems.

- of the Eventides, I want them to be able to go through the amps parallel buffered loop AND I want them to be in front of my amp AND I want them to split up at times with 1 or 2 in the loop, the remainder in front. This is where the circuit brain is gonna be needed.

- I may wish to punch a couple of the analogs into the loop mid set through as well, and then be just as able to pull them back in front with one stomp.

- gotta be as noise free and as tone suck free as possible.

- the MIDI FC will work the presets of the Eventides, and my amp channels when used with my VH4S.

- The MIDI FC will strictly work presets of the Eventides when running through my Bogner.

That's the deal. The pedalboard needs a GTR IN, and on the output side, 1 MIDI (to amp, in the case of the VH4S), and 2 outs - 1 for direct, and 1 for loop (stereo amp to boot so all the pedal will be set up with stereo double outputs but a smart gate right near the end will decipher whether or not it's getting pumped into a stereo head (VH4S) or a mono head (XTC)).

Peace,
V.

V--

Here are some things that may help with some ideas about your project. I hope they're useful for you:

http://www.customaudioelectronics.com/faq (I READ through EVERYTHING here several times, when I was in the design concept stage of my rig. I found the vast amount of info here VERY helpful to understanding how and why different approaches did or dodn't make sense for a given application.)

http://www.customaudioelectronics.com/rig_show

The following link has some GREAT videos going through various guy's stuff, and explaining "How to" stuff

http://www.customaudioelectronics.com/custom_shop

 

[cujo]

If you are talking to me, then this is my board:

So I don't really need another controller [/quote]

WOW, thats pretty cool.... awesome wah as well, i own that one.

 

[nevusofota]

Liquid Foot Pro is damn cool.

This is my third midi controller and I like it much better than the GC pro. Much more versatile. It will be the last controller you will ever buy. Downside, its big, pricey, and since its a small company (out of Virginia) I hear that the customer service recently has been poor (though I never had any issues when I ordered 6 months ago).

 

[Ventura]

Zachman - this is awesome stuff Braddah, thanks... I'll definitely spend some time sorting through all this info and making sure I don't just buy before I know kinda thing. Seeing as you're in Hawaii, I think it's best I fly down there and we can talk shop face to face

Dude, just as an aside, I LOVE Hawaii - I live in the PNW, and my wife and I hit the islands for 6 weeks of surfing every October/November. Love it - place is heaven on earth man... Mahalos and much Mana....

V.

 

[Zachman]

Zachman - this is awesome stuff Braddah, thanks... I'll definitely spend some time sorting through all this info and making sure I don't just buy before I know kinda thing. Seeing as you're in Hawaii, I think it's best I fly down there and we can talk shop face to face

Dude, just as an aside, I LOVE Hawaii - I live in the PNW, and my wife and I hit the islands for 6 weeks of surfing every October/November. Love it - place is heaven on earth man... Mahalos and much Mana....

V.

Next time you come down this way, shoot me an E-mail, and we'll see if we can get together for some rig launch time. I may be traveling at that time, but if not--

Zach

 

[petejt]

I've got a Roland FC-300 MIDI foot controller. It seems pretty good for what I want to do.

 

[lordriffenstein]

hummm..in response to lordriffenstien a few back;..the roctron all access?..weve used that one in the studio and it is nice,but in no way on par w/ skrystrup/bradshaw/liquid/and mario's stuff..these boards go waaaaaaaay beyond i.a./cc's CC's/ and multiple midi's....weve used em,on the road also,and its more or less like runnin a vette,then runnin a lamborgini,,,both are obviously worthy, but one has a lot more to it...

Hate to de-rail this thread even further but there´s a BIG difference in possibilities and features on the Skrydstrup/Bradshaw boards compared to the Liquid/Axess stuff. And the All Access sits definitely in the 2nd group, it has HUGE midi-capabilities that a lot of people don´t know about, it can do the same sysex stuff as the Axess FX1, something the Skrydstrup can´t, you can change the amount of direct accessible IAs etc, plenty of features. The Rocktron doesn´t have a song mode or a software but it has HUGE capabilities. I have used/owned all these boards throughout the years and the Rocktron might not look as good as some of the others, it packs a lot of features. Not to mention mine was still running solid after nearly 800 gigs and a hell of a lot of rehearsals etc when I sold it.

That being said, the GC Pro is a good unit for sure. I have the Paul Lenders GasPedal at the moment but also have something nice coming in soon Midi-controller GAS, who would have thought??

 

[Gainzilla]

hummm..in response to lordriffenstien a few back;..the roctron all access?..weve used that one in the studio and it is nice,but in no way on par w/ skrystrup/bradshaw/liquid/and mario's stuff..these boards go waaaaaaaay beyond i.a./cc's CC's/ and multiple midi's....weve used em,on the road also,and its more or less like runnin a vette,then runnin a lamborgini,,,both are obviously worthy, but one has a lot more to it...

Hate to de-rail this thread even further but there´s a BIG difference in possibilities and features on the Skrydstrup/Bradshaw boards compared to the Liquid/Axess stuff. And the All Access sits definitely in the 2nd group, it has HUGE midi-capabilities that a lot of people don´t know about, it can do the same sysex stuff as the Axess FX1, something the Skrydstrup can´t, you can change the amount of direct accessible IAs etc, plenty of features. The Rocktron doesn´t have a song mode or a software but it has HUGE capabilities. I have used/owned all these boards throughout the years and the Rocktron might not look as good as some of the others, it packs a lot of features. Not to mention mine was still running solid after nearly 800 gigs and a hell of a lot of rehearsals etc when I sold it.

That being said, the GC Pro is a good unit for sure. I have the Paul Lenders GasPedal at the moment but also have something nice coming in soon Midi-controller GAS, who would have thought??

Got to Go with my Belgian Bro Yoeri here... Ive owned and used the Rocktron All Access for YEARS now and its never failed me, is loaded with features that Ill never use and is practically indestructible( in addition to be a nice looking board) I researched the crap out of everything out there and for my uses and all of the features that I mentioned, the Rocktron is practically impossible to beat and it can be had at a much better price than all of the others save the GCP( which cant really compare to the AA or any of the others mentioned)

Kage

 

[stratotone]

What can the All Access do that the Ground Control can't?