Guitar Gear Forum

MIDI. I can spell it. Beyond that, nada. I only know I'd like to have a footswitch unit to perform super complicated functions, such as start/stop recording in Reaper. Perhaps to bounce between presets in a VST plug-in like the Polychrome McRocklin Suite. This is for at-home, Madison Square Bedroom use only. Do I want wireless BT connectivity? I think I'd rather run a USB cable. A 1/4" jack to add an expression pedal might be nice.

Lastly, I'd like to do all this for as close to ZERO dollars as possible - I have some $$$, but I am loathe to part with them (read: cheap). I have toyed with the idea of mapping some keys on a wired USB keyboard to do all this then throwing it on the floor and mashing it with my foot. I got lots of keyboards.

All thoughts, suggestions, ideas, insults, etc. are welcome.

Ed

I can’t gelp much, however you can already automate when reper starts and stops recording. You right click the record button and toggle modes. You can have it start recording where your selection starts ans stopa.

My midi use and abilities start and end with tempo based syncing

brutalgroove wrote:MIDI. I can spell it. Beyond that, nada. I only know I'd like to have a footswitch unit to perform super complicated functions, such as start/stop recording in Reaper. Perhaps to bounce between presets in a VST plug-in like the Polychrome McRocklin Suite. This is for at-home, Madison Square Bedroom use only. Do I want wireless BT connectivity? I think I'd rather run a USB cable. A 1/4" jack to add an expression pedal might be nice.

Lastly, I'd like to do all this for as close to ZERO dollars as possible - I have some $$$, but I am loathe to part with them (read: cheap). I have toyed with the idea of mapping some keys on a wired USB keyboard to do all this then throwing it on the floor and mashing it with my foot. I got lots of keyboards.

All thoughts, suggestions, ideas, insults, etc. are welcome.

Ed

A MIDI footcontroller in a studio environment is a bit of a waste. Why? Because you will have to program all the MIDI commands into the DAW. Which take the same amount of effort to program the DAW to do what you want without the controller.

Setting up start/stop recording on a DAW usually takes a few seconds. Say you want to start recording at bar 4 and stop at bar 8. Usually it's just a matter of clicking on these points and setting it up (the actual process varies from one DAW to the other but it's all relatively simple). Same with automating plug-ins etc...
You can also map shortcut keys fairly easily. Mapping all this stuff to work with a MIDI control would literally take the same amount of time.

If you want to use hardware, I'd suggest you get a control surface instead. That will give you actual faders and control buttons and many have a footswitch out for Rec start/stop. That would be a better investment.

The zero dollar option is learn to program all that functionality into your DAW. Then save the fully programmed project as a template and use it at a starting point for every project from now on so you don't have to reprogram everything again. That's how I have my DAW setup. All my tracks, sends, plugins, VST synths and basic automation are loaded into a template, which I use for every song and only do minor tweaks to fit each song.

Are you John Snow?

I have a USB midi footswitch to play, stop, record in Reaper. Works great, and was easy to program. It's a Logidy UMI3

A MIDI footcontroller in a studio environment is a bit of a waste. Why? Because you will have to program all the MIDI commands into the DAW. Which take the same amount of effort to program the DAW to do what you want without the controller.

Setting up start/stop recording on a DAW usually takes a few seconds. Say you want to start recording at bar 4 and stop at bar 8. Usually it's just a matter of clicking on these points and setting it up (the actual process varies from one DAW to the other but it's all relatively simple). Same with automating plug-ins etc...
You can also map shortcut keys fairly easily. Mapping all this stuff to work with a MIDI control would literally take the same amount of time.

If you want to use hardware, I'd suggest you get a control surface instead. That will give you actual faders and control buttons and many have a footswitch out for Rec start/stop. That would be a better investment.

The zero dollar option is learn to program all that functionality into your DAW. Then save the fully programmed project as a template and use it at a starting point for every project from now on so you don't have to reprogram everything again. That's how I have my DAW setup. All my tracks, sends, plugins, VST synths and basic automation are loaded into a template, which I use for every song and only do minor tweaks to fit each song.

As usual, excellent advice. I should learn to use what I already have. I suspect I should apply this to my guitar playing as well.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... footswitch


Midi and Blutooth. I love mine.

Chris Z wrote:https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FS1WL--boss-fs-1-wl-bluetooth-wireless-footswitch


Midi and Blutooth. I love mine.

Oh damn. Just when I was gonna wise-up and heed Billy's very sound advice, you bring this to my attention. I will take a look.

Thanks to all for the input.

Ed