Hi! I programmed a footswitch with only one action: Press – Note On to trigger my drum machine to play a kick. It works, however if I press it twice quickly, it won’t trigger the second one. It makes it impossible to play common drum patterns. I’m not even playing that quickly, around 110 bpm, and even then it will miss 1/8th notes.
I also noticed that when I press a switch and then quickly press a second switch, the second switch will be delayed a bit. For example if I program one switch to Press - Note On to trigger a kick sound, and then a second switch to Press - Note On to trigger a snare sound, when I press kick and then quickly press snare, the snare is slightly delayed. It’s a very short delay, but enough to throw off the rhythm when playing a drum pattern with the switches.
Some things I’ve tried:
-Switch Sensitivity is set to 5
-turning on Dual Switch Lock didn’t help
-turning on looper mode doesn’t help
-happens whether I program a second message to Note Off on Release
I really hope there’s some remedy to this, because otherwise the unit is really great!
It’s possible you might be running up against the limits of what the controller is meant to do. Switch Sensitivity = 5 / Looper Mode gets rid of the latency inherent in waiting to resolve double taps / long presses, but I’m not sure how well it can handle two presses in quick succession, either on the same switch or two different ones. Any insight @james ?
There’s some latency between switch presses because the controller needs to refresh the LCDs and work on other routines. More MIDI messages sent also adds some latency.
What controller model are you using? I can try to optimise it if the controller is in Looper Mode.
Hi James, I was using the MC8 Pro model. I already returned it though. For my use case, I need to trigger midi note messages at intervals of at least sixteenth notes, at various BPM, and using any combination of footswitches including the same footswitch. At 120 BPM that’s a bare minimum of 125ms. For a faster song, say 140 BPM, then it’s 107ms. Instant trigger would be most ideal though.
Otherwise, the unit is really cool! I love how small and light it is too.
@JessicaMak On that bank, were you JUST using the unit as a drum trigger? I don’t have any solutions right now, just trying to understand your use case a bit better.
My memory is a bit hazy in parts because I’ve been demo-ing and researching tons of midi footswitches, so I might have gotten some terminology and details mixed up.
I can’t remember if I started with the synth triggers first and then discovered the problem when I programmed the first kick trigger. However, I remember at one point I did a partial factory reset (pressed E? to exit early) to clear the bank and then just added the one kick trigger and problem persisted. In a real-life scenario, I would have used all the footswitches plus probably two external switches and an expression pedal. Each footswitch probably would have at least two messages (note on, note off), and some would probably have maybe like four messages. Then again, given all the cool features like scroll, shift, toggle, I could see myself using tons more messages for some of the footswitches.
A little more context: I use a Line 6 Helix floor unit and I’ve programmed all its footswitches (I think 10, I’m not at home right now to check) and the expression pedal to toggle parameters in the effect chains (vocals and guitar), as well as playing midi notes to my synth and drum machine. Some footswitches toggle effects and play a midi note at the same time. The Helix has a limitation where it can only send one midi message per footswitch, which is one of the reasons I wanted a more fully featured midi footswitch unit.
If you are going to enhance the unit in this way, I’d also recommend having an option for the unit to automatically send note off messages without requiring the user to program them in manually. That would definitely speed things up and help artists stay in the creative zone. Note though (no puns…), that someone might play a note with one footswitch, then play another note with a second footswitch without letting go of the first, and then after some time let go of one of the footswitches or both. So I guess the unit would have to remember per footswitch which note(s) are being played. Maybe a pain to code.
And for what it’s worth, for my use case, the LCD screens are not needed. I would have gone with the MC8 non-pro version, but I decided on the Pro because of the increased bank capacity and messages. Just thought I’d mention that in case updating the screens are costly execution-time wise. If so, maybe an option to just fully turn them off could help.
Thanks for the details. Have you tried something like the Muse Kinetics/Keith McMillen footswitch controllers that are more meant for playing notes?
The two problems I can see with using MC controllers for this purpose is (1) the latency on second messages, as James explained, and (2) only one footswitch can be active at a time. If you’re using two feet to play two different switches, for example, the second switch could only fire once the first was completely released.
I’m currently experimenting with playing midi instruments, too. While it is not possible to play a rythm, it’s fine to play some chords. Sending note off notes be default wouldn’t be my prefered way to implement this. It would not be possible to hold a note or chord while switching other things.
I did a google search, is it the SoftStep3 and the 12 Step2? They look really cool, but not available in Canada . Not sure if they can send PC and NRPN messages though. And I’d be worried about how durable they are for gigging.
Woah, I didn’t know you can only press one footswitch at a time! That’s also a must for my use case. The workaround to program a switch with multiple messages wouldn’t work because often the kick at the top of the bar is accompanied by a synth note or chord, where the note/chord changes per bar. It would also make improvisation impossible.
Right now I’m trying out a Nektar Pacer. It’s actually pretty sick because each footswitch can be independently set to fire off a bunch of messages or one at a time, either cycling per press or using another footswitch to set which message to send. Essentially, each footswitch has its own set of pages if you want them to. The only downside is it’s large and heavy making transportation a pain, note inputs are by number (!) instead of note names like C4 D#4, …, and I find the MC8/Helix style footswitches easier to press, although I guess the Helix style hurts my bare feet after playing for extensive periods. Then again, maybe it’s like playing guitar where you have to develop calluses, but like for your feet haha
GuitarWolf: good to hear others trying out midi-notes/chords stuff!
. Not sure if they can send PC and NRPN messages though. And I’d be worried about how durable they are for gigging.