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Hi guys.

I just decided to build a nice and sturdy USBmidi footcontroller for my self. I am just waiting for an enclosure and some soft step SPST switches to finish the first one of.

The reason I wanted to build one is that Ive recently started using Ableton Live for jamming and creating new music, and I wanted something to control the Live Looper and a max4live plugin named re:mix(it is basically the monome app MLR for Live, it is insane amounts of fun).

I did some searching online and whatever USBmidi footcontrollers I found was extremely overpriced and did not seem sturdy enough, also they are not made with a typical pedal form factor, making them not very pedalboard friendly.


If this was something I started to sell, everything based on custom order with enclosure size and the amount of switches, how much would people be willing to pay? If this is something that you guys are even into...

It really depends on what your platform is. Nowadays, if you're selling midi controllers, you pretty much need to include a software side of things to be competitive. Meaning an easily configurable by not a midi guru interface to make your hardware work out of the box. Even a lot of the diy options from doepfer and livid come with that included. The rest depends on features included, how many midi in's and outs, usb bus powered or separate supply. What visual feedback do you get from the device. What kind of latency is built into your controller?

The reason midi foot controllers are so expensive is that the market is not huge, and most people that need them, want specialized application for a specific program or device. and then a decent amount of pro interfaces will have a footswitch input that requires no actual hardware beyond a switch.

I think your best option is figure out a product that you think might sell and be useful. Find comparable products. And then price around that where you can still be profitable.

What are you using for the brain of your device, teensy?

Thank you for some really insightful feedback.

Just as a note to your points, my reason for building a simple momentary footswitch is to control software. because when you are playing/jamming/performing it really sucks to use your hands if you have a guitar or similar running through said software. And I feel no one is building simple, small, midi foot switches that send midi cc on/off messages.

I might be my own best market, but I would guess that someone would see the need for this as well?

Currently using an old arduino I had laying around. But evaluating on switching to teensy to save up space.

Oh, and I want the pedals to be simple. Just footswitches(might build expression inputs as well) USBmidi only, maybe LED feedback.

I'll post some pictures/videos when I get the first one assembled.

here we are. the first USBmidi pedal Ive ever built. Seems to work like a charm, but will stress-test it as soon as possible.

Looks good!

oooh, yeah. I have also thought about making some midi feet. Would love to see how this works! My only option right now is a rather huge behringer board.

thanks guys!

The Behringer board and the Softstep seemed like the only choices for sale as far as I could see, so that was one of the reasons I made this. Something small, simple and (hopefully) sturdy.

It is quite small as well, I used a Hammond 1590XX enclosure, about the size of the larger new EHXpedals(Hazarai, Cathedral etc.), hopefully the buttons will not feel to cramped together.
Been thinking about adding the possibility to add some expression inputs as well.

I'll see if I can make a video explaining how I intend on using it with Ableton Live. The "least" user friendly thing about this pedal is that you need to map the switches to whatever functions you intend on using in you DAW/software. But as far as I know, this is something that is becoming less and less difficult(it is extremely easy in Ableton at least).

Looks great! I built an 8-button MIDI footswitch a while back using a Teensy (worked great!), and lately I've been thinking of making a smaller 2-footswitch version.

One thing I'd recommend is lowering the footswtiches in front and raising those behind. That makes the footswitches in the back a LOT easier to stomp on.

that is a great idea! Will do that as soon as I am back home. They are all at the topmost height now, and the back buttons cannot be lowered due to the Arduino being underneath them.

I just realized what DRodriguez meant by pairing the hardware with some software as I spent some hours coding the pedal to match the functions I wanted the buttons to have. But I am still open for building for anyone who would want one here. Building an exact copy of mine for a bandmate.