Gordius knots still need undoing

[andy butler <akbutler@tiscali.co.uk>]

I've been trying out my Gordius Little Giant footcontroller.

So far, there's a couple of problems with it, but these are  to do
with the special modifications that Xavier did for me.
( 4 expression pedals insted of 2)
So I spent a day with Gordius already...and no looping :-(
These problems are not going to be around for long, Xavier is
on the case, ..............................................and so am I ;-)

Anyway, report so far

As previously mentioned, switches and their arrangement are completely 
satisfactory,
item is well built.
It has a wallwart.

Programming is very easy with the supplied (pc only so far) editor 
application.

It does take a bit of getting used to:-
first you have to program the function you want (Patch Change, Momentary 
Function, or Expression ped assignment).
Then you have to add that to something called a 'preset' (usually one 
function per preset, but you can combine stuff
in one preset as well).
Then create a bank, and add your presets to it.

That's 3 steps where you might expect one,so it seems a long way to go 
about adding, say a Prog Ch to a single button within a bank,
but then it's incredibly flexible.
If you have long strings of commands that you want to call from more 
than one bank, you only have to enter them once.

Xavier is working on the manual, it gives all the info but he wants to 
add some simple HowTos

some details

Expression Pedal assignments:-
You have a default assignment for each pedal, but can use a switch to 
change them at will.
I tried the Bespeco 18-L, an EV-5 clone, and this works perfectly. 
Should be possible
to use other pedals with similar wiring.
It's a very responsive pedal setup, fast acting, and accurate enough to 
pick a number
between 0-127 and set a control to it. (edp displays the number).

Momentary Functions
These are what we'd use to control a looping device.
It seems any string of Midi commands you can dream up can be sent
on push, and the same for release.
(I haven't tried every single midi command)
Sysex is possible with the pc only editor. (editor for mac promised).

The only drawback with Momentary functions is that at the moment there's 
only 32
of  them available. Xavier's looking in to that though.
I suggested 128 would be enough.
(it would be possible to use Patches instead, just nowhere near as neat)

Patches.( Prog Change + )
These have the functionality of Momentary functions, but Gordius displays
the name of the last selected patch and keeps the LED of that switch 
alight.

There's a nice bright screen display which gives assorted information,
like the last Patch selected,
or the current Bank
..and as you get to enter the names you want this works great.

My LG4  at the moment has problems with a couple of buttons not behaving,
so it's not useable yet, but I'm pretty certain that it's specific to my 
unit to
which Xavier did some mods.

the LG range have a number of functions I didn't mention so far,
including another function called a "Stompbox", which can be added
to a bank in the same way as other functions.
A stompbox gives you a  way to turn on (or off) effects by whatever
midi commands are needed, then while that FX is 'on' the LED above
the switch will be lit. (ie.  press for on, the "on" string of commands 
is sent and the led lit,
press again for off and the "off" string is sent and the led turned off)