Re: FC-300

["Raul Bonell" <raul.bonell@gmail.com>]

hi luis and all,

does anybody know if this could be of any use for us loopers?
its price is under 100... possibly max could understand all incoming
data and convert it conveniently. just quick thought.

http://www.digitech.com/products/controlx.htm

raul.

2007/12/1, L.A. Angulo < labaloops@yahoo.com>:

wow,ive been checking out the manual of this FC very
powerful indeed,the only drawback is more tap dance
not enough switches,why on earth didnt they do this
with the FC-200? on the other hand,compact with a led
screen and its price tag aint bad for what it can do
thanx for the tip!
Luis


--- Mech < mech@m3ch.net> wrote:

> At 6:55 PM +0200 10/29/07, Sjaak wrote:
> >Thanks for all your replies. It appeared that the
> FCB1010 was too
> >big to fit under my synth stand; second: my
> supplier told me that a
> >lot of the FCB's have been returned within a year
> due to hardware
> >failures..... So I have decided to buy the Roland
> FC-300
> >
> >First impression:
> >+ all pedals can be of type latch or momentary =>
> piano sustain can
> >be programmed :)
> >+ good positioning of all pedals
> >+ good visibility of green and red LED's on stage
> >+ easy to progam, no manual needed
> >+ build like a tank => as the FC-200
>
> I've got an FC-300 too, and this is a fine summary
> of many of its
> good points.  Although you will probably need the
> manual to look up
> many of its more subtle functions.
>
> >- 1 global midi channel setting => it's not
> possible to store
> >different midi channel's with a pedal setting
>
> This is not correct at all.
>
> Ignore Standard and Control Modes (as well as Sysex
> Mode, unless
> you've got a VG-99).  Those modes are worthless
> unless you want to
> dedicate the FC-300 to a single device, and I never
> even bother with
> them at all.  The fourth Mode -- Patch Mode -- is
> where you want to
> be.  In this Mode, the FC-300 will send MIDI
> messages to any MIDI
> channel, programmable per pedal.
>
> In fact, this is where the FC-300 gets over the
> MAJOR complaint I
> always had against the FCB-1010 (even though I've
> got one an FCB
> too): the expression pedals (not the switches) on
> the FCB could only
> ever be set to a single channel.  So, for instance,
> you couldn't
> control Feedback on your Looper, then switch patches
> and use that
> same expression pedal to control, say, Filter Cutoff
> on a synth
> module.
>
> Not only can the FC-300 do that (I'm doing it with
> several different
> patches), but you can actually use a single pedal to
> control SIX
> different parameters simultaneously.  These can each
> be on different
> MIDI channels if you like.  You can not only scale
> the control range
> (parameter 1 may have a range of 0 - 127, while
> parameter 2 only has
> a range of 50 - 70), but you can also reverse the
> ranges of
> individual parameters (1 may have a range of 0 -
> 127, while 2 has a
> range of 127 - 0; accomplishing a nice little
> crossfade between
> sounds/effects, for instance).
>
> At Y2k7, for instance, I had programmed all the
> volume swells for the
> VG-99 into the right-most expression pedal (I could
> have easily done
> it by switching to SysEx Mode, but I wanted the
> convenience of
> staying in one Mode during the performance).  The
> left expression
> pedal controlled a variety of different functions,
> depending upon
> patch: Feedback on my Looperlative channels; Volume
> of specific
> tracks; Feedback of the echo effect built into the
> VG; Speed of the
> Leslie effect on one Patch; Track Playback Speed on
> the LP-1; etc.,
> etc., etc.
>
> I kept the CTL 1 & CTL 2 switches the same on every
> patch (Rec/Dub,
> and Stop Now;Erase) for purposes of consistency, but
> I could have
> programmed those for independent functions per
> patch.  Likewise, I
> attached an FS-6 footswitch for CTL 3 & 4, and
> dedicated those to
> Previous Track and Next Track functions on the
> Looperlative.  The
> individual patches cycled through a variety of
> functions too numerous
> to name here.
>
> You imagine it, and you can probably program it in
> Patch Mode on the FC-300.
>
> >- only 1 control message per pedal
>
> Again, not correct.
>
> In Patch Mode, you can actually send multiple
> messages to multiple
> channels (up to 6 messages, IIRC) on pedal press.
> In addition, you
> can send an additional 6 messages on pedal release.
> The pedal
> release messages can be programmed (per pedal) to
> fire off on either
> physical release (good for Note Off messages, so you
> can turn it into
> a set of MIDI bass pedals, or whatever etc.).  Or
> they can be delayed
> until the next pedal is pressed, so that the release
> messages are
> fired off just prior to the next pedal's messages
> are sent.  This
> latter function might be good, for instance, for
> setting up a series
> of chords that sound until the next "chord" pedal is
> pressed, at
> which time all the appropriate Note Off's are sent
> before the new
> chord's Note On's arrive).
>
> Look, even though I was extremely skeptical at
> first, this thing will
> in fact practically mow the lawn.  It does
> everything except for
> "roll your own" SysEx (and it will do GM SysEx as
> well as NRPN stuff;
> you just can't program in an entire Hex String from
> scratch).  That's
> something that I actually use pretty rarely these
> days anyway.
>
> I'm using it to replace my Digitech PMC-10, which is
> no longer being
> manufactured of course.  That's how good it is.  And
> at a price of
> only about $300, it's less costly than many of the
> other "full
> featured" MIDI pedals out on the market today
> (Ground Control Pro,
> etc.).
>
> Sjaak, dig a bit more into the programming on the
> FC-300.  I'm
> confident that with a bit of work, you'll find most,
> if not all, of
> your misgivings will quickly evaporate.
>
>       --m.
> --
> _____
> "the wind in my heart; the dust in my head...."
>
>


www.myspace.com/luisangulocom


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