Softstep foot controller by Keith McMillen

[jwhitcomb3]

I've been a fan of MIDI foot controllers for years, so when I heard about the Softstep by Keith McMillen Instruments, I got pretty excited. In summary: major disappointment.

Sounds really cool, right? First off, if you are using the unit to control a piece of MIDI gear instead of software, you lose about half the features. Second, if it doesn't already support the software you are using, be prepared to spend lots of time and pull out lots of hair.

I got one a week ago, and spent about 20 hours trying to get it to control my Fender Cyber amps (a Cyber Deluxe and a Cyber Twin SE). As background, I was a software engineer for 20 years, and know MIDI really, really well (developed MIDI interface software full time professionally for two years, and did contract work for another ten). It took me a full day to wrap my brain around the software. Then another trying to work around the many design limitations.

Really confusing, some really terrible interface design, and some mind bogglingly stupid design decisions. In the end, my Behringer FCB1010 is still a better foot controller (particularly with 3rd party software installed) for half the price.

Most importantly, the rocket scientists at KMI decided to use a form of cool neon to backlight the pads. I don't have to tell any guitarist who has ever played in a bar with neon lights what kind of havoc neon plays with a guitar signal, particularly single coils. BZZZZZZZ.

If you can live with the buzz or turning off the backlighting, don't mind the steep learning curve and reduced feature set for controlling stand-alone gear, and don't mind the software package using up a gig of your computer's RAM, you may love this package.

I'm returning mine.

[atquinn]

The fact that they need a seperate unit to interface with midi (if I understood what I read about them correctly) always seemed like a bad idea to me. As if the whole midi foot pedal thing was a bit of an afterthough. Anyway, I have an FCB1010 in the mail to me to use with my Axe2; are you using the stock ROM chip on yours (I'm trying to decide if I'm going to get an UNO PROM or a Eureka PROM or just leave mine stock)?

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Austin

[jwhitcomb3]

I used the stock FCB1010 PROM for years, and upgraded to the UNO about a year ago and have never looked back. The Eureka PROM looks great if you are controlling a device it was designed to support, but is otherwise not as flexible.

Certainly program it with an editor, unless you are looking for a tap dance lesson while programming. I use RipWerx.

Looking forward to your review of the Axe2!

[atquinn]

Cool, the Uno was what I was leaning towards, mainly due to the split mode which the Eurekaprom lacks (inexplicably).

I've had an Axe2 since January. Complete overkill for me, but once you get the learning curve, it's very easy to get great sounds out of it quickly. I had an 11Rack before then, which is still the best overall unit I've ever used if price is taken into account, but for those who can afford it/justify the steep price, the Axe2 is nice, since, at least for me, there's nothing I can think of doing that I couldn't do with it. I'd like to try a Kemper out at some point as well, but I'm waiting for the rack unit and "complete development" on it (get some sort of computer program written for it, solidify the feature set a bit).

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Austin