Looking to purchase a Lake Butler RFC1 Midigator midi foot controller

Gone2Gig

New Member
I had a midigator RFC1 foot controller made by Lake Buttler that I used for years. Although it's very dated by today's standards, it really fit my needs well. Unfortunately, I have one of those 'musician's sob stories' about how it was lost to me (can you really be a decent musician without at least one of these types of stories? LOL). I've been watching Reverb and Ebay for quite a while with no luck. Anyone out there happen to have one in good condition (with a good power supply) that they have no use for and it's just tucked away in the back of their closet collecting dust? If so, please let me know!

BTW, I've looked at several other midi foot controllers, most with MANY more features, but haven't come upon something that allows me to easily manage a large number of songs and related switches and easily place them within sets--at least not as easily as the ole' Mitigator in my particular situation and using its basic functions. I'm open to suggestions if anyone has some great ideas for substitutes for the mitigator.

Thanks in advance to all!!
 
I might also have the memory expansion and the installation directions, but I'm not sure. I know I bought them but never installed them.
 
I also bought extra power supplies from condor, and have the original box for two of the RFCs.

Let me know if you are interested.
Thanks for getting back to me. Holy smokes, three?! You must have bought a whole months worth of Lake Butler's production back then!

I know they are terribly dated by today's controllers and many features... no editors, IA support, etc, etc. If I thought I would ever have gotten back into a band again, I would have bought one of several I've seen pop up for sale over the years for about the price of a very beginner model acoustic! Lol.

How much would you need to part with one? I'm guessing from your comments they are in pretty good condition? There wasn't a lot to break or wear on them.

Thanks again so much for getting back to me!

You can PM me with details if you prefer. Thx!
 
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Give me a couple of days to sort them all out and see exactly what it is I have here condition wise. I bought three because I was using one for gigging and my livelihood depended on it so I bought backups. Lake Butler was a very small company, even though their designs blew away everyone else on the market at the time.

They might be old, but I still think they are ahead of most controllers on the market today. And when it was in production, there was nothing to touch it. I switched to the gordius, but the setlist function is broken and Xavier is never going to fix it because it's now out of production. Kind of a bummer, but I'm too entrenched in it to change again.
 
Give me a couple of days to sort them all out and see exactly what it is I have here condition wise. I bought three because I was using one for gigging and my livelihood depended on it so I bought backups. Lake Butler was a very small company, even though their designs blew away everyone else on the market at the time.

They might be old, but I still think they are ahead of most controllers on the market today. And when it was in production, there was nothing to touch it. I switched to the gordius, but the setlist function is broken and Xavier is never going to fix it because it's now out of production. Kind of a bummer, but I'm too entrenched in it to change again.
A reset or a recharge of the firmware can't fix that ?
 
I have never heard of this company. Besides setlist, what set them apart?

I enjoy learning a little about the stuff that came before.
 
I had one as well. It was really ahead of its time for flexibility and programming. I spent a lot of time programming patches and controller functions into that unit. Mine ultimately was crushed by a PAR64 can that fell out of the lighting truss (!) and I wound up switching over to a (first gen) Ground Control. I currently use a MasterMind MMGT10, and it is by far the most powerful and useful MIDI controller I have ever encountered.
 
Give me a couple of days to sort them all out and see exactly what it is I have here condition wise. I bought three because I was using one for gigging and my livelihood depended on it so I bought backups. Lake Butler was a very small company, even though their designs blew away everyone else on the market at the time.

They might be old, but I still think they are ahead of most controllers on the market today. And when it was in production, there was nothing to touch it. I switched to the gordius, but the setlist function is broken and Xavier is never going to fix it because it's now out of production. Kind of a bummer, but I'm too entrenched in it to change again.
Appreciate you taking the time to check them out and consider parting ways with one of them. I couldn't agree with you more about there being nothing on the market like them in their day. Actually, when it comes to this particular application (song and setlist mode), I still haven't found anything that is it's equal as far as ease of use during the gig and that big display with just the song names. I know it did a lot more, but I didn't really use many of those other features beyond sending midi signals out to control the band's lighting controller and set some outboard fx gear settings at the beginning of a new song.

Plus it was built like a tank, literally! I found mine used from a gear slut guitarist friend of mine and think I gave him $150 for it back then as he found something else that fit his particular needs better. It was just as multi effects were coming on the market and before there was much in the way of modeling amps out there. I used it for over 15 years, playing 40+ weekends a year without a single failure and no visible sign of wear! I do remember having to open it up and replace the CMOS battery once and replace the AC adapter. Otherwise, the thing looked almost exactly the same when I packed it up as it did the day I bought it. Incredibly durable. That thick rubber coating over the entire Stomp/Footswitch area with the electronic switches that made ZERO noise on switching was brilliant.

Interesting to hear yours and others use of the ole midigator. It couldn't do what today's controller can in terms of some features. But for someone that wanted to do all of their configuration before the gig--especially once modeling amps with built-in multi effects really took off. The ability to just think in terms of setlists and songs, access them VERY QUICKLY in just a couple of stomps, and then simply step through one sound to another within a song during live performances, nothing touches it for ease of use on the market that I have found. Oh, and the ability to have JUST the song name appear in that big display without a bunch of other clutter was perfect for my application. Truly a sad day when I lost that along with a lifetime of guitar and musical gear collecting, in one fell swoop. Can you say ex-wife and garage sale together?

Keep me posted and thanks a bunch!!
 
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I have never heard of this company. Besides setlist, what set them apart?

I enjoy learning a little about the stuff that came before.
It was the first foot controller that let you program and send any combination of MIDI commands on any combination of channels with a single foot switch. There are no limitations to the length of each string (other than total memory) and no limit to the types of commands you can send. You can program and send your own custom messages with hex as well. It has a control pedal input you can assign to any control message(s).

It also lets you quickly assign any banks in the global pool to sets and keep multiple set lists. The display is super bright and easy to read from a distance. Most controllers today still have a limit on the number of specific types of messages you can send on any one switch. And back then, the best offerings from other companies might let you send a program change on a single channel. Oh joy.

The Gordius was the only unit that could replace it for me. And now I'm dealing with its demise as well.
 
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Appreciate you taking the time to check them out and consider parting ways with one of them. I couldn't agree with you more about there being nothing on the market like them in their day. Actually, when it comes to this particular application (song and setlist mode), I still haven't found anything that is it's equal as far as ease of use during the gig and that big display with just the song names. I know it did a lot more, but I didn't really use many of those other features beyond sending midi signals out to control the band's lighting controller and set some outboard fx gear settings at the beginning of a new song.

Plus it was built like a tank, literally! I found mine used from a gear slut guitarist friend of mine and think I gave him $150 for it back then as he found something else that fit his particular needs better. It was just as multi effects were coming on the market and before there was much in the way of modeling amps out there. I used it for over 15 years, playing 40+ weekends a year without a single failure and no visible sign of wear! I do remember having to open it up and replace the CMOS battery once and replace the AC adapter. Otherwise, the thing looked almost exactly the same when I packed it up as it did the day I bought it. Incredibly durable. That thick rubber coating over the entire Stomp/Footswitch area with the electronic switches that made ZERO noise on switching was brilliant.

Interesting to hear yours and others use of the ole midigator. It couldn't do what today's controller can in terms of some features. But for someone that wanted to do all of their configuration before the gig--especially once modeling amps with built-in multi effects really took off. The ability to just think in terms of setlists and songs, access them VERY QUICKLY in just a couple of stomps, and then simply step through one sound to another within a song during live performances, nothing touches it for ease of use on the market that I have found. Oh, and the ability to have JUST the song name appear in that big display without a bunch of other clutter was perfect for my application. Truly a sad day when I lost that along with a lifetime of guitar and musical gear collecting, in one fell swoop. Can you say ex-wife and garage sale together?

Keep me posted and thanks a bunch!!
I found an old thread here in which I participated. You might find some of the information useful.

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/lake-butler-midi-midigator.31361/
 
I agree with steadystate.
Back in the days, the Midi Mitigator was sooooo far ahead of it's time.
And it was build like a tank.
It was the only controller where you could program songs.
All other controllers used banks and presets.
The Gordius is still, where programming options are concerned, still the most complete.
The use of dynamic memory, conditional programming, variables,....
If only this could be incorporated into the RJM or Xavier would make a Gordius with little screens.
 
It was the first foot controller that let you program and send any combination of MIDI commands on any combination of channels with a single foot switch. There are no limitations to the length of each string (other than total memory) and no limit to the types of commands you can send. You can program and send your own custom messages with hex as well. It has a control pedal input you can assign to any control message(s).

It also lets you quickly assign any banks in the global pool to sets and keep multiple set lists. The display is super bright and easy to read from a distance. Most controllers today still have a limit on the number of specific types of messages you can send on any one switch. And back then, the best offerings from other companies might let you send a program change on a single channel. Oh joy.

The Gordius was the only unit that could replace it for me. And now I'm dealing with its demise as well.
Incredibly powerful for its day and unmatched in a few aspects by anything 30 + years later. I believe you asked about my commenting on the FMAC Liquid Foot. You might find some of what you liked in the Midigator and later in the Liquid Foot. It kinda reminds me of Lake Butler in a way (as far as I can tell). It seems to have only it's own home grown distribution and sales channel. I think you can only purchase them new directly from FMAC. Looks like a relatively small operation. But u may find that it could suit your needs.

It's all assignable, has a beautiful display with scribble strip type switch displays with multi-colors. Does a lot of multi-mode stuff. You can find them just by Googling them with company name, liquid foot and midi foot controller, leave any of that out and they might not show up in your results.

I actually found a very involved Fractal looking wiki page by one of the members here on the Fractal forums. I will have to look back through my history to see if I can find it. But he has put together amazing detail about their platform including all of its features but also a fair amount about its support for Fractal specifically. It supports setlist and song modes along with so much other stuff far beyond my needs, IA, etc..

It's not priced low enough to appear to have fhe benefits of mass production, but it's not entirely breaking the bank for all that you get by comparison with a few out there. They don't appear to have focused much on their marketing. Similar to other such products, almost more of a cult type following.

Check them out and let me know what you think. If I can't find an old midigator within my budget (something that didn't use to be much of a consideration as all my equipment easily paid for itself ), the Liquid Foot Pro may be my only fallback. Look them up if you are feeling your back against the wall with the Gordius.
 
I'm new to the forum here and it looks like it's ok to post external links, but I tried to add the link to the fractal wiki page I referenced above and it would't let me post the message. I haven't read through the whole user rulebook yet (sorry!), so I'm not sure what the problem is--if you know, please enlighten me. If it's any help looking it up, it was posted by a user with the screen name GotMetalBoy here on this forum.

I'm not actually a Fractal owner, but you guys seem like kindred spirits! Sure appreciate all your input and sharing.
 
I also bought extra power supplies from condor, and have the original box for two of the RFCs.

Let me know if you are interested.
I have two mint condition power supplies
Way back when I hated the power supply. I purchased a toriod and a technician build the power supply internally. Ii had to carve a spot for a "'regular'female socket. Now I use a regular computer cord. I did.the same with an Alesis reverb.
 
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