FC18 and FC21

Do you want a larger Foot Controller?

  • No, I'll be fine with a FC6 or FC12

    Votes: 87 47.5%
  • No, I'll be fine with multiple FC6 and/or FC12

    Votes: 12 6.6%
  • Yes, give me a FC18 (3x6 switches)

    Votes: 32 17.5%
  • Yes, give me a FC21 (3x7 switches)

    Votes: 52 28.4%

  • Total voters
    183
I've had foot controllers with staggered pedals. I find that awkward. Not terribly so, but takes a bit more thought when reaching for a stomp in the middle of a performance.
 
lqdsnddist:



Yep, I have similar problems with the MFC-101.

I like the look of the FC-series footcontrollers, but I'm hoping that the center-on-center distance between footswitches is a little larger now than it used to be on the MFC-101. That would help.

Another thing which would help (or, would have helped) is: staggering the switch position by rows.

If this represents the current version of the FC-12...
.___________________________________________________
| . logo. . . . . [ L C D Screen ] . . . . logo. . |
|___________________________________________________|
| . . O . . . O . . . O . . . O . . . O . . . O . . |
|___________________________________________________|
| . . O . . . O . . . O . . . O . . . O . . . O . . |
|___________________________________________________|


...then, imagine having it look like this, instead...

.___________________________________________________
| . logo. . . . . [ L C D Screen ] . . . . logo. . |
|___________________________________________________|
| . . . O . . . O . . . O . . . O . . . O . . . O . |
|___________________________________________________|
| . O . . . O . . . O . . . O . . . O . . . O . . . |
|___________________________________________________|


The offset footswitch positions makes it much easier to avoid hitting the wrong one. (I know; I used to have a Digitech/Johnson Millennium amp with a footcontroller like this.)

Partly it's the increased distance between the switches: In the non-staggered layout, if the rows are 3" apart, then the footswitches (center-on-center) are also 3" apart. But with the staggered arrangement, they would be...let me see here, square root of the hypotenuse, ummm...4.2426" apart!

But it's also the fact that, when your foot is going towards a given switch on the top row, it's just not horizontally lined up to easily touch anything on row 1.

So I really kinda prefer the staggered arrangement. Looks like they didn't go with that, for the FC-series. Oh, well! But I hope that maybe the switches will be a little further from one another than on the MFC.
Honestly, the best form factor I've experienced is the Gordius Big Little Giant.

8004025A-BD3D-4FDC-8485-9B0A8F4D31CD.jpeg

The combination of staggered buttons and putting some on an angle really helps with not hitting the wrong button.

Edit:

Apparently the button layout is mapped to the black and white keys of a keyboard, which is weedy there is some unused "space" on the upper row.
 
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If you need more switches buy two! They made them chainable just for you! :)

When I first saw they are chainable, I was very excited as I would be happy to replace my RJM GT22 with A Fractal product but looking deeper in the picture, I don’t see a way to chain these other than one next to each other which will ends up as a train of switches….
Way too long floorboard, not the most usable I must say.

I purchased the GT22 because of the amount of switches, screens and functionality, I also use its 4 x external switches.
The FC looks like can cover all I need, beside the amount of switches, not enough of them.
I would be happy to have an "expending" unit that can be placed in the back or the front of the FC12 to allow 6 more buttons, although its 18 (mot 22), I would still prefer it.
 
Honestly, the best form factor I've experienced is the Gordius Big Little Giant.

View attachment 44775

The combination of staggered buttons and putting some on an angle really helps with not hitting the wrong button.

Edit:

Apparently the button layout is mapped to the black and white keys of a keyboard, which is weedy there is some unused "space" on the upper row.

I hate that thing. Different strokes, I guess.

Danny W.
 
What choo talking bout Willis....

An interesting note: all the pro rigs I've helped with have had their MFCs set up so only the first and occasionally the second row of buttons are active during a performance. The rest of the buttons are either duplicates in the event of a misstep or disabled.

I only use the bottom buttons on the AX8 , with duplicates on the top ( scenes mode ) for the same reason.
 
I looked a the gordious, and almost bought the smallest one with buttons. I bought a Roland FC-300 instead, because it was on sale, and I needed something ASAP. Unfortunately, I absolutely hated it. I really wish I could have held out longer for the Gordious.
 
I just like all the switches to face in the same direction. I never had a problem using the MFC, other than it's too big and heavy.

Danny W.
I thought it was genius! I never felt like I was stepping over the first row of buttons. In the past I bought a Ground Control Pro after years of using the original Ground Control pedal because I wanted more buttons. I really didn't enjoy 3 rows... And the GCP became my backup as soon as I found a Ground Link pedal (a sort of "extension" for the GC) - both had two rows of buttons.

But even then, I occasionally hit a button on the first row when trying to use one behind it.

I was very skeptical about the MFC before I got it, but the stair step surface helps a bit... And I structure my button layout so I almost never need to use anything past the 2nd row while playing. Only between songs.

The Gordius was the only controller where I was very comfortable that I was not going to accidentally misfire a button.

The artist renderings of the FC controllers show the first row on a slant similar to the Gordius, although way less of an aggressive angle.

I'm looking forward to getting my hands on 1 or 2 of them soon!

Anyway... Just goes to show that different people have different takes on the same gear!
 
An interesting note: all the pro rigs I've helped with have had their MFCs set up so only the first and occasionally the second row of buttons are active during a performance. The rest of the buttons are either duplicates in the event of a misstep or disabled.

On the other hand there are so many pros and world famous pro players who use 3 or 4 rows on their midi FC's - Gilmour and the Edge comes to mind - or pros who use 3 rows of stomp boxes if they rock a traditional pedalboard.
I guess it's different strokes for different folks - including among the pros !!

I've always preferred a 3 (or 4) row board that is 6-9 switches wide, so I wouldn't have to do-si-do to get from one end of it to the other. and also keeps the size and weight of my board flight case down a bit which is getting more and more important.
 
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This shouldn't turn into an argument, you don't know at this point what you can do with the existing 6/12 footprint. I mean (for example) if you've got 6 scenes across the top with 6 stomps below that change with each of the 6 scenes, and then hold down button #1 and have access to 12 presets? holy crap!

Jeez! As already said couple times now (you might want to check earlier message), what we can do with the new FC is completely irrelevant to how many switches I want/need at any given time without going into menu, hold, or other manipulation to have more actions from physical switches.

At minimum I want 4 scenes, 8 Stomps (generally 4 Pre-FX and 4 Post-FX), so it's already 12, then you add Boost, Tap, as well as 2 IA to control my Amps (4 would be better) and then a way to change Preset Up/Down... and it's the minimum I want at any given time without having to hold anything, or change page, or do some heel hold tap dance, etc... So it's not rocket-science to do the math to figure out neither 6 or 12 would be enough. And then if I do use multiple FC, the form factor by itself will be a large waste of space and not a good footprint (for instance in comparison to the Mastermind GT22 which is the closest thing of what I want in a Fractal FC)

So what we can do with the new FC6/12 is completely irrelevant here.
 
On the other hand there are so many pros and world famous pro players who use 3 or 4 rows on their midi FC's - Gilmour and the Edge comes to mind - or pros who use 3 rows of stomp boxes if they rock a traditional pedalboard.
I guess it's different strokes for different folks - including among the pros !!

I've always preferred a 3 (or 4) row board that is 6-9 switches wide, so I wouldn't have to do-si-do to get from one end of it to the other. and also keeps the size and weight of my board flight case down a bit which is getting more and more important.

I saw many people using the MasterMind GT with the Fractal...

Exactly, different strokes for different folks. I'm not saying the FC6 or FC12 don't have their place. It's not to replace them, but to have more options for everyone to pick the appropriate form factor that will fit their needs. Personally, FC6 or FC12, I'm not gonna consider them, regardless how great their features will be. The form factor would not work for me. If I would use two FC12, I would either have them side by side, and it would be way too long, or I would stack them, and the second screen would be useless and would make it too deep then.
 
ok you don't want to rethink your workflow to use an FC6/12 - continue your campaign. i'm simply stating in the end it "may" be an easier way.

Here's a thought; since the FC controllers can be chained together to facilitate a larger rig (meaning more available switches) it would be nice to have an FC expansion controller - i.e w/o a main display (not w/o scribble strips though) so you could simply add more footswitches. They wouldn't have to sit side by side but rather place the expander in front of the main unit effectively giving you an MFC sized controller

Edit: reading your comment above^^^ you probably should be considering a mastermind
 
At this point, the Mastermind GT22 is indeed what is the closest, but as mentioned in my initial post for this thread, I would personally prefer to have a FC by Fractal, mainly to have the benefit of all new integration from the new protocol... And again, I fully understand the FC6/12 could be great for many people, I'm not arguing that, and as said it's not even about the controller being "smarter" or not, it's really about form factor.

But I agree... I'd love to see an "FC Expansion" without the main screen... in that case, if could just come in front of the FC12 and then have a 4 x 6... and for people that want more they could have a FC6+FC12 and then add the expansions in front and it would be 4x 9 (I personally don't need that much). But since it could be up to 4 controllers, why not.

If there would be a "Expansion" model without main screen (but still with scribble), then I think it would already better and I could probably find a way to work around. But two FC12 side by side, it's just too much of a train... and stacked it would be a little bit too deep with the second screen that would be useless.

So, I agree on you on the Expansion idea, that would be nice.
 
Please, don't pay attention to the bad photoshop skills (I just did that quickly to explain what I meant in previous messages), but here's how I could imagine a FC12 with a FC12EX (Expansion), where we could just "slide" one into each other, but some screws and make it "one".

THAT... would probably already work way better for me.

Fractal FC12EX.jpg
 
Please, don't pay attention to the bad photoshop skills (I just did that quickly to explain what I meant in previous messages), but here's how I could imagine a FC12 with a FC12EX (Expansion), where we could just "slide" one into each other, but some screws and make it "one".

THAT... would probably already work way better for me.

View attachment 44843


747.jpg


That's the only configuration I would be happy to swap my RJM GT22 for.
 
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