Best/Cheap Midi Foot Controller for the III

Tplesko

Inspired
Hi all, I just ordered my III (long time II and AX8 user) but long ago sold my MFC and a spare Behringer FCB1010. Given the FC6 and 12 are not due to begin shipping until October (Fractal got back with me with this timeframe last week - it's verified and directly from them) I want to get playing live with the III and need suggestions on the best, but cheap, midi foot controller. I wasn't a huge fan of the Behringer (I used with a TC Gmajor back in the day) but it worked as long you bought the add-in chips, and I will not use the foot pedal on it. So I am interested in other $150 options if they exist.

Any other suggestions knowing I will definitely get a FC12 when they come out? I just need something for a few months,

Thanks in advance!
 
I have the Morningstar FC6 MKII and with v3.1.1 and the new 1.13 for the III, all features are working. Its not far out of the range you mentioned. As info.

Lee
 
What problems did you have with the FCB1010? I use it and have an insane amount of control; presets, scenes, tuner, looper, individual effects; volume, wah... I can't think of anything I'd need for a gig that I can't easily accomplish with the FCB stock. I even have the UnO chip but it's sitting on my desk uninstalled because I realized I don't really even need it. I may install it someday just for the hell of it, but I don't need it yet. The ONLY think I can't accomplish is momentary latching - which I have no use for anyway.
 
What problems did you have with the FCB1010? I use it and have an insane amount of control; presets, scenes, tuner, looper, individual effects; volume, wah... I can't think of anything I'd need for a gig that I can't easily accomplish with the FCB stock. I even have the UnO chip but it's sitting on my desk uninstalled because I realized I don't really even need it. I may install it someday just for the hell of it, but I don't need it yet. The ONLY think I can't accomplish is momentary latching - which I have no use for anyway.
Hey Decreebass, Sounds like you have figured out the FCB1010. I'm just scratching the surface. Trying to figure out how to assign the foot pedals to the volume and wah blocks. I have looked all over for tutorials and specifics on how to assign midi channels to specific functionality of the FCB1010. Any resources you can recommend? I'm a bit of a neophyte when it comes to midi stuff and while I'm waiting for the FC12, I'm trying to configure the 1010 for live use. Any insights would be greatly appreciated
 
Hey Decreebass, Sounds like you have figured out the FCB1010. I'm just scratching the surface. Trying to figure out how to assign the foot pedals to the volume and wah blocks. I have looked all over for tutorials and specifics on how to assign midi channels to specific functionality of the FCB1010. Any resources you can recommend? I'm a bit of a neophyte when it comes to midi stuff and while I'm waiting for the FC12, I'm trying to configure the 1010 for live use. Any insights would be greatly appreciated
Sure thing. Let me update my rig and Axe Edit III and I'll see if I can't write up an easy tutorial :)
 
Hey Decreebass, Sounds like you have figured out the FCB1010. I'm just scratching the surface. Trying to figure out how to assign the foot pedals to the volume and wah blocks. I have looked all over for tutorials and specifics on how to assign midi channels to specific functionality of the FCB1010. Any resources you can recommend? I'm a bit of a neophyte when it comes to midi stuff and while I'm waiting for the FC12, I'm trying to configure the 1010 for live use. Any insights would be greatly appreciated

Okay; first, teach the Axe Fx what channel your expression pedal is on.

Setup > MIDI/Remote > External

It starts on External Control 1. Just hit "Enter" and it'll wait for you to move the pedal. It should then show a number. Mine's 7.

Then. Now, in your Volume or Wah block, Right Click in the Volume knob And choose "External 1" as source (top left box). You should be all set.

Now; to set up your expression pedals, if you want them on custom channels or to have custom values (I'm not sure what they default to):
1. Hold "Down" until you're in edit mode.
2. Tap "Up"
3. Pedals 8 and 9 correspond to the expression pedals. Make sure they're both on (push and hold 8 or 9 until the light comes on, or to turn them off, push and hold them until the light goes off)
4. Once the 8 is on (we'll just use 8 for the example, but it applies to 9 as well), tap it once - it should now be blinking.
5. Tap "Up" to confirm
6. Choose any number from 0-127 - This sets the channel
7. Choose any number from 0-127 - This sets the MINIMUM value
8. Again; 0-127 - this sets the MAXIMUM value.

For the Volume, for me, it's channel 27, minimum is 0, maximum is 127 (makes sense, right?)

Getting the Wah to work is a little more tricky; especially if you want it to auto engage when you toe down. But follow the same steps to teach the Axe what channel that pedal is on. You gotta mess with the settings (but again, here, right click on the "Control" knob and choose External 2 for source). There's an auto-engage setting, but I hardly ever use wah so I forget how I set it to make it work.

Hope this helps. Hit me up if this isn't clear. decreebass@gmail.com - we can even facetime or Skype or whatever if you need it. I'm on the East coast.
 
And yeah, the FCB is fantastic. I've even dropped it on pavement right before a gig and it still performs like a champ. It's the one part of my rig that I worry the least about.
 
A5E7CDB3-94C5-4CD9-9748-C59ADC356FE2.jpeg I just got my temporary rig (partially) up and running till the fc-12 comes out.

It's pretty ugly but Less ugly than my unfinished torn apart fcb1010 "rehousing" project...

The "g-minor" cycles up and down through scenes, the "Selah quartz" through presets. I have no visible feedback for which scene I'm on, so I will have to keep it simple...
These midi signals go to a bomebox (under the quartz) which connects via WIFI to another bomebox in my rack with a midi out to the axefx3.

All with stuff on hand to save for the fc12.
Playing with it a week from today so we'll see....
 
A huge should out to Jason aka Decreebass. He was brilliant in the ways he helped this neophyte set up the FCB1010. It now does everything I want for the AxeIII for live gigs. I'm posting his comments to me (we emailed back and forth) and two videos he made. For those who are trying to set up the FCB1010 with the AxeIII, here is what you need. (especially if you are not midi literate - I was not). Thanks again Jason! Your awesome.

Videos by Jason/Decree -
Effects:
Scenes (only using 1-4 for all 8 scenes, though you can always improvise and use pedal 5 for a scene as well):

Decreebass's commentary:
I prefer to ALWAYS have access to tap tempo and the tuner, so I have pedal 10 (or 0) set up as my tuner toggle and pedal 5 set up as my tap tempo. Then I have pedals 6 and 7 as presets (since I only use two presets and otherwise use scenes within them). Pedals 8 and 9 are individual effect toggles (in my case, reverb and delay). I have a whole bank dedicated to individual effects as well that I can switch to any time I'm in any preset and wish to turn on/off Overdrive 3, or Chorus 1, for instance. Finally, pedals 1-4 are my scenes. Pedal 1 switches between Scene 1 and Scene 5, Pedal 2 switches between Scene 2 and Scene 6, and so on. I have it so that the preset is saved in Scene 1 (you can save the preset defaulted to any scene; just go to that scene and save the preset).

Essentially, since you can't do exactly what you want (at least with default firmware; no idea if the other chips allow it) what I recommend doing (similar to what you want) would be to have Pedals 5 and 10 be your preset up and down. Then you can still have pedals 1-4 as scenes and 6-9 as your individual effects. I would not like this as I would not have access to the tuner and tap tempo, but you are free, of course to do as you please.

Actually.... You just made me realize that I could set it so that when my volume pedal is all the way down (or, toe up), it could engage the tuner... That could save me a pedal!!! Awesome! I'm gonna mess with that tonight or tomorrow :)

Anyway, the first steps are to assign the MIDI channels for preset up/down: Setup > MIDI/Remote > Other > Preset Increment/Decrement.

Keep track of all your MIDI assignments, too. I've attached a sample spreadsheet to do just that. This is what I use. So, if I ever want to know what MIDI channel my tap tempo is on, I can just look: Channel 2. So now if I want to program pedal 5 to tap tempo, I tap pedal 5 and hold "down" to go into edit mode and tap up once:
1) make sure pedal 6 is lighted up (and pedal 7 is not lighted up 8 and 9 either way are fine; I always leave them on)
2) tap it so it's blinking
3) Tap "up" (to confirm)
4) Hit 2 (setting the channel according to our chart)
5) Tap "up" (to confirm)
6) Tap 127 (value; really, I think any value over 64 will work for this)
7) Tap up to confirm
9) Exit edit mode

Setting Scenes:
Okay, as you can see, scenes are set to ch. 34 on my Axe Fx for me. So; to set Pedal 1 to Scene 1:
1) Tap pedal 1 and go into edit mode (hold down, then tap up)
2) Make sure pedal 6 is lighted up (not 7 - YET; and again, it doesn't matter about 8 or 9 unless you want to turn on/off the exp pedals)
3) Tap 6 so it's blinking
4) Confirm by tapping up
5) Set it to 34 (Scene change channel)
6) Tap up to confirm
7) Tap 0 (Scenes 1-8 are values 0-7 - confusing, I know, but that's MIDI)
8) Tap up to confirm
9) Exit edit mode

*NOTE: if you want to have pedal 1 toggle between scene 1 and 5 like I have, then merely repeat the above steps in edit mode with pedal 7: set it to Ch. 34 and value 4 (for scene 5).

Some final notes: You have to understand the FCB 1010 - you can send up to 5 program changes (pedals 1-5) and up to 2 CC changes (Pedals 6 & 7). We only use CCs for things like scenes and effects; program changes are for changing presets. So, if you go to edit a pedal in any given bank, make sure only the functions you're intending to use are lit up. That is, if you JUST need a CC to change scenes, then pedals 1-5 should be dark. Again, pedals 8 & 9 can stay on indefinitely unless you have a patch where you want the expression pedals off. There's an option in the Axe to "Ignore redundant CC" or something to that effect. What this basically does is allows one pedal to turn on/and off an effect, or toggle the tuner.

Example:
Channel 10 is my tuner. I can toggle it on and off with one switch. I tap pedal 10 and go into edit mode. I set one CC (pedal 6) channel 10 (tuner; see my chart) and to value 127. Then I set the other CC (pedal 7) to ch. 10 and value 00. So after this is set up and saved, when I tap Pedal 10, it turns ON the tuner (and mutes the signal). When I tap it again, it IGNORES the CC sending the 127 message (since that's REDUNDANT) and only listens to the CC sending the 00 message, thus turning the tuner off (and restoring the signal).

I know I didn't cover quite everything you asked. But hopefully this gets you started. Get your scenes set up and your preset up/dwn (INC/DEC) set up and let me know what else I can help you with. Use my chart and practice. Remember: First set the the CC channel in the Axe FX for the effect you wish to control. Then on the FCB1010, set the CC channel, then set the value: 00 for off, 127 for on. Set one of each to toggle an effect on and off.
 
Side note: I realize I use the term "channel" wrong. A CC is a 'control change' and the number would be the assignment, not the channel. But otherwise, yeah; if anyone has any questions or would like some personalized assistance, email me at decreebass@gmail.com and I'll work with ya.

Side note 2: I also realized there isn't a way to have the tuner come on with the volume pedal toe up. But I added that to the Wish List section. What I did in the meantime to free up a foot switch was to assign the tuner to the second expression pedal since I don't really use it for anything. You just assign Exp Pedal B to whatever you have your tuner assigned to. Toe up/down values can be 0/127 - so then when you push the pedal forward (toe down), the tuner engages.

I was having some issues because I was trying to make it so the tuner engaged at the toe up position, with the toe up value being 127 and the toe down value being 0 (opposite of a volume pedal) but this created a weird quirk where it had me input 4 values; then it basically had two full sweeps of the range with one sweep of the pedal's range. I still need to investigate this further and find out if this is a feature or bug or what (not a bug of the Axe, of course).

Anyway, this weekend I plan to make a video about using the Looper with the FCB1010 and some ideas for what to do with the extra pedals :)
 
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Is momentary option available per preset?
Not on the stock FCB1010 firmware. This is possibly the only reason I could see upgrading firmware chips; that, and being able to, at a glance, tell the on/off states of individual effects. As it is stock, basically the last footswitch you tapped is the only one lit up. It's not that difficult to keep track, but it'd be more convenient if there were more visual feedback. Doesn't bother me, though.
 
Hey Decreebass, Sounds like you have figured out the FCB1010. I'm just scratching the surface. Trying to figure out how to assign the foot pedals to the volume and wah blocks. I have looked all over for tutorials and specifics on how to assign midi channels to specific functionality of the FCB1010. Any resources you can recommend? I'm a bit of a neophyte when it comes to midi stuff and while I'm waiting for the FC12, I'm trying to configure the 1010 for live use. Any insights would be greatly appreciated
I recently got one, and used this editor:

http://host.mtnsys.com:81/faq-fcb/PCEditorBeta.htm

Makes it super simple to set up, and send to the FCB. I had a few presets, tap tempo, multiple scenes, and both pedals assigned within about 15 minutes. EDIT, for my Axe-FX II. I assume the III would be similar....
 
This thread has been really helpful- thank you to everyone who's contributed the step by step how to's on programming the FCB. I'm working with mine right now- I've followed @decreebass 's directions for setting up scene selections, and they make sense, but for some reason, the buttons I've programmed for scenes just aren't working- I've set up buttons 1-4 for scene selections, and 9 and 10 for preset up and down, and I think I get the logic of how each are set up, but for some reason, the buttons that aren't assigned (#5, 6, 7 and 8) are selecting presets, and the rest of the buttons that I've programmed aren't doing anything. I've got the scenes set to channel 34, and it's set that way in the Axe, and I know the midi is getting through because I can select presets- but anything that I've programmed just isn't responding. I kinda feel like this might be an issue with a global setting in either the FCB1010, or an incorrect setting the AF3, but has anyone here experienced something like this? Thanks in advance for any advice!
 
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