Nektar Pacer as a new foot controller option?

lqdsnddist

Axe-Master
Has anyone gotten their hands on the Nektar Pacer midi foot controller yet ?? I just ordered one (Little under $200 with Ebay's 15% off coupon right now) and am curious how it will work.

Looks like pretty good spec for the money, with 10 switches with RGB color indicator, the ability to have various configurations saved, and its even got some preset banks listed for the Axe II, so I'm guessing this could perhaps works well for the III as well, plus maybe serve as a cool option for controlling the DAW software etc as it can USB to the computer too.

Decent price and looks like it should be a bit easier to program than a Berhinger for just slightly more cost. It wasn't on my radar til today so haven't really heard anything good or bad, but I can at least let you guys know after July 6th when mine is supposed to arrive LOL

http://www.nektartech.com/pacer-midi-daw-footswitch-controller.html
 
Finally got my Pacer. Pretty solid feeling unit. Mine isn't going to really be gigged, but seems road worthy.

I haven't really gotten through the process of mapping everything in the III, but the Pacer seemingly allows the ability to send every possible PC, CC, etc one might need, even strings of commands per switch. It has 24 editable banks where you can map each button, and also do things like select switch behavior, the color LED, how bright the LED's are etc. My plan is to set it up essentially to have a present up/down button, and then switches for each scene. I can then have another bank which would be for turning blocks on/off, one for different amp channels etc, and while all that is well and good, I honestly find myself just using scenes 99% of the time these days. Just easier to press a button and have everything happen instead of pressing multiple switches for me lol.

The Pacer then has two other non-editable modes for DAW control and MMC transport control. These switches have their own LED indicators above each switch and turn on when you enter that mode. As I said, they can't be edited on the controller, but I think I can map their settings in the III, so that I can have the MMC transport controls control the respective parameters in the Axe looper block, or so is my hope. Then I'll have a switch which can bring up the looper controls, and that seems practical as I'd like to have a means to recall those when I want them.

Overall the unit probably isn't too different than the likes of Behringer FC1010, but, with more options for LED color mapping, brightness, ability to attach external foot switches and exp pedals etc. I think the overall way of working with it will be pretty similar. Having been a MFC user for so long I forgot what its like to go and program a midi controller. Fair bit of work, but once you get it set up should do the job.

I do like the colored LED options per switch though. That to me is easily worth an extra $50 over the Behringer. What I plan to do with them is color code my amp channels, so green is clean, orange is crunch, red is lead etc. The LED's can have bi-directional communication with a DAW, but I don't think it would work with the III sadly. Would be awesome if they could reflect switch/IA status upon preset changes, but I think I'll have to wait for the $700 FC12 to do that!

Still though, for the price, and simply having a hands free way of changing presets, scenes etc, I'm pretty happy with the purchase and the price paid. I do think I'll get the FC when it comes out of course, but having this Pacer will make it a bit easier to keep waiting, so if I don't see a FC til August or November or whenever I'm okay lol.
 
It’s not really an issue of an axe patch, it comes down to a bunch of variables with making sure the Pacer is sending on the correct midi channel, and that the cc or pc etc it’s sending is set in the Axe to have the intended result. Luckily the axe allows for pretty easy remapping of things like block bypass etc, but scenes are a little more tricky where it’s a specific value to change a scene, so you need to send the CC number on the right channel and then it needs to send the right value number, and you need this set for each foot switch, with different value numbers.

Axe manual does a pretty good job with how to set this up, page 46 I think
 
That looks cool. I wonder if it's the next FCB1010? It looks like you can assign graphics to the footswitches, too. Nice score!
 
That looks cool. I wonder if it's the next FCB1010? It looks like you can assign graphics to the footswitches, too. Nice score!

There are 3 rows of LED's on each switch, one row is just a colored LED bar, you can adjust the brightness/dim of on/off as well as the color of the LED. There are two other rows of LED's but these are hardwired to specific functions such as play, rec, etc, and when your in the transport control page they light up, and when you press the play button it lights up green etc. Not configurable in that mode. I think it would work good for things like looper control though as it seems natural to have the play, record, loop etc LED indicators.

In terms of total flexibility though its basically just an RGB LED for each switch. Goes a step better than just on/off, or a fixed color, but certainly not the same as "scribble strips" or other FC options. For the money though, just under $200 on sale, not bad flexibity. As I said previously, its kind of cool being able to do things like have a different color for each amp channel, or just pick colors you like for scenes, such as having a row of blue buttons because you like the color blue, or have it set up so that when you in a mode to turn effects on/off they can have different colors etc. Doesn't reinvent the wheel, but you can do a bit more with it than just having a red light on/off etc
 
It’s not really an issue of an axe patch, it comes down to a bunch of variables with making sure the Pacer is sending on the correct midi channel, and that the cc or pc etc it’s sending is set in the Axe to have the intended result. Luckily the axe allows for pretty easy remapping of things like block bypass etc, but scenes are a little more tricky where it’s a specific value to change a scene, so you need to send the CC number on the right channel and then it needs to send the right value number, and you need this set for each foot switch, with different value numbers.

Axe manual does a pretty good job with how to set this up, page 46 I think

Thanks - a case of RTFM. Pacer does have two Ax2 presets - one for turning blocks on/of and the others for scenes. Each has DAW transport controls. And there is also a looper preset.
 
The preset layout doesn’t really work well imo, becasue it’s set up to emulate the hard coded mfc101 style control where each switch had a given effect bypass, like chorus, delay etc

If you download the documentation from the website you can see what each switch does, such as the switch 1 is chorus on/off etc, which is great if you like that arrangement but you might want delay 1st etc

The III is nice in that you can easily assign any cc for each block, so you can figure out what cc the Pacer is sending and then just change the III to correspond, or you can change the cc numbers in the Pacer, two ways to accomplish the same thing really.

Just takes a bit of setup, but then each switch will control the feature you want.

You can also get a bit fancier it looks like and have a switch not just perform one task but also be able to toggle through different channels since it can send multiple steps, up to 6 per press, which gets complicated but could yield some cool effects
 
Got it. I've been using Midi keyboards since 1985 and still have problems programming midi.

My AXEIII is sort of in a slightly unreachable place for editing on the device. Hopefully Axe-edit will be out of beta "soon."
 
Yeah it’s a PITA to edit for sure, lots of scrolling though the Axe settings, and then lots of turning the edit dial, foot switch combinations on the Pacer, repeat and repeat.

Pacer sadly doesn’t have an editor software to make the process faster, but the Pacer at least has a data knob which makes things a bit easier.

Fingers crossed Axe edit will have all the settings sooner or later, along with a Pacer editor
 
I've been working with Justin at Nektar to get the Pacer happening with the Axe-FX III. He's sent me a sysex file that has turned the Pacer into something workable in lieu of Fractal's own FC's becoming available. I requested and now have working the following: Switches 1-5 are Scene selectors; Switches C+D scroll up/down through presets 1-128 (I must try and extend that range if possible) and the other switches are assignable. At the moment I've got Switch 6 acting as a Tuner on/off which doubles as a kill switch. It's just a matter of assigning corresponding CC#'s to the switch and AFXIII parameters (MIDI/Remote menu in SETUP).

The Pacer is a good, solid but fairly basic controller. The cool thing is its preset selection which includes remote control for my favourite DAW - Logic. I'll make a quick demo video shortly showing its operation with the Axe-FX III.
 
The nectar pacer is very good and flexible, but urgently needs an editor so it would be clearer and you would reach your goal faster with your settings.
 
I've been working with Justin at Nektar to get the Pacer happening with the Axe-FX III. He's sent me a sysex file that has turned the Pacer into something workable in lieu of Fractal's own FC's becoming available. I requested and now have working the following: Switches 1-5 are Scene selectors; Switches C+D scroll up/down through presets 1-128 (I must try and extend that range if possible) and the other switches are assignable. At the moment I've got Switch 6 acting as a Tuner on/off which doubles as a kill switch. It's just a matter of assigning corresponding CC#'s to the switch and AFXIII parameters (MIDI/Remote menu in SETUP).

The Pacer is a good, solid but fairly basic controller. The cool thing is its preset selection which includes remote control for my favourite DAW - Logic. I'll make a quick demo video shortly showing its operation with the Axe-FX III.

Hey Burgs, did you make that video? I just got one of these and have no clue how to set it up. I've never used anything midi at all before.
 
I have a Pacer and Justin from Nektar made me a custom SYX file for the Axe 3. Downloading it to the Pacer and mapping the Axe 3 allows certain buttons to change: presets/banks/scenes/tuner/tap tempo

The tap tempo and scenes navigation is a little wonky, but it gets the job done.

I can share the file with anyone if you’d like and give you the instructions I was given to download the file onto the Pacer.
 
I have a Pacer and Justin from Nektar made me a custom SYX file for the Axe 3. Downloading it to the Pacer and mapping the Axe 3 allows certain buttons to change: presets/banks/scenes/tuner/tap tempo

The tap tempo and scenes navigation is a little wonky, but it gets the job done.

I can share the file with anyone if you’d like and give you the instructions I was given to download the file onto the Pacer.

Yes, please! I programmed my pacer to do scene changes and a few effects on/off, but I'd love to see what Justin did with it.
 
I have a Pacer and Justin from Nektar made me a custom SYX file for the Axe 3. Downloading it to the Pacer and mapping the Axe 3 allows certain buttons to change: presets/banks/scenes/tuner/tap tempo

The tap tempo and scenes navigation is a little wonky, but it gets the job done.

I can share the file with anyone if you’d like and give you the instructions I was given to download the file onto the Pacer.


Any chance of this? Probably getting an FC but be mighty handy in the meantime as I have a Pacer - could map it myself I guess but this shortcut would be nice!
 
Thought I’d update this post as I found it while researching the Nektar Pacer. I’m a complete midi noob and it took me around 30 mins to setup

I have preset up and down and then the 8 scenes setup on mine. I don’t need anything more snazzy than that as I do a preset per song approach

Overall, I’m impressed with it - it’s very well built and easy to use.
 
Glad to hear this unit is still going strong. I since moved to a FC, but the Pacer is some great bang for the buck, like a more versatile and easier to program Behringer FB1010 for just a few bucks more.

FC’s are pretty hard to beat though....
 
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