Simple 2 or 3 Button Midi Controller. Which one?

Paulg2uk

Paulg2uk

Power User
Hi guys,

I hope you are all well. I decided to mount my FM9 to one board after one or two FM9 rig pics that were posted recently. I originally had it mounted separately before and was using my FC12 board to control everything. For small gig and rehearsals though it makes more sense to just use one board for everything. One less trip to the car lol.

I'd usually use a Mosky footswitch and just use stand in switches to toggle preset up and down and the tuner but I'm already using pedal jack 1 and 2 on the FM9 for my wah and vol pedals. That leaves pedal jack 3 but it doesn't support dual foot switches unfortunately so I can't use that. I could use one single Mosky footswitch and use preset up on a tap and hold on preset down.

The only other solution that would work is to use a small midi controller, but which one do you guys recommend? I've tried to search though the forum but I've read mixed reviews on some of them.

I'm thinking either Disaster Area or One Control?

What do you guys think?

Many thanks

Paul
 
Paulg2uk said:
Thanks Tony, I'd prefer a 2 or 3 button midi controller though. Just so it fits on my board, I've got just enough space left.
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I wasn't meaning the 5jr for you, just that the Voes products I've had are good and reliable and I'd got it in my head the MX5 was a smaller unit - Doh, 12 hour shift brain fade
 
Xsonic Airstep. technically 5 buttons, but very small footprint and dead easy to program via phone/ipad. Also has other functionality like relay switches and expression inputs.
 
RoshRoslin said:
Xsonic Airstep. technically 5 buttons, but very small footprint and dead easy to program via phone/ipad. Also has other functionality like relay switches and expression inputs.
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Thanks Rosh, I did check out the Airstep but it's still too big to fit on my board unfortunately. I'll probably end up with the either the Morningstar or the Disaster Area Midi Baby 3. There's one going on Reverb over here in the UK which is the cheapest of the two. I've made an offer to the seller so fingers crossed it gets accepted.
 
Morningstar MC3.
Look for one used on Reverb. They're super versatile little pedals and really easy to program.
 
Morningstar stuff is great. They’ve been the easiest to program. That said, I’ve also used some Disaster Area controllers and, though they’re a little more involved to program, they’re also great, but have physically smaller options and are more readily available.
 
Thanks for the recommendation everyone I really appreciate it! I managed to get the Diastaer Area Midi Baby 3 on reverb yesterday for a good price.

I'll see how I get on with it. If it ends up being too complicated to program I'll sell it and get the Morningstar. There's an MC3 on reverb at the moment but its going for £170 so I thought it was best to try the cheaper option first.
 
Paulg2uk said:
Thanks for the recommendation everyone I really appreciate it! I managed to get the Diastaer Area Midi Baby 3 on reverb yesterday for a good price.

I'll see how I get on with it. If it ends up being too complicated to program I'll sell it and get the Morningstar. There's an MC3 on reverb at the moment but its going for £170 so I thought it was best to try the cheaper option first.
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Hi Paul,
I’d be interested to hear your experiences of the disaster area pedal with the FM9.
I might go down this 3-button route too if it works out well.
Thanks!
 
Crosstown said:
Hi Paul,
I’d be interested to hear your experiences of the disaster area pedal with the FM9.
I might go down this 3-button route too if it works out well.
Thanks!
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I'm actually thinking of canceling my order for the Disaster Area now and going with the MC3. It looks like the better unit for me personally. Probably a bit overkill for what I want for but I don't care lol.

I've messaged the seller on Reverb to see if it's not too late to cancel if it is I'll give the Disaster area a go before I sell it again and let you know how I get on. I might end up liking it you never know.

Just found an MC3 on ebay as well so I'm tempted to get one now. Bought a Morningstar midi cable yesterday as well!
 
Morningstar MC-3 on the way! I decided to cancel the Disaster Area and get a refund sorry!

Will probably have to get a Pedal Power 2 now as well to power the MC3 and also for the FM9. I'm only using a Temple Audio Powercon Module at the moment for just the FM9.
 
I love the Morningstar stuff. I've had an MC6 mk1, MC6 mk2, and currently have an MC8 and an ML5. I haven't tried any of them with the Fractal gear though.

I also currently have a Disaster Area MIDI Baby 3 and an XSonic Airstep. Again I haven't tried any of them with the Fractal stuff as I just haven't had the need. The FM9 land a couple expression pedals, and the FM9/FC6 combo before it, had enough control for me.

With all that said I think if I was going to add any of them it would be the MB3 due to the footprint. The MC3 would also be attractive because Morningstar is great. I think you made a solid choice in the first place and a solid choice if you were going to change your mind lol.

Edit: However, for what you want to do (just preset up/down and tuner), I do think you're likely adding a layer of board complexity that may be overkill. The FM9 should have enough onboard control to handle it with possibly some minor compromise depending on your layouts. Also a single switch like half of the Mosky you mentioned (I have two of those too) would work for either preset up/down or tuner and require even less compromise.

If your expression pedals are just volume and wah, consider using a real volume pedal (the EVs can be either) or maybe a controller that turns an expression pedal into a MIDI controller. I'm sure I've seen those.
 
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Deadpool_25 said:
I love the Morningstar stuff. I've had an MC6 mk1, MC6 mk2, and currently have an MC8 and an ML5. I haven't tried any of them with the Fractal gear though.

I also currently have a Disaster Area MIDI Baby 3 and an XSonic Airstep. Again I haven't tried any of them with the Fractal stuff as I just haven't had the need. The FM9 land a couple expression pedals, and the FM9/FC6 combo before it, had enough control for me.

With all that said I think if I was going to add any of them it would be the MB3 due to the footprint. The MC3 would also be attractive because Morningstar is great. I think you made a solid choice in the first place and a solid choice if you were going to change your mind lol.
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Thanks for the feedback appreciate it! I think it was the IOS editor and the fancy LCD that made me change my mind lol I'll give it a go when it turns up. I probably don't need it either and could probably manage without it, but I don't care lol.

There's unfortunately a postal strike over here in the UK towards the end of the week but I'm hoping it turns up before that.

Excited to get the midi cable too! They fit through the holes on the Temple Board which I thought was brilliant lol.
 
Paulg2uk said:
Thanks for the feedback appreciate it! I think it was the IOS editor and the fancy LCD that made me change my mind lol I'll give it a go when it turns up. I probably don't need it either and could probably manage without it, but I don't care lol.

There's unfortunately a postal strike over here in the UK towards the end of the week but I'm hoping it turns up before that.

Excited to get the midi cable too! They fit through the holes on the Temple Board which I thought was brilliant lol.
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Cool cool. I edited my above post with a couple more thoughts but sounds like you're having fun so carry on. 🙂👍
 
Deadpool_25 said:
Cool cool. I edited my above post with a couple more thoughts but sounds like you're having fun so carry on. 🙂
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Good point on the exp pedal thing. I am using one Mosky footswitch as the moment to handle preset up and down. It works and there's no issues at all and can easily just use a hold function for one of the FM9's foot switches.

As we all know in the heat of battle especially with my band song changes are pretty quick and I have to make sure I change my guitar if need be, tune up, select the new preset etc. This can happen pretty quickly as we all know so having access to it without thinking too much is always good for me. I tend to forget about hold functions to be honest my memory isn't what it used to be lol. I always 2nd guess myself and think did I put that on that switch or the other switch. I should probably use that switch reveal option on the FM9 too.
 
Paulg2uk said:
Will probably have to get a Pedal Power 2 now as well to power the MC3 and also for the FM9. I'm only using a Temple Audio Powercon Module at the moment for just the FM9.
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I use one under my FM9.

Temple Audio power to drive the PP2, then power the FM9 from the "courtesy" outlet on the PP2. And then I power my AudioFront Expression IO from a DC jack on the PP2.
 
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