Hello everyone,
Since last summer I am the proud owner of a Roland RD300GX, and am really loving it. Recently, however, I have started playing with a band and have come to the conclusion that I need some kind of foot switch. The reason being that, while both my hands are busy playing, I can not simply tap the button to select the next Setup. It's frustrating, since it's only 5cm away from my hands, but if I try to hit it really fast while playing it sounds messy, so unacceptable when playing live.
So, I need a simple footswitch. All it has to do is switch to the next/previous setup - only two buttons. I have done some research online and found out that this can be done by using MIDI commands (which my keyboard supports).
Problem: all pedals/boxes that I have found tend to be A) ridiculously expensive and B) have >9000 buttons which I really do not need.
So I figured I'd make my own, shouldn't be too difficult, right? Everything I've found online is really complex, too, with lots of buttons and sliders and stuff, or it needs a computer to work. I just need two buttons...
It doesn't even have to be able to receive messages.
My question basically is: has anyone here ever built anything MIDI-related themselves? Any and all experience on this topic would be greatly appreciated. (Am I wrong in thinking I'd only need some PIC capable of sending MIDI messages, a MIDI connector and a switch?)
Thanks a lot,
Wouther
P.S. ...unless of course, there is any other way of doing this. Any affordable ready-to-use pedals on the market?
P.P.S. Sorry if this has been asked before. I have searched this forum but found nothing of use, mostly people discussing MIDI inbetween keyboards.
Since last summer I am the proud owner of a Roland RD300GX, and am really loving it. Recently, however, I have started playing with a band and have come to the conclusion that I need some kind of foot switch. The reason being that, while both my hands are busy playing, I can not simply tap the button to select the next Setup. It's frustrating, since it's only 5cm away from my hands, but if I try to hit it really fast while playing it sounds messy, so unacceptable when playing live.
So, I need a simple footswitch. All it has to do is switch to the next/previous setup - only two buttons. I have done some research online and found out that this can be done by using MIDI commands (which my keyboard supports).
Problem: all pedals/boxes that I have found tend to be A) ridiculously expensive and B) have >9000 buttons which I really do not need.
So I figured I'd make my own, shouldn't be too difficult, right? Everything I've found online is really complex, too, with lots of buttons and sliders and stuff, or it needs a computer to work. I just need two buttons...
My question basically is: has anyone here ever built anything MIDI-related themselves? Any and all experience on this topic would be greatly appreciated. (Am I wrong in thinking I'd only need some PIC capable of sending MIDI messages, a MIDI connector and a switch?)
Thanks a lot,
Wouther
P.S. ...unless of course, there is any other way of doing this. Any affordable ready-to-use pedals on the market?
P.P.S. Sorry if this has been asked before. I have searched this forum but found nothing of use, mostly people discussing MIDI inbetween keyboards.