Midi footswitch

[Marbles]

Hey Guys,

Been out of it for a while, but in need for some advice :)

Short introduction: For a new project, I'm uding Ableton. I have used an APC40 normally to trigger samples, but it's a bit too bulky.

So.. I bought an AKAI Apckey25 to be more mobile and have some keys for drones etc. The problem is:

It doesnt have have a port for a footswitch. The APC40 does, and I have used this before with a simple momentary footswith to map a midi signal. I have used this to start and stop recording.


Now in my compact setup, I miss this option. I'm out of my comfort zone, but I guess it should be possible to connect a switch to my computer somehow that sends a signal which I can map in ableton to trigger this.

The mapping part is easy, but I'm confused about the signal.

I'm going to guess this would have to be trough USB. Does the above make any sense to anyone? And does anyone know how to go about this?

Thanks in advance!

[heuermh]

Take a look at this thread

https://forum.loopyapp.com/discussion/419/homemade-teensyduino-pedal-works-well-with-loopy

You can either run it as an USB keyboard, where button presses send keystrokes, or as USB MIDI, where button presses send CC or key on/off messages.

I can help you adapt the code examples linked there to whatever hardware configuration you're interested in building.

[GameOver]

Check youtube for ideas. Some just rip all the keys off a qwerty keyboard except the space bar then you can trigger with your foot. Or if you are feeling brave rip the keyboard apart and attach a switch to the matrix. Doesnt really matter what it outputs as you can map it in ableton easy enough

[Marbles]

Oh that looks exactly what I need.. Thanks a lot.
Now the question I need to ask is: Would using this for just 1 CC message be a waste of the oppurtunities..

But I don't know anything about code. Help would be hugely appreciated! But is it doable for a complete noob? I wouldn't want you to spend too much time. But it would be just an on/off message (maybe 2 or 3) and that's it.

@gameover, I'm affraid that would be adding a lot of confusing traces and connections. somewhat too advernturous perhaps ;)