When I was playing with my Boss RC500 looper some time in early 2023, I kind of ran out of switches ?. I wanted to do something complex (for me, the looper did not mind), change memory locations on the fly, change tempos etc. Foolish, I know, but I had external switch – FS3X by Digitech, but that did not work. Spoiler alert: not compatible. One thing led to another (read: one google search lead to another) and I ended up thinking about using MIDI for controlling my RC500.
How hard could it be to make my own MIDI pedal? Turns out, not so hard I suppose, just many things to figure out ?. Anyway, I’ll track the progress here and see where this gets me to.
Current status 50% complete:
I’ll be using Raspberry Pi Pico for my design, it is easy to use and should be very approachable for anyone wanting to give this a try. I used it before too, so no-brainer. Here’s what I’ve done so far:
- The Beginning – here I introduce MIDI and cover controlling RC-500 and Digitech Whammy
- PICO MIDI – Switch and LED
- PICO MIDI – Expression Pedal
- PICO MIDI – External Switches
- PICO MIDI – Neopixel
- PICO MIDI – External Power Supply
- Assembling the Pedal
- More software
- Etc…. stay tuned
I’ll keep this page up-to-date as I go along, check it out from time to time. Or better yet, subscribe so you get email when there are updates.