I’ve build an Ardruino based midi pedal to use with my hx fx. First time I’ve done anything like this and I’m pretty pleased with it.
I’ll put some gut shots in the next post.
If you want to you can read what it does below . If it’s too much to read I’ve done a 5 min overview video which I’ll post as well.
why?
my hx fx has enough power but not enough foot switches. I’m too much of a tight arse to pay for a full fat helix and have a load of functionality I don’t need.
what?
6 foot switches in 2 rows of 3.
3 rotary encoders with push buttons.
swiches 1 to 5 all do the same. They send 3 midi command messages. I have it set up so that they control the gain, filter and level of a rat pedal so in effect it’s like having 5 more scenes.
but it gets better. Each fs has 2 modes: blue and red so actually I have 10 scenes so have loads of control over my dirt.
it’s set up to have clean, slight crunch, more crunch which is 4 of the pedals then for each one if I hit the red mode, I get more gain and volume so it’s effectively 4 channels each with a boost.
the 6th pedal is not finished,. I need to write some code for it.
basically it has 3 modes and will control a volume block so I can have 3 overall volume setings no matter which of the other switches is engaged.
that’s about it. It’s taken a while and I’m sure I could do it better if I did it again but I’m feeling pretty pleased with myself about it.
video and pics to follow…
Comments
I’ll upload them to umgur and embed them next time I’m at my pc.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/photos/share/CFq3sexrayKJ7PhKcIkm2WRPbNJBYxEhDSD1WNMhrpc
If you ever do build one and want any pointers to get you going then give me a shout.
There are not enough inputs and outputs on the Arduino board for what I wanted so this is a way or adding more.
That gave me an extra 16 ins and 16 outs.
It's a few more than I need but it gives me room for future tweaking.
I wanted to build a desktop midi controller, so i could control the 'amp' drive, mids etc.
But i found these and it probally works out cheaper? Than buying all the parts plus leading to program an Ardruino would probably drive me mad!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225097558928?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=sfWcDrTORU-&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=Wrf2L5KNTgK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225034217198?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=sfWcDrTORU-&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=Wrf2L5KNTgK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
This was my first Arduino project and actually any kind of electronic project in the last 40 years
It's actually pretty easy using the Arduino, bit then again I used to be a software developer so maybe have an advantage.
There are loads of guys out there building stuff with no software or electronics experience.
All the info you need is out there and it's not difficult if you take it slowly and are prepared for a learning curve.