Logic Pro 9 Soft step midi foot controller

[Mike w]

Anyone using this foot controller. I can't seem to get logic to react to the presets from the company. I know that logic is receiving midi messages from it though. Any ideas?

 

[Tangra]

What do you like to control in Logic? I do not own this controller but can assist you if you give us more info. For example if you want to control the Logic transport functions and use MMC you have to go to the Logic Project Settings > Synchronization>Midi and tick the "Listen to MMC Input" at the bottom.

 

[Peter Ostry]

Anyone using this foot controller. I can't seem to get logic to react to the presets from the company. I know that logic is receiving midi messages from it though. Any ideas?

I know the Softstep controller pretty well, I was one of those people who ordered it instantly as it got announced.

I can't seem to get logic to react to the presets from the company.

Don't rely on the presets. The Softstep is a generic controller and you should learn to understand its function first because the manufacturer does no explain it properly for beginners.

The plastic pads have pressure-sensitive corners, each corner sends continuous Control Changes. The middle areas of the pads are insensitive, they don't send anything. The Softstep software is a Max application. Everything it does is mathematical wizardry based on the MIDI messages coming from the pad corners.

Some examples:

"Foot on" means that you pressed any of the 4 corners of a single pad. Stepping on pad 1 sends CC 44, 45, 46 and 47, depending on the corners you press. You get values from 0 up to approximately 120 from each corner. If you want to extract "Foot on" yourself in the Logic environment as a single value without repetitions, you have a lot of work. If you use the Controller Assignments (which I haven't tried) remember that you don't get just one single CC but one with any value that comes from the pressure of your foot. You may not want that.

"Rotate" is a slightly misleading term because the controller does not see that you rotate your foot. When you press the 4 corners from left down to left up, right up and right down, the software tries to calculate an ascending data stream from the relations of the values coming from the 4 corners.

"Continuous" means that the CC values go higher with the amount of pressure you apply to pad corners. Those values are not directly usable in Logic because when you take the foot away, all values go back to zero. The software gives you several possibilities to work with these continuous messages.

Any ideas?

Three ideas:

1. Use the Softstep software and program it to your needs.

or

2. Program a Logic Environment patch that extracts single CCs without values from all pad corners including the "Nav" pads and use the Softstep as a controller with 44 "buttons". But be aware that you won't be able to use all corners because this way you have no "pad lockout". The pads are too small and don't have enough space between them. To step on each individual corner you need either a strong toe, a spike at the tip of your shoe or you wear high-heels.

or

3. If you want to do everything yourself, install Midi Monitor, observe the messages coming from the controller and start programming in the Logic Environment or in another application.

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I am not happy with the software and right now I work on my own software in Max. Keith MyMillen provides a developer toolset and a special firmware for that.