Keith McMillen Instruments SoftStepItem ID: SoftStepProgrammable MIDI Foot Controller with 10 Multi-function Keys, USB Ouput, and Navigation Pad 
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From Our Research Team:A Modern Foot Controller!Have you been wishing for a powerful and versatile foot controller for your rig? Your wish has been granted with the Keith McMillen Instruments SoftStep Foot Controller. SoftStep takes the traditional foot controller to a new level. Each key responds to pressure, direction, and expression, not just on and off commands. This innovative device is perfect for keyboard players, guitarists, DJs, singer, and anyone who needs to control hardware and software - or both. Get the Keith McMillen Instruments SoftStep Foot Controller and take control of your rig!Keith McMillen Instruments SoftStep Foot Controller at a Glance:
Multi-function keys for precise control The innovative Keith McMillen Instruments SoftStep Foot Controller brings foot controller technology to the 21st century. Each key is pressure sensitive for expressive control, and direction sensitive for control values. By varying the pressure and up/down/left/right foot movements you gain control that is more complex than previous foot controllers. Each key is capable of processing multiple parameters simultaneously. Take control of any digital device Control, manipulate, and command any almost any digital device with the Keith McMillen Instruments SoftStep Foot Controller. It is pre-programmed to work with Ableton Live, Apple Garage Band, Logic, Traktor, loopers, Avid ElevenRack, and more. Whether you are a DJ, keyboard player, guitarist, or producer, you'll love the power of the SoftStep. With the optional MIDI Expander you can take command of keyboards, rack gear, and lights. The SoftStep is lightweight and extremely durable. The back is made of rugged carbon fiber and the top features a liquid-proof elastomeric skin. Expand and customize your control with software editors Keith McMillen Instruments knows you like to have control over all your plug-ins, DAWs, and devices, that's why they have created an entire suite of software editors for the SoftStep. From extremely simple editors, to advanced development kits, Keith McMillen has provided all the tools needed to give you ultimate control. Keith McMillen Instruments SoftStep Foot Controller Features:
Take your foot controller to the next level with the Keith McMillen Instruments SoftStep Foot Controller!
SoftStep Image GalleryCan We Help?Sweetwater's friendly and knowledgeable Sales Engineers are regarded as the most experienced and educated professionals in the music industry, with extensive music backgrounds and intense training on the latest products and technologies. As your personal contact here at Sweetwater, they are available to provide personalized advice any time you need it.Call toll-free (800) 222-4700 or E-mail us Recommended Accessories
Brandy, Upper Sandusky, OH Reviewsbased on 6 reviewsDoes All I Need And More
by Brad from Oklahoma
Got it to controls ableton for live shows. It does much more than I need but works great! It's a little involved to setup but overall would recommend.
March 30, 2013 Music Background: Everything Excellent gear
by Alan Roth from Maui, HI
Im not used to reviewing, but felt that McMillen did such a great job with this controller, that i wanted to acknowledge it. February 13, 2013 Music Background: Recording Engineer/Semi Pro Musician/ If you are going to seriously customize your settings (for ex: if y... read more [+]oure going to use it as a guitar controller for Mainstage) your options are HUGE! Certainly, you might need a refresher couse in MIDI CC info., but... The unit is very well built , although i havent poured beer on it yet... And im sure that i havent scratched the surface yet. Kudos! btw- customer service at McMIllen has been awesome..(helped me out with some programming questions and offered some fine solutions! close [-] Awesome once you get past how hard it is to learn
by Kyle from
After spending several days teaching myself through trial and error how to program it, it works perfect. It's compact, super durable, and is extremely programmable. April 1, 2013 Music Background: drum programmer, guitarist The online/accompan... read more [+]ying documentation was just not good enough to help you learn it fully though. They should put simple videos/ steps for doing common actions. What's more, the UI (Softstep Editor) is not intuitive or laid out ideally. For that reason, it gets a 4/5. close [-] Great product
by Glenn Bailey from Rapid City, SD
I have been using the SoftStep for about 6 months to trigger loops in Ableton Live and it works great. It's small, light and easy to program with a lot of flexibility for future expansion.
June 9, 2012 Music Background: Church worship team Not recommended for Windows users
by Mike from Kirkland, WA
I'm posting this is hopefully save others from wasting time with this product.April 29, 2013 Music Background: Composer, producer, performer, engineer, professional I purchased it to control Ableton Live 9 primarily during live performance of my highly-layered music. In shor... read more [+]t, I use a midi foot controller to control Live's scene selection, loopers, and effects. For each loop created I want quick, real-time control of level and some effects sends. The KMI Softstep should be perfect for that. Also, it is light weight, portable, and USB powered. Great for travel and quick set up. The problem is that the configuration software is not working on Windows and KMI gave up fixing this after their only suggestion did not fix it. Briefly: The unit has two modes of operation, Hosted and Standalone. Hosted means that the softstep editor is running all of the time on the computer, converting proprietary data from the unit into MIDI data sent to Live (or whatever app). Standalone means the unit sends MIDI (over USB) directly to the app. No separate application is needed in the background. Standalone setups would be developed in Hosted mode, to get things dialed, then saved into Standalone mode and verified. SOme features are not available in Standalone mode. After working with the application (Softstep editor) I quickly determined that I needed to use plan on using standalone mode for live performance. A few reasons: The program eats 630MB of RAM, is buggy, and there is no way I'd want to rely on this during a live show. You can read more in other reviews online but I think the bottom line is that KMI developed the program using a cross-platform rapid development toolkit (MaxMSP). There is no problem with that except that you take on all of the quirks, dependencies, and bugs of the 3rd party platform so you have to be willing to deal with that from a support point of view. I determined that I didn't care how buggy/quirky the softstep editor behaved as long as I could develop my patches (called scenes) in Hosted mode, save them into Standalone mode, and rock on. But the ability to save from Hosted to Standalone does not work, at least on Windows, as far as I can tell. I went through the training videos (youtube) several times. I reported the bug, tried the fix they recommended (file permissions and running as admin). I ended up trying this on 5 different machines, 2 Windows 7 64-bit (up to date) and three different XP 32-bit machines, two SP3 (up to date) and an older SP2 machine that I do not update anymore. I reported the results in detail to their tech support and they just stopped responding. Sad and unprofessional, but I know how it goes when picking your priorities and battles. Unfortunately I have to send this unit back after wasting 2 weeks and countless hours. I have software test experience and am no beginner on Windows. I am not a Windows lover, it's just what I've used to date and I suspect 7 may be my last Windows OS. I'm about ready to make the Apple plunge on my next music computer. I need to mention that Sweetwater's tech support was great in trying to resolve this issue. I walked them through the details of what I was doing and they re-created the problem precisely and also reported it to KMI. Thank you Sweetwater for your patience and follow-through. I hope this helps! I'd still consider this product in the future if I could find a fix. I need to mention that Sweetwater's tech support was great in trying to resolve this issue. I walked them through the details of what I was doing and they re-created the problem precisely and also reported it to KMI. Thank you Sweetwater for your patience and follow-through. Peace! Mike close [-] Also popular
Keith McMillen Instruments SoftStep
Buy Today, MakeSweetwater's Flexible Payment Plan is a convenient, interest-free way to buy gear now and stretch your purchase across three budget-friendly payments. Simply choose the "3 Easy Payments" option in your cart, and we'll divide your purchase amount into three convenient payments, billed to your current MasterCard, Visa, Discover, or American Express card. There is a $10 processing fee for using this service, and your billing address must be in the United States to be eligible. It's just another way we make shopping at Sweetwater easy and convenient!Get your Keith McMillen Instruments SoftStep now and spread out the payments!This program is subject to credit approval. We will pull a copy of your credit report to approve your application. |
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