Yes! I finally replaced my FCB 1010

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
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Lazos
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Yes! I finally replaced my FCB 1010

Post by Lazos » Fri Mar 12, 2010 11:19 am

Just got my Logidy UMI3 yesterday and messing about with it tonight. Here's their website and my first impressions:

http://www.logidy.com

1. Solidly built and compact. This thing is tiny and rugged feeling (all metal except for the rubber feet). The little rubber feet on the bottom are probably glued on, but still seem very sturdy. This is what I've been looking for to gig overseas with for awhile. The FCB 1010 is way too large and heavy for my travels.

2. Three high-quality metal foot switches without the ridiculously loud click as the regular stomp box style.

3. USB port and Expression pedal port.

Okay, so I hook it up to Live. I have the UMI3 control panel software loaded already and check to see that the UMI is recognized and firmware up to date and all that. Default midi for the three "button sequencers" is C4, D4, E4 respectively. I try it with Looper in Live v.8.1.2b6. It works great. I'm able to loop just fine, in straight and odd meters and double click to stop (alternately changing the song control with a knob to double click stop the entire song or just the Looper).
I also experimented triggering notes in Zebra like a Moog pedal. Cool stuff! The step function is explained well in the manual and it was easy to get up and running with it. It was a little tedious with a lot of mouse clicks to select notes and velocities and such, so I guess the editing software could be improved.

I was even having fun slicing an Arabic drum loop to a Drum Rack and retriggering slices via the UMI3 and resampling that. Cool.

I haven't tried the expression pedal input. I'll have to do that soon.

My biggest concern was that it was so small that I'd accidentally press more than one button at a time. There is a danger of that, and this is probably not a good foot switch for someone with really huge feet, but I've started to get a technique down that works well. I think it would work well for most people's feet. I really like this foot controller and it's applicability to programs like Live offers some amazing possibilities. Plus I could almost fit it in my pocket :wink:

Dr. Zoiberg
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Re: Yes! I finally replaced my FCB 1010

Post by Dr. Zoiberg » Fri Mar 12, 2010 6:46 pm

really nice

dave dominey
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Re: Yes! I finally replaced my FCB 1010

Post by dave dominey » Fri Mar 12, 2010 7:57 pm

nice

looks like a good replacement for my failing fcb1010

cheers for the info

Lazos
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Re: Yes! I finally replaced my FCB 1010

Post by Lazos » Sat Mar 13, 2010 2:03 am

I guess I'd add that it all depends what you are using a foot controller for to know if the UMI3 is a replacement for the FCB1010. I like my Behringer unit just fine, but it's way too big for airline travel and I never did use the expression pedals in it. Mostly just using UMI3 with Looper at the moment. It works fine so far (except for occasional user error).

Funny thing is, now I feel like buying an expression pedal to use with the UMI3 because I can. :)

Atomikat
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Re: Yes! I finally replaced my FCB 1010

Post by Atomikat » Sat Mar 13, 2010 8:14 am

Can it send, like the FCB1010, up to 5 midi messages at once? :wink:

shuutobi
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Re: Yes! I finally replaced my FCB 1010

Post by shuutobi » Sat Mar 13, 2010 9:11 am

Nice controller. Class compliant as well. :)

Lazos
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Re: Yes! I finally replaced my FCB 1010

Post by Lazos » Sat Mar 13, 2010 7:42 pm

Atomikat wrote:Can it send, like the FCB1010, up to 5 midi messages at once? :wink:
I don't think so. That is a good feature of the 1010. Good one pointing that out. I never used more than one message per button push. But the UMI3 is the only one I know that will step through a sequence of midi messages with its own native software.

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