Last week I picked up a really great Midi Foot Controller called the Yamaha MFC-10. I already have the Roland FC-200, but the Yamaha MFC-10 had one really cool and unique feature that prompted me to get it. With each individual foot switch you can program it transmit up to 4 different note on/off messages “at the same time”. This effectively means you can program four different notes and play back chords or groups of trigger notes by simply pressing one foot switch. I don’t know of any other foot controller that has such functionality. The possibilities are quite cool and unique when you think about all of the things you can do by simply pressing one switch. I like using samplers a lot so in addition, you can effectively control four different key samples at the same time using one pedal.
The MFC-10 also has all the conventional program functions that most midi foot controllers have but in addition, it also can control the sections or parts of the Yamaha QY-700 Sequencer that I recently purchased written in an earlier article. With the QY-700 Sequencer you can control 4 notes chords, fills/sections, and a whole bunch of other things dedicated to the QY-700. If you haven’t checked out the Yamaha MFC-10 and you’re interested in a cool foot controller, take a look. If you’re a musician who likes to think outside the box, it could be quite useful for all sorts of situations.
Jim Atwood in Japan 