I have a friend who has used an old midi foot control board and cannibalised a pc keyboard to allow foot controlled commands to go to his "Windows" laptop.
Has anyone done anything similar with a PowerBook and KJams or is anything available on the market other than hand held remotes?
I'm a singer/guitarist and would like my stage act to look as slick as possible
Remote foot control
yes
http://www.charlie-roberts.com/midiStroke/
If you need a function that is not mapped to a key, please tell me and I'll add it.
If you need a function that is not mapped to a key, please tell me and I'll add it.
Remote foot control
Thanks for that information.
I'm not sure quite how this would work with a midi footpedal but I'm sure my friend would know.
At this stage I'm not sure what commands I would require but i would guess they would be something like stop/start (poss just 'start' if autopause activated) this may require an ability to leap to the start of the track itself (in other words to eliminate the 10 second silence on karaoke tracks), scroll up or down to locate an unplanned track and then revert back to the 'planned' playlist. I don't think volume control, pitch shift etc would be necessary on a foot pedal
Hope this makes sense. As you can gather I'm a bit of a technophobe, so would like to keep things as simple as possible
Cheers
Andy (Ocheye)
I'm not sure quite how this would work with a midi footpedal but I'm sure my friend would know.
At this stage I'm not sure what commands I would require but i would guess they would be something like stop/start (poss just 'start' if autopause activated) this may require an ability to leap to the start of the track itself (in other words to eliminate the 10 second silence on karaoke tracks), scroll up or down to locate an unplanned track and then revert back to the 'planned' playlist. I don't think volume control, pitch shift etc would be necessary on a foot pedal
Hope this makes sense. As you can gather I'm a bit of a technophobe, so would like to keep things as simple as possible
Cheers
Andy (Ocheye)
Remote foot control
Another thing that occurs to me is that the midi pedal would have a midi lead, but I would like to use the usb port on my PowerBook. Is this simple to overcome?
Andy (Ocheye)
Andy (Ocheye)
Re: Remote foot control
I have a nice solution for you. I have not used it but this looks great.ocheye wrote:Another thing that occurs to me is that the midi pedal would have a midi lead, but I would like to use the usb port on my PowerBook. Is this simple to overcome?
Andy (Ocheye)
Foot controller clicky
CC
Every forum needs it's own cat.
I have found the Mac software for the foot controller that I linked to
http://www.piengineering.com/software/ikeyxkey.php
I really do think that this is the easiest solution for a technophobe. Nothing to learn and only one usb lead to plug in to set up.
CC
http://www.piengineering.com/software/ikeyxkey.php
I really do think that this is the easiest solution for a technophobe. Nothing to learn and only one usb lead to plug in to set up.
CC
Every forum needs it's own cat.
Remote foot control
Thanks for all this information. I've been away for the last few days with no internet connection (bliss!) so apologies for not getting back so soon.
The pedal is available in the UK but is an amazing £195 (GBP) which is about $400. I may be better ordering one from the States. I have looked at some others eg Vpedal and several transcription units like the VEC footpedal from nch.com. However it's difficult to be sure if the ideal software is available as they are primarily designed for typists. I'm sure I will find something affordable - $195 would have been OK.
The pedal is available in the UK but is an amazing £195 (GBP) which is about $400. I may be better ordering one from the States. I have looked at some others eg Vpedal and several transcription units like the VEC footpedal from nch.com. However it's difficult to be sure if the ideal software is available as they are primarily designed for typists. I'm sure I will find something affordable - $195 would have been OK.
Re: Remote foot control
Not good.ocheye wrote: The pedal is available in the UK but is an amazing £195 (GBP)
The cheapest I found was £120 HERE
It may be cheaper to get it from the states though. Amazon.com sell it. at $120 Here
CC
Every forum needs it's own cat.
foot pedal
Cheers Church Cat
I had been looking round to check if ikey software would work with some of the cheaper transcription pedals like VEC but cannot get an answer from either the software people or harware people. It would be nice to get some sort of reply!
My problem is typical of an impoverished musician in that as I really should be buying another Mac laptop to run KJams I'm trying to be canny with my pennies. I will, of course, be selling my rack mounted foot-controlled minidisc players once I'm set up and comfortable with operating KJams, so that should offset some of the cost.
Meantime I've downloaded kJams lite freeware to get a feel and of course it is throwing up some queries but is looking really good. I know this is off-topic but I can't work out how to bring in either a new song into a playlist on the hoof or to bring a song forward without upsetting the rest of the playlist. It is tricky experimenting with only a max of 3 tracks to play with. I think I'll just go ahead and buy the Lite version and upgrade at a later date if I need to
Cheers
Ocheye
I had been looking round to check if ikey software would work with some of the cheaper transcription pedals like VEC but cannot get an answer from either the software people or harware people. It would be nice to get some sort of reply!
My problem is typical of an impoverished musician in that as I really should be buying another Mac laptop to run KJams I'm trying to be canny with my pennies. I will, of course, be selling my rack mounted foot-controlled minidisc players once I'm set up and comfortable with operating KJams, so that should offset some of the cost.
Meantime I've downloaded kJams lite freeware to get a feel and of course it is throwing up some queries but is looking really good. I know this is off-topic but I can't work out how to bring in either a new song into a playlist on the hoof or to bring a song forward without upsetting the rest of the playlist. It is tricky experimenting with only a max of 3 tracks to play with. I think I'll just go ahead and buy the Lite version and upgrade at a later date if I need to
Cheers
Ocheye
okaaaaaay
What do you mean by that?of course it is throwing up some queries
either:I can't work out how to bring in either a new song into a playlist
1) double click the playlist to target it, then go find your songs and double click them one at a time. The songs will go into the targeted playlist or:
2) drag the songs you want into the playlist
Huh? What?on the hoof
What do you mean "upsetting"? Are you talking about rotation? or a regular playlist? are you sorted by "#"? You must drop a song ON another song then it will be sorted in front of the song you dropped it on.I can't work out how to bring a song forward without upsetting the rest of the playlist
okaaaaaay
Thanks Dave
Oh the joys of speaking a common language! Sorry I didn't express myself very clearly. I hope you didn't think I was being critical of the software, I am just hopeless when it comes to understanding software (All software throws up queries for me!). I think it's brilliant by the way.
By"bringing a new song in on the hoof" I mean bringing a new song either from another playlist or from elsewhere in the same playlist (ideally by foot control) whilst singing and playing the guitar, if I feel the set needs a lift, or I've been asked for a request etc. I hope that makes sense.
Also, when I've imported a song from itunes (both mp3 amd karaoke), if there is silence at the end of the track that I have got rid of in itunes (mp3) by moving the stop time in "get info". That information doesn't seem to copy across into KJams (I have tried both ways). Am I being stupid or is there another way?
Cheers
Ocheye
Oh the joys of speaking a common language! Sorry I didn't express myself very clearly. I hope you didn't think I was being critical of the software, I am just hopeless when it comes to understanding software (All software throws up queries for me!). I think it's brilliant by the way.
By"bringing a new song in on the hoof" I mean bringing a new song either from another playlist or from elsewhere in the same playlist (ideally by foot control) whilst singing and playing the guitar, if I feel the set needs a lift, or I've been asked for a request etc. I hope that makes sense.
Also, when I've imported a song from itunes (both mp3 amd karaoke), if there is silence at the end of the track that I have got rid of in itunes (mp3) by moving the stop time in "get info". That information doesn't seem to copy across into KJams (I have tried both ways). Am I being stupid or is there another way?
Cheers
Ocheye
Re: foot pedal
Sympathy on the poverty front.ocheye wrote: My problem is typical of an impoverished musician in that as I really should be buying another Mac laptop to run KJams I'm trying to be canny with my pennies.
Mac Laptops can be found from about £500 from refurb outfits. I have been pleased with Cancom.
kJams like any other software takes a bit of getting used to.
Mum told me when I was still a kitten that quality is remembered long after price is forgotten.
CC
p.s. PM me details of any minidisc kit that you might be selling.
Every forum needs it's own cat.
:)
well, did my explanation about how to reorder songs and how to move them between playlists help?
you are correct kJams does not (yet) honor any "trimming" settings you've set in iTunes, but i'll add that as a feature request.
you are correct kJams does not (yet) honor any "trimming" settings you've set in iTunes, but i'll add that as a feature request.