PAINTAUDIO MIDI Captain Foot Controller Multi-Effects Keyboards Synthesizer USB-MIDI musical software Bias with Time Engine Function Support all PC/CC/Note commander 10 Foot Switches (Black)

Second best digital guitar purchase after the HX Stomp it controls. You won't even come close to this value with any other stompbox midi controller. Turns my HX into the rig it was always meant to be. Many hours of use and no issues. Just join the Reddit community for MidiCaptain if you're a bit nervy with setup.

I wanted a USB MIDI footswitch for a small controller pedalboard for my iPad-based guitar “rig”. The more button-switches, the better… and the MIDI Captain STD (this one) looked ideal (and certainly the most affordable), so I took advantage of a Prime Day offer on one. The good points first (and there are quite a few): The MIDI Captain is sturdily-built with metal construction, and I am hopeful that it will be reliable in use. It is well-specified in terms of hardware: you can run it off USB power or a 9V DC “barrel” cable (like most guitar pedals), and on the back you have the power sockets, MIDI DIN in and out, and two quarter-inch jacks for expression pedals. There’s a small (one-inch-square?) colour display - OLED? - which can come in quite handy during use, and overall the hardware has given me no cause for complaint so far. Finally (for now), I can say that I’ve got the MC working pretty-much as I wanted it to, though I still have to configure and test the expression pedals - that’s on me… Catch(es)? Well, there’s one which any potential buyer should be aware of: configuring the MIDI Captain - especially if your needs are a bit “different” - can get pretty technical. The MC has preset configurations for some commonly-used guitar FX/modeller units and software (inc. Kemper, HX Stomp, Quad Cortex; BIAS), as well as some “generic” MIDI CC and “PC control” setups, and you may find that the MC will work with your gear “out of the box”. If not… well, get the manual and keep it close, because you’re going to have to roll your sleeves up. I would count myself as reasonably technical: just as well, because to do anything beyond use the MC’s presets, involves some bare-bones editing of text files. (There’s no *official* config editor app for this device, although a couple of enthusiasts have tried coding a “front-end: for the MC range.) Basically, you connect your MC via the USB cable to a Mac, PC, iPad or other computer which can take USB mass storage (flash drives, SSDs etc), and turn on the MC whilst holding down button 1 for a few seconds. This puts it into “deep mode”, and the internal storage “mounts” as a drive on your computer. (Take the manual’s advice, and copy all the files and folders to a local drive before you edit *anything*.) To sum up: I copied the “MIDI CC” preset template files, and edited them so that the buttons’ CC messages match those on the other MIDI footswitch I use. (Nice touch: the LED lighting behind each button can be configured with Web hex colour codes, so I set them to match the colour-coded “button-toppers” on my other footswitch.) Phew… well, at least I can say that after all that, I got the MC working as I wanted it, and I may experiment further with other configurations. So, in summary: the MIDI Captain is great value for money; very versatile in its capabilities; very customisable; and I have a good feeling (so far) about its reliability. (I also really like how it looks, especially with the multicoloured LED lighting!) It is also a bit of a pain to configure if your use-case is at all “off the beaten track”, but once you’ve set up your first custom preset, it gets a bit easier from there!

I powered this up with no issues… for about three minutes. Then I got a black screen. Couldn’t get the device to boot again after multiple firmware re-installs (as advised via the paintaudio website and YouTube channel) which take literally an hour at minimum due to an inexplicably slow transfer speed on the device (changing the usb cable out and using different ports on your computer will not help). They claim on their website that this device is “never bricked”. That’s just not true. I returned this the next day having spent hours trying to just get it back to a default bootable state having achieved nothing. If I could give it zero stars I would, without hesitation.

TL;DR = Fantastic hardware ruined by its unfinished firmware and unforgivably bad documentation. Long Version: Previous reviews of this item are neither constructive or informative for users or the manufacturer. I hope all will find this review entertaining if not useful. Everything herein pertains to the V4.0 firmware as of January 2025. I'm a MIDI power user and not afraid of some tinkering to get things working. I purchased this device because it's marketed as a 'do-aaallllll-the-midi' powerhouse featuring a great user interface with lots of feedback on the status of each switch, all programmable without the need to connect to a PC for a little over £130. This is too good to be true (foreshadowing), count me in! The hardware is indeed fantastic! There's no other word. It's a great size, built like a tank, can be powered via pedalboard (centre-negative 9V DC) power, USB or battery. The screen is full-colour, sharp and brightness-adjustable – yay! The highlight though is the LED's - OH the LEDs! The segmented RGB LEDs are a brilliant idea. They can convey all manner of switch-state information at a glance when using the stock presets the pedal ships with (more foreshadowing). The packaging has got some really nice touches too. Overall, one gets the impression that the manufacture's intent was to make a fully featured product for professional use. But unfortunately in the space between where the intent and the execution lies is a vast yawning chasm. Okay, here we go: One runs into the first signs of trouble when trying to update the firmware. Specifically, trying to locate and then decode the instructions for doing so (we'll come back to the documentation in a moment). Some reviewers have already ranted “...THE UPDATE BRICKED MY UNIT...” or words to that effect. These people were clearly a little vexed when they wrote their reviews but, having been through the same experience, I can to see why. The procedure is not what you'd call musician-proof. You have to stand on your head and do a bazillion (slight exaggeration) button combo press while plugging the pedal into your PC via USB. It'll appear as a drive on your PC/Mac. Then erase everything on the pedal's “drive.” Then, inexplicably, you have to “empty your PC's recycle bin” before copying and pasting the new files (that you downloaded and un-rar'd from the manufacture's website). You have to have figured all this out by decoding the comically/infuriatingly terrible user manual. At least there IS a manual but sweet mother of living divine.... It took me two attempts but I got there in the end. This update method is what I'd expect to find on a prototype in its alpha stages of development, not a supposedly finished product. We haven't even got to using the thing yet :-P Okay, so we've updated the firmware without ruining the unit [breath's a sigh of relief]. Let's do some MIDI shall we!? How about something basic - A midi note? Wait, there's no way to edit presets in 'standard' mode so we can't set what notes we send? Okay. You gotta turn the thing off, stand on your head again, do another button-hold and turn it back on. It boots into “Geek Mode.” Hmmm. Mildly offensive stereotyping aside, let's persevere. So... midi notes: the simplest setup would be to send a 'note-on' message when we press a pedal down and a 'note-off' message when we release again. That way we won't get stuck notes. Wait... there's no note-off option... just “note”... so it just transmits a note-on message? We can't turn the note off again?! There isn't even a 'note-toggle' option? The note it just ON forever or until we turn the pedal off?!?! [Face-palm] Okay, what about the so called “Super” mode? Surely there's some common sense there....right? Stand on ya head again and do yet another button-hold whilst power cycling the pedal to enter “SUPER MODE.” Er... Nope, not there either, just 'note'. Useless! In fact, we can't edit anything at all from the device itself in this mode. Wait, what?! No, you're gonna have to edit, save and reupload a ******** .txt file from your computer first?!?! What, the actual, donky-spanking &%$£!!! Okay, silliness aside, we've fallen down at the first hurdle; basic documentation and turning midi notes on and off. Even if we could properly program note messages, it gets worse. Remember those sweet segmented LED's with all the promise of rich status information they could provide? You get none of that for your own presets – not even in “super” mode. The English translation of the 'Super Mode' manual is even worse than the main one. Why are their two manuals?! Trying to understand - let alone edit - the .txt file using this manual is a futile exercise. If programming the LED's IS possible, there is precisely no information on how to do so. As far as I can tell, you can set LED colour and nothing else. No segmentation, no pulsing, just on and off, long-press, long-press and release. No sequential presses, no double taps. Far from comprehensive and what the product marketing would have you believe. So, no useable implementation of midi note messages; no on-board GUI for advanced programming and no way whatsoever to control what the LEDs do; an obtuse and unreliable firmware update method and farcically bad documentation. Yikes! This pedal is such a missed opportunity. If it delivered on what the marketing implies, it'd be an absolute monster. But the overall user experience is atrocious. If the manufacture can fix the gaping holes in the functionality, implement an actual update protocol and write a decent manual, they'll have hands-down the best general purpose MIDI pedal around. But as of writing this in January 2025, I wouldn't recommend this pedal to anyone other then those who want to use it completely stock with supported third party devices and software.

I have not ventured into the complexity of this unit. For this purpose it is blessed with 'Geek Mode' which got me working with my RC500. This mode only gives basic parameters, so although I got all the switches paired up, they needed 2 presses to function. After I built up confidence in Geek Mode, I moved onto the regular menus and modified one of the existing presets. For the money, nothing comes close to these pedal. It is true, dont expect support. There are plenty of YouTube videos though, so I would take a punt.

Beware, if you buy this, get amazon insurance. Because the manufacturer will ignore your emails!

Update: I was happy with this but it relentlessly crashes. All of my config was working and now it won't switch on frequently - blank screen. Too late to return to Amazon so will have to contact seller. Really powerful product but to get what I needed from it I had to use the superuser mode and edit the scripts on my computer. Lots of good guidance online but you need to be careful when editing the scripts. Make a backup of the contents of the memory when you first plug it in so that you can easily recover any mistakes. The geek mode is much easier to use and also very flexible as it can be programmed on the device screen. You will need to understand a bit about midi and control channels. Each of your pedals should have the required information in the manual. Some pedals need you to send an 'on' signal and some need both an 'on and off" to simulate a pedal press but you will have to play about with this per device. Only issue I had was that the unit would not let me write to it when it was plugged into my Mac so I had to use a PC laptop to make edits. A powerhouse with the capability of much more expensive units if you can get your head around it!

The description makes it seem it's configurable more than I've been able to pull off. But I've just written my own midi scripts and it works brilliantly with that.

Das Gerät ist hochwertig verarbeitet und macht durch die beleuchteten LED-Taster auch optisch einiges her. Besonders für Live- und Homestudio-Gitarristen bietet es alle wichtigen Funktionen, die man im Alltag benötigt. Zu den wichtigsten Features gehören: Mehrere frei programmierbare Fußtaster mit LED-Anzeige Senden von MIDI Program Change (PC) und Control Change (CC) Befehlen Unterstützung für verschiedene MIDI-Protokolle (z. B. USB-MIDI und 5-Pin MIDI, je nach Version) Preset- und Bank-Wechsel für schnelles Umschalten Kompatibilität mit gängigen Modelern und Effektgeräten (z. B. Kemper, Helix, Quad Cortex etc.) Kompaktes, roadtaugliches Metallgehäuse Ich bin sehr zufrieden und würde jederzeit erneut kaufen 🤘

Seul produit sur le marché qui soit aussi puissant, souple d'utilisation et compact. La programmation et les mises à jour de Firmware sont un peu foutraque, mais après tout, pas plus que les autres footswitch du même genre (prévoir un doliprane et un peu de motivation). Sinon, preset parfait, bien pensé et "out of the box" pour un Kemper Player. Attention avec les piles rechargeables ! L'affichage devient vite très sombre et l'autonomie est assez limitée. Avec des piles neuves (non rechargeables, donc) on tient dans les 3/4 heures. Par contre la connection direct en USB qui fait à la fois alimentation et liaison midi tout en un, très pratique.

Tiene varios modos, yo uso geek mode, ya que se me hace muy facil editar los comandos desde la rueda y boton que vienen alado de la pantalla. Se siente de buena calidad y funciono rapidisimo, lo unico malo es el tiempo para actualizarlo, tiene una memoria muy lenta pero fuera de eso solo lo tienes que hacer una vez si quieres agregarle los nuevos modos

Funciona a la perfección, te descargas de su página los ajustes adecuados, en mi caso para un Kemper Player y no tienes que configurar nada más, todo un acierto.

Superbe contrôleur midi pour mon katana artist gen 3. J'ai finalement réussi à le programmer en geek mode qui est beaucoup plus convivial que par ordinateur. Chaque bouton est configurable et pour plusieurs appareils ou différentes configurations car il y a beaucoup de page pour différentes configurations!