PAINTAUDIOMIDI 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 (Blue)

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 :-POkay, 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.

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.

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.

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!

I only bought this for my HX stomp to find out that HX presets are not available. I need tech support for this one.

Very flexible and can cover most needs. Ideal for kemper, axe-fx, helix, etc.The developer is keen to produce firmware updates with new features. Not for anyone with zero midi knowledge as you need a little understanding to achieve your needs.there is a couple of things i hope they will implement in the future (May 2024) but its already good enough for gigging.Well built, sturdy. Will do far more than you need for a variety of situations. Check out the videos.