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Footcontroller Keyboard

Convert an ordinary USB keyboard into a foot controller with 21 buttons suitable for use with live music software.

t-b-trzepaczT. B. Trzepacz
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Quite some time ago, I decided I wanted a foot controller so that I could play guitar and do live looping using my computer. I never quite got that act together, but I did build this nifty foot controller!
I stripped the circuitry out of a Cherry USB PC keyboard, and wired it up to 21 guitar footpedal momentary switches that were by far the most expensive part of the project. I decoded the keyboard matrix by touching leads together and wrote it down in pencil on some masking tape inside the case. Unfortunately, you can't really read the pencil anymore as the glue on the tape has kinda soaked through...
The case was purchased at a thrift shop... I think it was once a pool cue case. I painted it flat black like you do for music gear.
It works great, but some non-PC platforms have some trouble with it because the keyboard also acts as a USB hub so that you can daisy chain a mouse off of it, and some things (tablets) just can't handle that.
Other than that, a successful bui

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