Right now the hardware is just a working well prototype. It will be boxed when the hardware will be frozen.

Model A

WiFi only

Model B

WiFi and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) MIDI

Pedalino is using 2 boards and 3 microcontrollers. All of them need to be flashed with the right firmware before using Pedalino.

Model	Board	Microcontroller	Firmware	Instructions
Both	Arduino Mega 2560	ATmega2560 ATmega16U2	Pedalino MocoLUFA	Click here Click here and here
A	ESP-01S 1M	ESP8266	PedalinoESP	Click here
B	DOIT ESP32 DevKit V1	ESP32	PedalinoESP	Click here

PlatformIO (recommended)

PlatformIO is the recommended IDE for Pedalino build and upload.

1. Install PlatformIO IDE for VSCode
2. Run the following commands from View->Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P)
   • Git: Clone
   • You will be asked for the URL of the remote repository (https://github.com/alf45tar/Pedalino) and the parent directory under which to put the local repository.
   • PlaftormIO: Build
   • Open platformio.ini and set upload_port according to your PC settings
   • PlatformIO: Upload

That's all folks.

Arduino IDE

Arduino IDE can be used for Pedalino build and upload but it requires more manual steps for board installation and libraries installation.

ESP-01S module is usually shipped with AT-Command firmware and flashing a new firmware requires an USB to Serial adapter as outlined here.

Pedalino can upload firmware to ESP-01S without any hardware addition or modification. Pedalino uses Arduino Mega as USB to Serial adapter (bidirectional serial passthrough between Serial and Serial3 ports).

Preliminary operations

• Boot Arduino in serial passthrough mode
  • Press and hold RIGHT button on LCD Keypad Shield
  • Press and release RST button on LCD Keypad Shield
  • Release RIGHT when one or more # sign appear on LCD
• Boot ESP-01S in flash mode
  • Press and hold Flash button
  • Press and release Reset button
  • Release Flash button (the ESP-01S built-in led will flash shortly)

Continue with PlatformIO or Arduino IDE as you prefer.

PlatformIO

• Install PlatformIO IDE for VSCode
• Run the following commands from View->Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P)
  • Git: Clone
  • You will be asked for the URL of the remote repository (https://github.com/alf45tar/Pedalino) and the parent directory under which to put the local repository.
  • PlaftormIO: Build
  • Open platformio.ini and set upload_port in [env:esp01_1m] equal to your Arduino COM port
  • PlatformIO: Upload

  Arduino IDE

  • Install the current upstream Arduino IDE at the 1.8 level or later. The current version is at the Arduino website
  • Start Arduino and open Preferences window
  • Enter http://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266com_index.json into Additional Board Manager URLs field. You can add multiple URLs, separating them with commas.
  • Open Boards Manager from Tools->Board menu and install esp8266 platform
  • Select Generic ESP8266 Module board from Tools->Board menu after installation
  • Set the board parameters as follow
  • Load PedalinoESP sketch
  • Select Sketch->Upload (Ctrl+U)

  Post upload operations

  • Reset Arduino Mega
  • Reset ESP-01S

  USB to Serial adapter mode is required just for the first firmware update. Once connected to WiFi the ESP-01S module can be updated connecting your browser to http://pedalino.local/update.

The Arduino Uno and Mega don't have native USB support, so they need extra firmware to be installed to the USB-to-Serial chip (ATmega16U2) in order to work as a MIDI device.

The ATmega16U2 chip on your Arduino board acts as a bridge between the computer's USB port and the main processor's serial port.

Detailed procedure to replace original firmware with mocoLUFA can be found here

mocoLUFA firmware boots in USB MIDI mode by default.

Arduino-Serial mode is required to upload a new sketch into main Arduino ATmega2560 microcontroller.

To enable Arduino-Serial, add a jumper to PIN 4 (MOSI PB2) and PIN6 (GND) on ICSP connector for ATmega16U2. Power on cycle is required to switch the firmware mode.

mocoLUFA default speed is 31.250 bps but an undocumented high speed mode is in the code. A jumper between PIN 1 (MISO) and PIN 3 (SCK) on ICSP connector for ATmega16U2 enable the 1 Mbps speed. Pedalino USB MIDI works at 1 Mbps (1.000.000 bps).

Pedalino is designed to work with the majority of expression pedals on the market, but there are a few popular pedal types which are incompatible and need to use adapters in order to work with Pedalino.

There is no recognized standard for footswitch and expression pedal inputs. Effects and amp manufacturers use whatever variations are appropriate for their particular application. This can cause problems for the consumer needing to find a footswitch or an expression pedal that will work well with particular devices.

Pedals connector is usually a 1/4" TRS jack. Each stereo TRS socket should be connected as follow.

Pedal	TIP to Digital Pin	RING to Analog Pin	SLEEVE to Ground
1	23	A0	GND
2	25	A1	GND
3	27	A2	GND
4	29	A3	GND
5	31	A4	GND
6	33	A5	GND
7	35	A6	GND
8	37	A7	GND
9	39	A8	GND
10	41	A9	GND
11	43	A10	GND
12	45	A11	GND
13	47	A12	GND
14	49	A13	GND
15	52	A14	GND
16	53	A15	GND

Pedalino supports the following wiring:

Switches per port	Connector	Wiring	Example
1	Mono 1/4" TS	1 switch between T and S	Boss FS-5U Boss FS-5L
2	Stereo 1/4" TRS	1st switch between T and S 2nd switch between R and S	Boss FS-6 Boss FS-7
3	Stereo 1/4" TRS	3-Button Schematic	Digitech FS3X
5	Stereo 1/4" TRS	Voltage Ladder	LCD Keypad Shield

Momentary and latch type switches are supported.

Normally open (NO) and normally closed (NC) is always supported and configurable by software if your foot switch do not have a polarity switch.

An expression pedal is more or less a pot with a 1/4" TRS jack plug.

Most potentiometers have three connectors; Clockwise, Counter-clockwise, and Wiper. Amazingly, there are multiple different ways these can be wired, all achieving largely the same result, which means yet more variations for expression pedals. The most common expression pedal wiring is to connect the pot to a 1/4″ stereo (TRS) instrument jack as follows:

Standard	Connector	Wiring	Example
Roland	Stereo 1/4" TRS	CW to Sleeve Wiper to Tip CCW to Ring	Roland EV-5 M-Audio EX-P (switch in "M-Audio")
Yamaha	Stereo 1/4" TRS	CW to Sleeve Wiper to Ring CCW to Tip	Yamaha FC7 M-Audio EX-P (switch in "Other") Technics SZ-E1/SZ-E2

Using a pedal with incompatible wiring can result in limited range, jumping or notch like response, or the pedal just won’t function at all, so make sure you check the requirements.