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Hans - the 3D printed 5 button battery powered USB MIDI footswitch

1

This project (and the two that led to it) was entirely inspired by the Deluge so I will happily post about it here!

Hans is a 5 button footswitch, with a 3D printed housing, that can be built for around 50 USD. Hans works over USB or straight over 5-pin MIDI as Hans has an 18650 inside and can run for days without an external power source.

Check Hans out on Youtube:

Check Hans out on github:
https://github.com/hunked/hans

Hans sends MIDI notes on/off messages as well as control change/program change messages. These can either be momentary - either note on/note off on press/release or a toggle mode that requires two buttons presses. You can also enable a special momentary mode - designed specifically for the Deluge (idea from reddit user neilbaldwn) - that sends a note on message when the button is pressed and another note on when it is released. This allows for one-press looping; press and hold the loop button for the duration of your loop and then let go when you are done!

Hans is totally customizeable. Change notes and velocities, CC numbers and values, PC numbers, channels, and various system settings all from the footswitch. As well - Hans is totally open source and I am updating the firmware as often as I find any bugs/think of any missing features. The firmware is easily updatable using the teensy loader (or full arduino software, if you so desire).

I decided to make a thread here so we can discuss Hans and various DIY footswitch options. I have gotten some great feedback from users on reddit and facebook that have gone into making Hans a better footswitch and I'd love to hear from anybody here who has input, too!

Comments

  • 1
    pac_71pac_71 Newcastle, AustraliaBeta Tester Posts: 3

    Nice work. The only thing missing is the Fritzing for your final design. I guess you can reverse engineer it from the pics and your previous projects. You could really spoon feed us and give some tips on your very need wiring looms :>

  • 1
    HeptagenHeptagen Posts: 277

    I love this and maybe one day I'll build it myself. 😁 Thanks for making this open and free to use!

  • 0
    icymulberryicymulberry CanadaBeta Tester Posts: 18

    @pac_71 said:
    Nice work. The only thing missing is the Fritzing for your final design. I guess you can reverse engineer it from the pics and your previous projects. You could really spoon feed us and give some tips on your very need wiring looms :>

    Hey, I've never heard of this Fritzing but I like the look of it. I'll check that out.

    I will happily make a wiring diagram and a list of instructions, similiar to what I have done previously, now that I know there is some demand for it. This whole project started as a way to keep myself sane during a period of joblessness.. and that period has ended (hooray) so I have suddenly had to prioritize my free time. I'll put this on the list.

    My tip for neat wiring is to build drones as practice. Drone wiring is an effort in neatness and tinyness and it really teaches one to use only as much wire as is necessary and to keep things neat. There's nothing like chopping a motor wire with the propeller blade while in flight to teach you to NOT PUT THE WIRE IN THE WRONG PLACE AAAHHH. Crashing in first person view is a mildly traumatizing experience ;)

    Thanks for your feedback! I would love to have some people build a few of these and to get some feedback on the software too.

  • 0
    icymulberryicymulberry CanadaBeta Tester Posts: 18

    @Heptagen said:
    I love this and maybe one day I'll build it myself. 😁 Thanks for making this open and free to use!

    I have one extra Hans sitting on a shelf just in case somebody decides they want one bad enough. I had plans to make more and try to market them... but I don't have that kind of free time any more so that's just not likely!

    So I suppose that makes the one I sold to a very nice fellow in the UK a real limited item, hah!

  • 0
    IcoustikIcoustik NorwayModerator, Beta Tester, Mentor Posts: 1,017

    @icymulberry said:

    @Heptagen said:
    I love this and maybe one day I'll build it myself. 😁 Thanks for making this open and free to use!

    I have one extra Hans sitting on a shelf just in case somebody decides they want one bad enough. I had plans to make more and try to market them... but I don't have that kind of free time any more so that's just not likely!

    So I suppose that makes the one I sold to a very nice fellow in the UK a real limited item, hah!

    How much for it? :)

    ~ Distinguished Delugate ᕕ( ◎_◎)ᕗ

  • 0
    HeptagenHeptagen Posts: 277

    @Icoustik $170 CAD + shipping, as seen here:
    https://github.com/hunked/hans/blob/main/PURCHASE.md/

    It stings a bit that I can't afford it. 😔 Would be so good. This seems like the best foot controller I can find.

  • 0
    IcoustikIcoustik NorwayModerator, Beta Tester, Mentor Posts: 1,017

    @Heptagen said:
    @Icoustik $170 CAD + shipping, as seen here:
    https://github.com/hunked/hans/blob/main/PURCHASE.md/

    It stings a bit that I can't afford it. 😔 Would be so good. This seems like the best foot controller I can find.

    Thanks :)

    ~ Distinguished Delugate ᕕ( ◎_◎)ᕗ

  • 0
    icymulberryicymulberry CanadaBeta Tester Posts: 18
    edited May 2021

    @Icoustik said:

    @Heptagen said:
    @Icoustik $170 CAD + shipping, as seen here:
    https://github.com/hunked/hans/blob/main/PURCHASE.md/

    It stings a bit that I can't afford it. 😔 Would be so good. This seems like the best foot controller I can find.

    Thanks :)

    A little bit less for anyone overseas from North America as my shipper of choice does not allow for batteries to be included - so more like $160 CAD + shipping for Europeans.

    @Heptagen said:

    It stings a bit that I can't afford it. 😔 Would be so good. This seems like the best foot controller I can find.

    I wish I could offer it for cheaper but the small scale of the project means it is very labour intensive.

    I have dreams of ordering PCBs with a bunch of the work already done but that requires a big time sink in learning a bunch of skills I don't have yet with time I do not currently possess :wink: If that were the case, though, I think I could drive the price down by a considerable margin.

    I'm thinking of doing an updated version of this with an ESP32 board so that I can make it work via Bluetooth BLE as well as USB/MIDI. This is mostly because I've been hanging out on iPad message boards and it would really be neat to have a good wireless controller for various purposes.

    Post edited by icymulberry on
  • 1
    HeptagenHeptagen Posts: 277

    @icymulberry said:
    I wish I could offer it for cheaper but the small scale of the project means it is very labour intensive.

    Oh no worries, I'm absolutely sure that your unit is worth every penny! 😊 I think this pedal will have to stay in the a "one day..." dreaming gear category. 😉

  • 1
    hexagon5unhexagon5un MunichBeta Tester Posts: 121

    Feeping creaturitis: You could add a MIDI in, and it would make a nice switchable MIDI filter as well -- depending on what you want to do with the firmware, naturally.

  • 0
    icymulberryicymulberry CanadaBeta Tester Posts: 18
    edited July 2021

    @hexagon5un said:
    Feeping creaturitis: You could add a MIDI in, and it would make a nice switchable MIDI filter as well -- depending on what you want to do with the firmware, naturally.

    I had an idea sorta like this just as a way to switch MIDI outputs on a keyboard/some other device - route MIDI in one end, use footswitches to change the routing in various ways.

    Not sure how I'd use it, though.

    In the meantime I did take a few minutes to finally draw up a schematic in case anybody actually wants to have a go at this. I've updated the git with the schematic (which you can blow up there to see in more detail).

    Post edited by icymulberry on
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