aBility Controller: Specs

 

The pedal is enclosed in a cast aluminum enclosure that measures 9″ wide by 5 1/2″ deep and 2 1/4″ tall. Along the back of the pedal there are two jacks, one being a MIDI out jack and the other being a power jack. The pedal uses a 9VDC center negative (Like a BOSS pedal) power supply rated for at least 300mA. aBility Controller ships with a power supply.

The pedal has eight heavy duty momentary buttons and a large, high contrast reflective LCD display. The fact that it is reflective is important because that means is it visible in direct sunlight, important for the outdoor gigs. The buttons are arranged in two rows, 4 across the top and 4 across the bottom. The functions are (starting from the top row and going from left to right) PREVIOUS BANK/CHANNEL, PATCH C, PATCH D, and PATCH E. The bottom row is NEXT BANK/OMNI, PATCH A, PATCH B, and PATCH C.

The pedal is capable of transmitting on two user programmable MIDI channels. There are 20 banks and each bank has 6 individual patches (A~E). Since there are two possible MIDI transmit channels, there is a total of 240 different combinations that can be sent to the host. There is also an OMNI bank that transmits only on the PRIMARY MIDI transmit channel, regardless which MIDI transmit channel you have selected. I guess that makes 246 different combinations. This pedal was designed from the ground up to work with Ableton Live. It is compatible with all versions of Ableton, including version 6.

Here’s how the pedal works. The pedal is shipped to transmit on MIDI channel 1 in the primary mode, and MIDI channel 2 when it is transmitting in the secondary mode. If you press and hold the PREVIOUS BANK button and power up the pedal, you will enter into the MIDI setup mode. Follow the prompts to change the primary and secondary transmit channels.

Once the pedal is up and running, you simply select which bank you want, and press a patch button, and Ableton responds. It’s as simple as that.

To change the transmit channel, press and hold the PREVIOUS/CHANNEL button for 500mS and you will toggle the pedal from the primary transmit channel to the secondary transmit channel. When you are in the secondary transmit channel mode, a couple of small “omega” signs appear on the display. To revert from the secondary channel to the primary channel, press and hold the PREVIOUS/CHANNEL button for 500mS and you will return to the primary transmit channel.