Foot Pedals

IK Multimedia just announced the new iRig BlueBoard, a MIDI pedalboard that lets you control music apps wirelessly with your feet, via Bluetooth. If you use music-making apps on an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch, the BlueBoard can profoundly change the way that you interact with your device.

If you’re not completely satisfied with the clean, unprocessed sound coming from your guitar and you want to experiment with and modify or color that sound, a great way to tweak it is with effects pedals, also called “stompboxes.” An effects pedal, depending upon its configuration, modifies the sound of your guitar through electrical circuitry or digital modeling via computer chips, either giving it subtle color or dramatic shift.

Aside from the pickups (and there are significant differences), electric guitars have little inherent sound. Yet the variety of tones that a guitarist can generate from a slab of wood and electronics is staggering.

The VoiceTone Mic Mechanic is a new arrival from TC-Helicon. It’s a pedal box for singers that offers reverb, delay and pitch correction. Any singer who’s ever played at a tiny club with a flat mic, dead acoustics or no sound guy, knows the frustration that comes from singing in this type of venue. 

If you read electronic sheet music, lyrics, or scripts, then AirTurn is a welcome innovation. Historically, musicians who read charts have been burdened with the hassle of turning their own pages. 

An electric guitar or bass can only produce the sound of an electric guitar or bass, right? Not with the Roland GR-55 Synthesizer and a GK series pickup. Plucking and strumming on the strings can produce over 900 different tones, and we’re talking everything from grand pianos to the sounds of outer space.

Keyboard players, organists and MIDI controller enthusiasts alike can tap into a deeper level of foot control with the new Roland PK-9 Pedalboard. Like the last generation of this product, the PK-9 is solidly built and features 20 velocity-sensitive pedal keys with an integrated volume/expression pedal.

IK Multimedia unleashed a fresh batch of new iOS and iPad-centric accessories at NAMM 2012, which can help you do everything, from recording excellent-quality sound directly into your Apple device, to mixing songs on separate media players with a purpose-built iPad hardware DJ mixer.

Jimi Hendrix was famous for was playing guitar with his teeth, but if he had a Keith McMillen Instruments 12 Step Foot Controller, he would have been able to tap out notes with his feet, too. 

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