About the Project
Our main purpose for this project is to provide musicians with a pedal board that can accomplish many of the sounds achieved in various pedals, and to give them a better interface to control their sounds. Today’s musicians collect several pedals and try to manipulate sound in their own unique way with the limitations of the pedals they buy, but we want to give them more freedom in their sound selection as well controlling them live.
Currently there is no user interface that allows a musician to adjust the individual settings of a pedal in a live setting easily. Normally a musician is focused on the music and does not have the time to adjust the settings manually, usually by hand, which is crazy! Why would we make a musician use their hands as the only method to adjust the settings on a pedal? These sound effect devices are mostly used by musicians for changing the sound of their guitar, bass, or keyboard. All of these instruments require the use of almost both hands at all times to operate, so there is no way to adjust a setting on a pedal in a live performance easily. With our pedalboard interface, we could use foot switches to adjust each setting on a given sound effect that’s compatible with our design. This pedal board would free up musicians to adjust their sound to their heart’s content while playing their instruments uninhibited.
Using a microcontroller, we communicate the adjustments to the specific sound effect, making adjustments live, seamlessly. Another feature unique to this pedal board is the splitting of the input signal, giving the musician two outputs to utilize. One output could go straight to an amp, while sending the other signal through a series of other pedals to create a unique sound synchronized with the other signals. Several other benefits could be used for this feature, creating more flexibility in a musician’s sound.
We are going away with the days of old, where a musician would have to adjust their pedal before a performance and deal with the settings throughout the whole show. Sometimes a musician might kick a pedal’s settings on accident or realize too late that his settings don’t sound right, well not anymore. With our pedal mat, the performer can quickly adjust any setting on the pedal hands-free!
Currently there is no user interface that allows a musician to adjust the individual settings of a pedal in a live setting easily. Normally a musician is focused on the music and does not have the time to adjust the settings manually, usually by hand, which is crazy! Why would we make a musician use their hands as the only method to adjust the settings on a pedal? These sound effect devices are mostly used by musicians for changing the sound of their guitar, bass, or keyboard. All of these instruments require the use of almost both hands at all times to operate, so there is no way to adjust a setting on a pedal in a live performance easily. With our pedalboard interface, we could use foot switches to adjust each setting on a given sound effect that’s compatible with our design. This pedal board would free up musicians to adjust their sound to their heart’s content while playing their instruments uninhibited.
Using a microcontroller, we communicate the adjustments to the specific sound effect, making adjustments live, seamlessly. Another feature unique to this pedal board is the splitting of the input signal, giving the musician two outputs to utilize. One output could go straight to an amp, while sending the other signal through a series of other pedals to create a unique sound synchronized with the other signals. Several other benefits could be used for this feature, creating more flexibility in a musician’s sound.
We are going away with the days of old, where a musician would have to adjust their pedal before a performance and deal with the settings throughout the whole show. Sometimes a musician might kick a pedal’s settings on accident or realize too late that his settings don’t sound right, well not anymore. With our pedal mat, the performer can quickly adjust any setting on the pedal hands-free!
Overview of Design
