I bought this to control a Boss RC-500 looper via MIDI. I have been using a 6 buttons Blackstar Live logic foot controller, which is a good foot switch board overall too, but I found some little frustrating things and nags with the Blackstar since I have it for over a year, + I only needed 4 foot switches and not 6 anymore so, the Ampero Hotone seemed the appropriate next step for my set up.
First impression is :so far so good. I downloaded the App on the App store, skipped the sign in, paired the unit with Bluetooth on my iPad within seconds, and went straight into programming the 4 foot switches. Pretty easy I have to say. For me it took a bit of a brain power to really understand what the 4 modes (single, Momentary, toggle and Hold) actually do when trying to control an external MIDI device, not sure I did the correct set up but for my needs, after 2 or 3 trials, it worked 100%.
You MUST save whatever you just programmed for it to be sent/flashed to the Ampero control and actually see/hear/feel the result. The test button on the App is useful but it's not giving you the full picture of the command you just programmed.
I then installed it on my pedal board (see below my "negative" about this) and I gigged last Friday (March 28th) with this new unit and it behaved like a charmed. The buttons are very responsive and smooth (a little "clicky" but live it doesn't matter at all), it didn't fail, I didn't have MIDI error message like I had with the the Blackstar, so, all in all, it's a good upgrade for me and my needs.
I have a feeling that if I explore a bit more I can get more actions assigned to each button, which I'll discover later I believe but so far, it has been robust and easy enough to program and handle.
The black & sand colour is a very tasty cosmetic touch that I like a lot.
My only cons I have is that, if you put it on a pedal board with velcro, the 6 little rubber feet can't be removed and will get in the way of the adhesive velcro and might leave small gaps between the Hotone and the board, where the velcro is not 100% gripping to the other velcro part. It holds relatively fine, it works overall but the Hotone feels a little "loose" on the board, so I used a long cable tie to secure it on the pedalboard frame. I might have to slice the rubber feet later when my 30 days return window has elapsed ;)
To summarise, for me it's a good MIDI foot switch, reliable, easy enough to program, responsive and good looking.
Update after 2 weeks:
Well it still works well but the fact that pressing buttons 1 & 2 at the same times changes bank, it could put you in a very difficult situation live if your foot slip a bit. It happened few times now that because of this, I can't control the RC500 anymore, and I don't even realise it. It's a little annoying.
I programmed bank 0, 1 and 99 to be exact same so if my foot slips, I can still work.
Also the commands are triggered when the button is released, not pressed, so there could be a slight delay in operation, and it's annoying too because it could throw your timing off.... I'm having second thoughts about the usability live.
Update after few weeks:
The button operation on RELEASE is not good. I have missed countless starts in time because of this “feature”. I would definitely return this if i could. This is not usable in the way I want it.
