Technology is a wonderful thing, and many worship leaders and churches are starting to incorporate technology more and more with their worship services. One of the front runners for providing worship technology resources for churches is Loop Community. We’ve asked Janson Roberts from Loop Community to share with us the about their MIDI foot controller for live worship.
Looptimus: The Ultimate MIDI Foot Controller for Live Performance
Over the last few years, I’ve had the privilege to learn all about how technology has been incorporated into modern church worship culture and the tricks and tips to being more successful in leading worship, managing volunteers, and growing ministry opportunities. The resources that are available for worship leaders and churches in the realm of music is frankly amazing. My challenge to worship leaders, musicians, and tech engineers/producers would be to saturate yourself with things, people, and environments that cater to learning new technologies, techniques, and tools that you can use at your churches, jobs, and ministries. Every day, I’m more and more acquainted with software, hardware, recording, producing, and just the overall culture of what’s new and how to master it so that I can teach it to other people.
Mighty MIDI
MIDI controllers have been around for a while, but sometimes worship leaders may not use them due to a misunderstanding of how they work or the fact that they even exist. USB keyboards, push pads, foot pedals, and drum pads are just a few types of MIDI controllers used to play music and start/stop tracks. Anyway you look at it, MIDI controllers are a great addition to any band, and open up a lot of options and flexibility.
Hands Free
So you’re using tracks in worship, playing guitar or keys, trying to motion with your hands, and making adjustments to your ears and microphone. You only have two hands, so what could go wrong? Imagine if there were a way to utilize the other two crucial body members – your feet! Guitarists have been using their feet for stomp effects pedals for decades, and that’s because of the great benefit to keep their hands doing what they do best – play! So, how can you use your feet to control tracks, guitar pedals, and worship all at the same time? Looptimus!
Looptimus – You’ve never done so much with one foot!
The Looptimus MIDI Foot Controller was designed to be the best tool for triggering tracks in a live performance setting so that you can stay engaged with the audience and not have to stop playing. It consists of three different modes (Default, Pad, Program Change) with different song banks or pages that can be used to start and stop tracks, play click tracks, change keys and tempos of songs, loop sections within a song, play back patches and preset sounds from music software, and simultaneously send MIDI notes and Program Changes for multi-effects pedals such as Strymon or Eventide pedals. You can even attach a MIDI expression pedal to control volume, wah, or other effects. The best thing about the Looptimus is the quality and ease-of-use. It’s plug and play, so no more software, drivers, or other frustrating things that take up your time and keep you from rehearsing or performing. It’s 100% made in the USA, and uses Grade-A materials to ensure it will last a lifetime.
A Guitarist’s Dream Come True
Many guitar players are setting up their “rigs” with tons of different effects pedals to achieve the perfect sounding tone that’s just right for them. With advances in technology, multi-effects pedals are changing and becoming more and more digital. While some think this is great, it offers a lot more options and can actually add more work to the guitar player rather than allow them to simply play. Between each and every song, guitarists are bending down to change presets for those pedals, make tweaks, and slowing down the rehearsal and the set. Looptimus is changing all of that! Instead of awkwardly and slowly changing effects between songs, the Looptimus will make those changes for you! Just set the Program Changes to be the same as the effects pedals and Looptimus will send those changes while simultaneously starting the next track for the band.
Play The Piano With Your Feet!
Keyboardists and lead singers can really benefit from using the Looptimus as well! In Looptimus’ Pad Mode, you can assign sounds to the controller in your favorite software like Logic, Pro Tools, or Ableton Live. Any sound “patch” or “preset” can be assigned to the controller and played back in any key with several different octaves to choose from. Now you have that great pad or synth you need to use during song transitions, or just add more fullness to the sound of your band. This is a great addition to the world of MIDI controllers that Looptimus makes easy.
One Small Step For Worship, One Giant Leap For Music
At the end of the day, worship leaders and musicians want to utilize technology while simultaneously keeping control to have freedom on and off the stage. The Looptimus MIDI Foot Controller is the best option for musicians who want to play, lead, sing, and more, all while keeping their hands free to enjoy what they love and were called to do.
Janson Roberts is a worship leader, musician, producer, and believer in Jesus Christ. He has been leading worship since he was eight years old, and involved with music for as long as he can remember. Janson currently live in Chicago, Illinois, were he serves as a part-time Worship Leader at Harvest Bible Chapel. Janson has worked full-time as the Director of Operations and Training at Loop Community for the last two years. Janson and his wife Dana, got married back in May of 2016 and are serving together in church and in life.