Yamaha MFC10 MIDI Foot Controller - Black

In excellent mechanical and electrical condition - especially given it's age (properly stored).

Rare gear. Acquired in anticipation of using in Studio with my DG100 212 but Studio fell-thru and now no longer have a need for it. It has so much function and usage potential way beyond just with the Yamaha Amp I was tempted to hold on to it, but I have way too much gear and my storage space is shrinking so some things need a new home.

See pictures for condition and Manufactures description below for an introduction to its capabilities.

Manufacture's Description:

128 Program Change memories in 'Normal' mode, 25 in 'Mix' mode.

100 Function memories.

One on‑board foot controller, plus provision for four external foot controllers.

MIDI In to MIDI Out merge transmit.

MIDI bulk dump.

WX7 and 11 controller connection.

Dimensions: 608mm x 215mm x 153mm.

Weight: 3.52kg.

The MFC10 is not simply a set of patch change footswitches. This machine will also give you up to five pedals with which to bend MIDI devices to your will, not to mention making control of multiple instruments a single prod of the foot away.

The MFC10's overall build quality is solid and chunky. On the underside of the casing are some nice stage‑gripping rubber feet.

Four extra foot controllers may be plugged into the rear of the unit. The MFC10 will happily accept continuous control pedals, or footswitches of the triggering or latching type. MIDI In and Out are present; MIDI Thru isn't, as it's not really necessary here. A connection for the Yamaha WX7 and 11 Wind Controllers is provided, and the MFC10 will supply them with power, obviating the need for a BT7 power box.

An Illuminating Experience

The front panel features large, illuminated characters above each chunky footswitch and a clear 3‑digit numeric LED. Just above each footswitch there's also a bright red LED denoting which switches are active. Ten of the footswitches are designated 0 to 9, while another acts as a '*10' switch for higher program numbers. The remaining 'Function' footswitch toggles the rest of the switches between Program Change memories and Function memories — more on these later. Five small buttons toward the back of the unit handle all the MFC10's editing and housekeeping functions.

Setting up the Program Change memories is relatively straightforward: simply select a memory number with the footswitches and press the Memory Edit button. Repeated pressing of this button cycles through the edit parameters; you can stop on any parameter and make use of the Inc/Yes Dec/No buttons to edit the value. Four types of MIDI data may be transmitted from a program change memory. The MIDI channel is set in hexadecimal, although I really can't see a good reason for this. The program and bank numbers are mercifully restricted to good old 'normal' numbering of 1‑128 and 0‑127 respectively. Yamaha have thoughtfully provided full control of both the MSB (Most Significant Byte) and LSB (Least Significant Byte) of Bank Change numbers. I was a little disappointed to discover that there's no option to send a MIDI Volume command — or any other controller data — with a Program Change memory. A press of the Write and Yes keys commits changes to the memory slot.A Private Function

Nine basic message types may be transmitted from a Function memory, including Note on/off (with velocity) and MIDI Controller changes. Control change messages are specified with a value to be transmitted when the footswitch is pressed, and a value to be transmitted when the footswitch is released. Where the MFC10 really scores is that four sets of these Function parameters are available for storage in Function memories 0 to 49. So, for example, it's possible to change programs on up to four connected devices, or play four‑note chords with each footswitch. Multiple footswitches can be pressed for layering.

Further options in the Function memories allow footswitches to be utilised as controllers for a sequencer or compatible rhythm programmer. Tempo Control, Song Select, Start, Stop and Continue are all available. Yamaha have gone a step further to enable switches to select Song sections on devices such as their own QY700.

In addition to the MFC10's ability to flip between Program Change memories and Function memories from the front panel, its Mix switch on the rear allows a hybrid approach. Mix mode assigns the upper five numbered footswitches to Function memories, while the lower six remain to access up to 25 Program Change memories. Interestingly, these Program Change memories in Mix mode are actually separate from the 128 defined in Normal mode, which adds a little extra flexibility to the MFC10. Toggling the Function footswitch on in Mix mode turns the whole device over to Function memories, much the same as in Normal mode.

The foot pedal controller can be set to transmit control changes, aftertouch, or pitch‑bend data. The minimum and maximum values for the pedal are adjustable. Any of the other five connected pedals has identical parameters.

The MFC10 is happy to send its memory contents as a system‑exclusive dump to an external storage device. There are four basic dump types, transmitting the Normal mode memories, the Mix mode memories, the Function memories and the Foot Control memories — or a full dump of all of these.