HOTONE MIDI Foot Controller Pedal Bluetooth Ampero Control 4 Button

Simple configuration, awesome features. Very very well thought out device and the app is wonderful- simple and to the point no bs. Love this controller! Well built too.

Product used to work fine. Now it demands device Location, Photo, etc Permissions, or it will not connect via Bluetooth. No thanks, China.

I like the build of this controller, it’s solidly constructed of metal and the display is easy to see, though a little cryptic as far as what it represents. The power supply along with potential to power it via USB give it flexibility and it comes with a USB cable with the appropriate USB-B connector on one end. I am a little stumped why people are still using that, but maybe it’s more sturdy than USB-C (which I’ve had fail on my Mac already.)To get this going, i.e., program it, you need to download an app. I downloaded it to a Mac, an iPad and an iPhone. They all worked the same as far as connectivity goes, which is to say, they all had the same sluggishness getting connected. They all see the Ampero Control and allow you to try to connect immediately, but then it takes what seems like about 30 secs to actually connect, and I would say 1/2 the time it fails and makes you try again. On my iPhone and iPad, I needed to find the Ampero app and enable Bluetooth on them individually, as well as have Bluetooth turned on overall, in order to connect. On the Mac, you turn on Bluetooth and then sit there waiting for Ampero to show up in the list of Bluetooth devices, but it never does, I don’t know why. Instead you just start the app, skip the login, then you see Ampero Control listed, click it, click connect and cross your fingers.The iPad and iPhone apps work identically from what I saw, but the Mac app does not. The difference is that when you save a setting in the Mac, after it updates the controller, it disconnects and makes you re-establish the connection. It’s really a pain since it fails half the time, so I quit using the Mac version because of that, and stuck with using my iPhone. Aside from that, I didn’t see any differences between the 3.The primary attraction of this device for me was the Bluetooth MIDI connectivity, but I had scant luck with it. Using Ableton Live Lite, I was able to see Ampero Control Bluetooth show up in the MIDI ports list, and set the track and remote click boxes to allow MIDI to come in, but I was never able see it flash the MIDI indicator when I pushed buttons on the controller. I had the same result when I connected it via USB into a hub which then connected to the Mac’s USB-C port (the remaining non-broken one.) The name changed to simply Ampero Control in the ports list when I did that, but I still saw no incoming MIDI. Since I am pretty new at using Ableton, I suspect this is really due to me not setting something up right, but I will say that I get MIDI coming in from both Arturia Pigments and an IK Multimedia UNO Synth Pro without issue.But it is producing MIDI because I was able to program the controller to send program changes out to a synth using the 5-pin MIDI cables that are standard. The synth is about 40 years old and does program changes by listening for a PC message selecting the bank, then another one selecting the program within the bank. It doesn’t listen for CC message 0, which is the standard bank select message, but I just listed the 2 PC messages I needed under each foot switch in the app and the synth responded accordingly.What I couldn’t get working was for it to respond to any CC message, but the synth’s manual is kind of sketchy on this, so I’m assuming the Ampero Control is sending what I programmed and it’s up to me to keep digging until I solve it. I didn’t try using the expression pedal jacks because I don’t have an expression pedal, so can’t comment on that.Overall I’m impressed with the physical build quality, but less so with the Bluetooth implementation and am unsure about the USB connectivity because of my experience level with Ableton. The blue LED readout is easy to see but there are some tiny dots separating some of the numbers, which tells you if it’s a PC or CC message, and I find those too tiny for my eyes. Because of that, I just have to know what the numbers I’m seeing represent, and that’s why I said it’s cryptic at the top. Over time I imagine I’ll get used to it.Despite what probably sounds like a kinda negative review, I’m happy with the fact I can hook this to my old synth and switch programs, because that synth is a workhorse with great sounds. The UNO Synth Pro also has 5 pin MIDI so I can use it there too. If the Bluetooth worked better and the app was less clunky, I’d give this 5 stars, but 4 stars since there’s room to improve.

I was impressed with the fact it wasn't cheap plastic--it seems very sturdy and well built. I've spent about four hours with this tonight, and I'm not a novice--I've been using MIDI since the 1980s and, yes, I understand MIDI. I want to use this with Ableton Live on a Mac, with the Ampero app running on my iPhone. The app installed easily, the instruction manual got me hooked up with the iPhone in no time. The app seemed simple enough: I could immediately get the four FS1-FS4 switches programmed to do whatever I wanted. And an external TRS two-switch pedal was also no problem, giving me six switches in total to play with.The troubles start when I try to use an expression pedal in one of the two EXP/CTRL jacks. I've tried with both an M-Audio and Yamaha expression pedal, with no luck. I've calibrated the pedals, following the instructions. By pressing the Test button (with no other MIDI messages programmed) I can see it coming in on Ableton. But with the pedals themselves, no messages. I'm using USB MIDI into the Mac, and have been certain to enable the USB MIDI out in the app.My guess is my pedals aren't compatible, but there is no info in the app or manual other than basic setup. Very frustrating. I'm even remembering to hit "Save" with each change. (The app doesn't control the unit directly, you have to hit "Save" for a change to appear in the controller, which is also a bit annoying, but I'm already used to it.)I'll spend more time with it tomorrow, and maybe even order one of their expression pedals to see if it works. But if other pedals won't work, they should just spell this out in the manual or the app. I really want to get this thing going, as I can see how it could be incredibly powerful. But so far, I'm not able to get it to do what I really got it for.