Tech 21 MIDI Mouse

Extreamly easy to use. A no-brainer. I use it with my TC Electronics G-Major. I put a 9volt batery in the unit, I connected a midi cable on to both ends and there it goes. The G-Major automaticly detected it. It works perfect. This is the perfect unit to use with your Gmajor Processor in live performances.

The quality is perfect taking into account that it does what it supposed to do. I use it to switch up and down on presets on my G-Major. My G-major's presets are already in order so all i have to do is go up or down. The search option is great.

I haven't gig with it yet but Im about to take it for a spin. So far its doing well in all the testing. I dont see how it can fail. But who knows, right? Sometimes in a gig everything goes wrong (soundwise). The casing looks very durable.

I email tech21 support reguarding a copy of the manual and suprisingly, they got back to me the next day with a copy of the manual (not that I this unit needs a manual). I was impresed.

Overall I give it a 10 because Ive been looking for a while a small unit to control my Gmajor. This had it all. Small, affordable, simple, battery operated. Dont know what else to ask. I agree with the rest of the guys that the space on the unit is limited but hey, its intended to be compact. For what I paid, it meets all my expectations and more.

only 3 buttons to learn how to use. pretty simple.

this doesn't create any actual sounds all I use it for is to change my effect settings on my Zoom proccessor

i haven't had this thing long enough to know how reliable it is but i have owned other gear from Tech 21 and it seems like they make thier stuff virtually bullet proof.

I've never had to deal with thier customer support but i've actually talked to a real person from tech 21 a few times with questions and they seemed to know what they are doing.

I play in a cover band mostly 90's and new rock and classic rock and i play a Fender Squire double Fat Tele Deluxe thru a Fender Twin reverb, i use the tech 21 GT2 pedal for distortion and a Zoom 9050 for effects and the only thing about this midi mouse is that the buttons are to close and I end up accidently hitting the active/search button alot. so since i didn't need that active/search button in the middle i disabled it and now it does exactly what i need it to do. if you have the same problem i did whith accidently hitting that active/search button and you don't need it, all you do is unscrew the 4 screws that hold the bottom plate on and between the buttons and the circut board are springs that activate those switches, just pull out the spring that activates that Active/search button, the springs are in there really good and you can't just lift the circut board out it's soldered into the case so i just took a small flattip screwdriver and pushed the spring down and around the circut board and grabbed onto the spring with a pair of pinnose pliers and yanked it out of there, I ruined the spring getting it out of there so if anyone finds a better way let me know. its all hard soldered in so there are no wires you can just cut and you can't just take the button out without taking the whole thing apart.

3 buttons: active/search, down, and up. The ease of use will vary between each user I think. Let me explain. If you are using it for simple MIDI control, then it is incredibly easy. Push up to go up a patch, push down to go down a patch. If you plan on sticking around the same patch for an entire song, then this thing is great. But if you use more than 2 patches in a song, or if you want to make huge leaps between patches it can be frustrating because you can only move up or down one at a time. The buttons are too close together and the LED goes out after 10 seconds. I constantly became frustrated because I would either hit the wrong button, wish I could switch to a patch even 3 away from where I was without having to push the search, or I would forget where I was when the light went out. I bought this for my Marshall JMP-1, but I didnt realize how limiting it is. If you like to go all out with your MIDI, then this isnt for you, which is why I'm looking to sell it. But if you're looking for a cheap MIDI controller for a small amount of MIDI use, then this is for you.

I bought it new about a month ago. It seems to be extremely durable. I could probably throw it up against a wall and it would be fine because of the strong metal casing. Switches are metal stompbox style, which I really liked because they are nice and sturdy. The battery also seems to last for quite a while. If you dont want to risk the battery going out, you can always use an adapter or phantom power it with a MIDI cable.

Haven't had to deal with them.

Overall, its a very good controller for the right person. Unfortunately, I am not the right person, so I am trying to sell it to get a bigger MIDI controller.

Like I said, if you're looking for a small, easy to use MIDI pedal for a small amount of MIDI use, then this definitly the pedal for you, especially because of the great price. But if you're looking to be able to switch lots of patches often and control multiple MIDI units, then forget this and buy a bigger one.

I agree with the reviewer below, I wish there was more space between the buttons. Frankly, I could do without the middle switch, which allows you to scroll up and down before you execute the change. Not a bad idea but you can run into a problem if you aren't careful with your stomping.

This thing is tough. I love the fact that it runs on batteries, which is why I bought it. The batteries last for a very long time. I have owned this pedal for 7+ years.

I have always experienced excellent customer service from Tech 21. John responds to emails within a day or two. His answers are informative.

I think it would've made more sense for the three switches to have been in a straight line with greater distance between each switch. The sleep mode when battery-operated can be confusing if you don't know what patch you are on. I can see how this might bother some people but it never did me. The reason they manufactured it this way makes sense to me (conserve battery life).

Easy to use but confusing because the display goes dark if you use a battery. Also not easy to use because the buttons that switch the midi channels are behind the button that bypasses the connection. Very confusing while on stage. All of the switches are WAY too close together to be practical. If you need to switch channels while in a song this can be a real hastle.

doesn't make any sound.

Never had a problem with it.

Didn't need.

It works really well to switch midi channels but lacks geometric common sense. Like many of the small midi switches this one simply needs buttons that are a)bigger and b)spaced apart more.