Using the Nectar Pacer MIDI Foot Controller with a Korg Pa2X Arranger

I decided to try out the Nectar Pacer MIDI Foot Controller.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Pacer--nektar-pacer-midi-foot-controller

Once again, Sweetwater delivered the unit double boxed via FedEx 2-day Home Delivery in pristine condition.

The MIDI Capabilities of this device goes way beyond the Behringer FCB1010.

The FCB1010 has 10 banks. Each bank controls 10 pedals for a total of 100 presets.

On the other hand, the Pacer has 24 banks which they call Presets.

Each of these 24 presets can independently control 10 Switches (pedals) along with 4 External Foot Switches and 2 external Expression Pedals.

Each of these 10 Switches (pedals) can be programmed to send various types of messages:

Control Change Toggle
Control Change Trigger
Control Change Step
MIDI Note
MIDI Note Toggle
Program Change & Bank
Program Step
NRPN Coarse
NRPN Fine
MIDI Machine Control
Relay Outputs
Preset Select
Preset Increment/Decrement
Step Select
Step Increment/Decrement
OFF

You can select the MIDI Channel (1-16, or 0 for Global) and set the Color of the LEDs when the Switch is on or off.

If that is not enough, you can also program a sequence of 6 Steps into each of these 10 pedals sending any of the above messages.

This is a MIDI Programmer's Dream Machine!

What makes this device a joy to use is the free online editor designed by Francois Georgy, a fan of the Pacer.

https://studiocode.dev/pacer-editor/#/

Hooking up the Pacer to your Computer is a breeze. It uses a class complaint USB 2.0 port. It is recognized immediately. There are no device drivers to install.

This USB cable also supplies the power to the unit.

The device was initially marketed by Nectar to act as a dedicated DAW controller. It controls the PLAY, START/STOP, REW, FWD, RECORD, LOOP functions of your DAW right of the box.

It became so popular that its MIDI capabilities were extended to control effect units, hardware synths and keyboards.

It is the ideal device to control your Arranger Keyboard.

What makes this device stand out is the large red LCD display that can be read under any lighting condition.

Moreover, you can assign 12 different colors to the LEDs on each of the 10 pedals.
Each color can be dim or bright to indicate if the pedal is on or off.

I made 3 Presets for controlling the Style Elements of the Korg Pa2X that you can download from:

http://davidapps.net/pacer/pacer_pa2x.zip

I have explained how to program these Presets and make them work with the Korg Pa2X in this User Guide:

http://davidapps.net/pacer/pacer_pa2x_setup.pdf


David