At the recent 2007 NAMM Expo, Roland announced the new FC-300 MIDI Foot Controller.

The FC-300 is designed to be a perfect companion for Roland’s new VG-99 V-Guitar System or any other performance-based MIDI instrument or device.

The FC-900 is outfitted with nine industrial-grade footswitches and two programmable expression pedals for fast, easy control and expanded performance capabilities. The backlit LCD offers a high-contrast view of patch names (when used with the VG-99) and other important data, even in the darkest stage environments.

Up to 100 sets of MIDI messages/parameters can be stored simultaneously in the FC-300 as patches. Complex MIDI transmission is made simple thanks to the FC-300’s ability to package chunks of data together in a single patch, and then transmit each data-burst via footswitch.

Using commercially available LAN (Ethernet, CAT5) cable and the newly adopted RRC2 protocol, the FC-300 provides both bidirectional MIDI transmission and electrical power supply with one simple connection between the VG-99 and FC-300.

Two multipurpose switch-jacks are built into the FC-300. These programmable outputs are an ideal feature for guitarists, as they allow amp channels to be switched from clean to lead, for example, in sync with patch changes on the FC-300.