Voes MX

The Voes MX is a family of MIDI foot controllers built by Voes, a Belgian maker. Instead of making sound itself, an MX sends MIDI messages to whatever you connect it to: modelers like the Line 6 HX Stomp, Neural DSP Quad Cortex, IK Tonex, Kemper Profiler and Fractal Axe-Fx units, or MIDI-equipped tube amps. Every button can be programmed from a set of 68 command types, so one footswitch can change a preset, jump to a scene, tap a tempo or run a looper¹.

The range covers different sizes, from the compact MX-5 and MX-6 through the MX-9 and the MX-12 3x4 and MX-12 (2x6) layouts up to the MX-18, plus the MX-EX expander. Voes positions the MX as a way to extend compact devices that have only one or two buttons of their own, adding presets through MIDI PC commands². With a Line 6 unit, for example, Voes says the MX will extend it with 5 to 18 extra buttons³.

Pages, layers and long press

The MX organizes its buttons into three setups: Page A and Page B, both fully editable, and Page P, a presets page with a fixed layout¹. A Type 41 command switches between Page A and Page B, and a Type 42 command switches between the current page and Page P¹. Page P is not available on the MX-5, MX-6 and MX-9¹.

Each button has two layers: Normal Press and Long Press¹. That means one physical switch can carry two different sets of commands, and how the long press behaves is itself configurable. Voes lists four Long Press types¹:

Block mode is worth a note for players who care about response speed: because commands fire on press rather than release, Voes says buttons respond faster in that mode¹.

By default, all commands assigned to a button are transmitted at once. A Step By Step mode changes that: only one command is transmitted on each step, the next button press sends the next command, and at the end the cycle returns to the first command. If Auto Color Steps is enabled, the LED changes color on each step so you can see where you are in the sequence¹.

The 68 command types

Each command can choose from 68 Types, and each layer holds up to 6 commands¹. The set covers plain MIDI messages, device-specific sync commands and controller housekeeping.

General MIDI commands

• Type 1, None: does nothing; skipped if steps is active¹
• Type 2, Preset (PC): transmits a program change on a MIDI channel, 1 to 16¹
• Type 3, PC Independent: sends the same program change but the button operates independently of the main exclusive group, so a regular Preset button press will not turn off its LED¹
• Types 4/5, CC On/Off and CC Off/On: ON sends a control change, 1 to 127, with value 127; OFF sends the same CC with value 0¹
• Type 6, CC On Only: always sends value 127 on each press; Voes calls it ideal for tap tempo, and the LED blinks briefly¹
• Type 7, CC On Only LED: the same, but toggles the LED on each press¹
• Type 8, CC Off Only: the opposite of CC On Only¹
• Type 9, CC Value: for any value other than 0 or 127¹
• Types 10/11, CC Plus and CC Min: increases or decreases the CC value on each push¹
• Type 12, CC Momentary: turns the button into a momentary switch, sending value 127 on press and 0 on release; commands 2 to 6 will not execute and Long Press does not work with it¹
• Types 13/14, Note On/Off and Note Trigger: play notes or trigger samples¹
• Types 43/44, SysEx and SysEx Toggle: send SysEx messages up to 16 characters long¹

Expression and pedal commands

Types 15 to 17 (Expr 1/2/3 CC Swap) change what an expression input does, for example switching from Wah to Volume¹. Types 18 and 19 (Auto 1/2 On CC Swap) replace the CC and channel of the regular Expr 1/2 Auto On settings¹.

Preset and bank navigation

• Types 24/25, Bank Down and Bank Up: select the first preset number and decrease or increase it by the count of all presets on the layout¹
• Type 26, Bank Number: selects a particular bank¹
• Types 27/28, Preset Down and Preset Up: decrease or increase the current preset number¹
• Type 29, Favorite Preset: jumps to a favorite preset and returns to the previous one¹
• Type 37, Preset Select: all LEDs blink blue and every button selects its respective preset number, then buttons return to their programmed state¹
• Type 38, Bank Select: all LEDs blink red and every button selects its respective bank number¹
• Type 39, Numeric Preset Select: buttons 1 to 9 and 10 as zero choose a preset number¹

Scenes, tuner, tempo and looper

• Type 30, Scene: selects Scene 1 to 8, transmitting the right CC number depending on the selection in External Device; works with Fractal Audio Systems, Quad Cortex, Tonex and HX Stomp snapshots¹
• Types 31/32, Scene Down and Up: decrease or increase the current scene or snapshot¹
• Type 33, Scene A/B: switches between two scenes or snapshots¹
• Type 34, Tuner: activates the tuner; tuner info is not shown on the MX LCD display; works with Fractal, Quad Cortex, Tonex and HX Stomp¹
• Type 35, Tempo: sends a tempo command¹
• Type 36, Looper: looper commands Record, Play/Stop, Undo, Reverse and Erase; works with Quad Cortex and HX Stomp¹

LED and display commands

• Type 20, IA On/Off: turns another IA (instant access) button on or off¹
• Type 21, All Other LEDs Off: solves conflicts between the visual LED layout and the actual on/off state of the connected instrument¹
• Type 22, On Color: sets the button LED to one of 7 colors: Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Purple, Turquoise or White¹
• Type 23, Off Color: changes the default off color, which is None, to any of the same 7 colors¹
• Type 40, Save: saves the on/off LED states of all buttons for the current preset¹
• Type 45, Text: displays text on the second line of the LCD¹

Page and multi-controller commands

• Type 41, Page A/B: switches between Page A and Page B¹
• Type 42, Page P: switches between the current page and the fixed-layout presets page¹
• Type 46, Child IA On/Off: turns another IA on or off on a second connected (child) MX¹
• Type 47, Child Page A/B: switches pages on a second connected (child) MX¹

The Child commands are how two MX units work together: one controller can drive the buttons and pages of another on the same rig¹.

Device-specific sync commands

Beyond the general types, the MX has dedicated command families that talk to specific modelers and pull information back to the controller's LCD and tempo LED¹.

• 12 dedicated Axe-Fx I/II/III and FM3/9 Types¹
• 9 dedicated Kemper Profiler Types¹
• Special Tempo, Tuner and Looper commands for Line 6 HX Stomp, Neural DSP Quad Cortex and IK Tonex¹

Types 48 to 50 sync with the Axe-Fx Standard, Ultra and II (XL+): the MX shows preset name and tuner info on the LCD, and the tempo LED blinks¹. Types 51 to 59 sync with the Axe-Fx III, FM3 or FM9 and show more: preset name, scene name, active scene, block FX on/off state, block FX channel state, tuner info and looper commands, with the tempo LED blinking¹. Types 60 to 68 sync with the Kemper Profiler, showing performance name, rig name, stomp and FX on/off state and tuner info on the LCD, with the tempo LED blinking and Kemper looper commands available¹.

This is where the tuner answer gets interesting for players comparing controllers: the generic Type 34 tuner command does not display tuner info on the MX, but the Kemper and Axe-Fx III/FM3/FM9 sync commands do¹.

Connecting amps and other gear

The MX is not limited to modelers. Voes lists modern tube amps that can all be controlled by MIDI, including the Revv D20 and G20, Hook Wizard, Marshall 6100, Hughes & Kettner Black Spirit 200, EVH 5150 III and Engl Savage 120². Channel switching on those amps becomes a matter of assigning the right CC commands to buttons.

For compact MIDI devices with one or two buttons of their own, Voes says the MX can extend them with additional presets using MIDI PC commands². Each button can also add or subtract a fixed CC value on each step, using CC Value, CC Min and CC Plus settings².

Power and setup

All MX devices run on a 9 to 12V supply through a 2.1mm power adapter, which Voes notes is common on any pedalboard². Power is forgiving: AC or DC does not matter, and the positive/negative side does not matter either. As Voes puts it, "The MX will take care or that."²

Setup is done through the MX Editor, available for Windows and Mac. Voes says that with the editor, "the MX is easy to setup," and invites players to download it and try it out themselves¹².

Videos

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Questions