A Wearable Foot-mounted / Instrument-mounted Effect Controller: Design and Evaluation

This paper explores a new interaction possibility for increasing performer freedom via a foot-mounted wearable, and an instrument-mounted device that maintain stomp-box styles of interactivity, but without the restrictions normally associated with the original design of guitar effect pedals. The classic foot activated effect pedals that are used to alter the sound of the instrument are stationary, forcing the performer to return to the same location in order to interact with the pedals. This paper presents a new design that enables the performer to interact with the effect pedals anywhere on the stage. By designing a foot&instrumentmounted effect controller, we kept the strongest part of the classical pedal design, while allowing the activation of the effect at any location on the stage. The usability of the device has been tested on thirty experienced guitar players. Their performance has been recorded and compared, and their opinion has been investigated through questionnaire and interview. The results of the experiment showed that, in theory, foot&instrument-mounted effect controller can replace standard effect pedals and at the same time provide more mobility on a stage.