Piano Foot Pedals For Your PC Keyboard
The foot pedals on a piano, in my opinion, influenced a few keys on the typewriter (and thus the keyboard) such as the SHIFT key. By pressing these pedals, the behavior of keys pressed elsewhere are changed. It’s rather brilliant!
If pianists can use this pedal system to compose musical masterpieces, then why shouldn’t the typical PC user who is writing the next great angry comment on YouTube use the same technique? Okay so playing the piano and writing a few paragraphs aren’t a good comparison, but there is something that can be learned from those piano foot pedals.
It may help people type faster, or at least more efficiently. I also think this will free up artists who are drawing on their tablet (pressing ALT to sample a color in Photoshop, for example). And for gamers, this will be an awesome addition: not only for racing games (gas/brake pedals), but for FPS games where SHIFT and CTRL are used for sprinting and crouching respectively.
There may even be some health benefit to keeping your feet active - certainly some improvement in your motor skills I would wager. Less strain on your pinky fingers as well.
Originally I designed this to mimic the piano foot pedals, but your foot would need to be angled (toes elevated and pointing up), so I thought a design where the foot was planted would be less taxing. Merely slide your foot forward to press a key. I also designed this so you can push 2 keys at the same time.
This item would probably illicit the need for a companion keyboard that would display what pedals are being pressed using light indicators. That keyboard would still have all the Shift/Alt/Ctrl keys - old habits need to be catered to!
Posted on July 17, 2011, in Computers, Gadgets, Music, Video Games and tagged Computers, Electronics, Gadgets, Health, Music, Video Games. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
the behavior of keys pressed elsewhere are changed
why ?
for “piano briefs” ?
You know what I meant! :p Okay that was sorta funny. I’m a fan of juvenile humor.
Oh, I got a great addition!
The Shift pedal is in the middle, and when you press it all the way down, you can slide it to the left to lock it in place like a real piano! Instant Caps-Lock!!
I gotta say though, you made a weird render. They definitely do not remind me of piano pedals…
get a nice brass coating and they’ll be a fancy addition to any steampunk pc rig.
Also, you’d think somebody woulda tried adopting something like this with racing pedals before maybe? I’m sure you can program racing pedals to use outside the game. But then again, they sure aren’t piano pedals
Thanks crd22. Like I said, I originally set out to clone the piano pedals, but didn’t want people having to hold their foot in an awkward pose. This design allows the foot to be planted flat, just slide it forward to push a pedal.
A 4th pedal for Caps Lock could be added. But I like that locking feature.
That crossed my mind too - you’d think someone would’ve modded racing pedals - or simply assigned a key to them, but I cannot find anything like this anywhere. I’ve done stuff like that in console games - like trying to play a normal game with a racing wheel (a guideline requirement for some consoles!), but for PC use nope.
I do think there is something like this device to assist those with disabilities, but I can’t find such a thing.
Just tried to make this look like an extension of a keyboard. You and your Steampunk fetish. :p I kid I kid.