Keith McMillen Instruments on Wednesday released a new foot controller for musicians called SoftStep. The controller can be plugged into a Mac using USB or MIDI.

[ad#Google Adsense 300×250 in story]Calling SoftStep “the most affordable, versatile and expressive foot controller available,” the company is giving musicians a whole new way to work with traditional foot controllers. Most foot controllers give guitarists a way to turn on and off a specific effect, but SoftStep takes it a step further.

The device has ten sensor keys that support five degrees of motion such as up/down, left/right, inc/dec, pressure and rotary motions that can be preprogrammed to control effects, software, or multimedia.

SoftStep also has a four-direction navigation pedal, an alphanumeric LED display, and backlit keys. Guitar players can use SoftStep with apps like Guitar Rig and AmpliTube, and DJs can use it with apps like Live, Reason and Traktor.

SoftStep is available from Keith McMillen Instruments and costs $289.