A Simple Remote Lets You Trigger Tracks, Lights, And Cues From Anywhere On Stage

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What if your show could breathe without the leash of a pedalboard or the glow of a laptop? We sit down with Midian co-founder Willem van Dermey to share how a belt-clip MIDI controller gives performers real freedom: trigger tracks, fire lighting cues, and move through scenes with a simple click from anywhere on stage. No app lock-in, no steep learning curve—just a reliable, RF-powered remote that maps cleanly to Ableton Live, Logic Pro, ProPresenter, and even OBS.

Willem traces the journey from a worship leader’s clunky footswitch to a senior design project that blossomed into a production-ready device. We dig into why 2.4 GHz RF beats Bluetooth on crowded stages, how four buttons deliver eight functions with short and long presses, and what “near-zero latency” feels like when you’re counting in a chorus. You’ll hear real stories from bands and educators who traded frantic laptop sprints for calm, confident control, along with hard-won lessons from navigating FCC certification and the cost of international approvals like CE.

Whether you’re a solo artist building your first backing tracks, a bassist juggling pedals and cues, or a metal band tired of mid-show update surprises, this conversation lays out practical ways to simplify your rig without sacrificing power. We keep it grounded: what to map first, how to think about line of sight, and when discreet control adds the most value to a live set. If you’ve been waiting for a way to run the show while staying in the show, this is for you.

Enjoy the episode? Follow the show, share it with a friend who gigs, and leave a quick review—your support helps us bring on more builders and artists who make live music better.

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Our wireless MIDI trigger controller allows musicians to discreetly trigger tracks. promo-franklin

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Transcript

Welcome, Quotes, And Health Update

Rob 0:31

Hi, welcome to Franklin's Garage to Stage podcast. My name is Rob Wardrums Franklin, and my co-host is Dana Thunderbase Franklin. How are you doing, man?

Dana 0:41

I'm good.

Rob 0:41

How are you? Well, good now. Sorry for the delay for our loyal listeners. I had some health issues again with my oesophagus here, but uh we're back, we're back and ready to roll. So I wanted to apologize that. Yeah, you should. Yeah, I should. This is wrong. And as you know, to our loyal listeners anyway, I always start the podcast and uh with a quote, and my brother finishes with a quote. These are both inspirational and just apply to life in general. And mine today is by Zig Ziggler, and it goes as you don't have to be great to start, but you do have to start to be great. And I find that extremely inspirational because it applies to music and life in general. So today we have with us a uh very special guest, which my brother is going to introduce. Dana, who we got today?

Dana 1:32

Well, well, today with us we have you know, and you know what the way our show is, you know, we usually have musicians and you know engineers and something you know along that line. So we're kind of switching it around today. Um so today with us we have Willem van Dermey. I hope I hope I'm saying that right and didn't have to do that. That's correct. And he's the um one of the co-founders of uh um a company called Midian. So, Willem, tell us a little bit about your company and you know how you got started with that.

From Broken Footswitch To Wireless Idea

Willem 2:01

Yeah. So this is a company that I started with some engineering friends in college. So we all graduated about two years ago. And first had the idea when I was a junior in college. So I went to a Christian school, and um, one of my good friends was studying to become a worship music leader for a church. And so he had a little device that he would use to trigger tracks when he would be up on stage, and it was like a foot switch, hit the switch, trigger whatever on a software. And so he brought it to my room because he thought it was broken and he was like, Willem's an engineer, he can fix it. So open it up, and it was just a loose screw, so not did not require that much, that much work to fix. But um, we got talking more about the device, and he kind of mentioned, like, yeah, it's not really the ideal solution because I'm playing acoustic guitar and I'm hitting foot switches on stage and it can confuse people. And then you also have to look down, make sure you get the right thing, stay in the same spot. So I was like, okay, there like there has to be a wireless one of these. So we go online and I'm trying to find some wireless um mini controller he can use to trigger tracks and just like clip to his belt or whatever. And we were both surprised that we couldn't find one. And this was right before our college had a like shark tank the pitch type competition. So I knew the people that are running it and they needed more people to pitch ideas, and I was like, well, this is an idea, so might as well pitch this one. Yeah, uh, which kind of fell into my lap. So pitched that. I think I got third place or something, but ultimately ended up using the idea my senior year as my um senior design project with some other engineers. So as an engineering student, we often design something. Um, and so we decided to do an entrepreneurial project and yeah, got a lot of it designed in in school. Now we're just graduated doing this on the side, so

Speaker 2 4:03

um trying to spread the word, get some sales, and help people out.

Rob 4:07

Very cool. Well, it's a killer device. You sent us a sample. Unfortunately, we haven't had a chance to set it up yet, but I'm really looking forward to it. I have what's called a uh uh Yamaha DTX Explorer, it's a drum module, but I'm actually gonna use it as uh a MIDI for effects as well. Okay, so that's I'm looking forward to doing that. But um, you've got some great reviews on your website, which we will put a link to on our website as well. But uh, are you yourself a musician?

Speaker 2 4:37

Yeah, so I I had piano lessons in elementary school, so that's kind of where it started, I think like second grade till all the way through high school. Um also played saxophone, did the whole march and band thing in high school, and then in college didn't do a ton. Um, but what I did do, which was really, really cool, was at the end of each year, right before finals, the university would put on a big like concert award show. And so I went to it my freshman year, and they had all these bands playing covers of different rock and pop songs, and it was super fun. So I think that the crowd was like, I don't know, 2,000 students, and they put a lot of effort on all the lights and everything. So it was and it was uh so we had a chapel being a Christian school, and it was in the chapel building, and they had all the lights and everything. So um then the next two years I auditioned and played saxophone on a um vocal band, and we did a couple covers, and that was super, super fun. So the first year I did it, we had like all the LED panels and everything. I was like, I've never done anything like this, but this is this is great.

Rob 5:45

Alto or tenor?

Speaker 2 5:46

Uh alto.

unknown 5:47

Alto cool.

Speaker 2 5:48

I played tenor, but mostly alto.

Rob 5:50

Okay, very cool.

Dana 5:52

Cool. Um, so from the the concept of this, you know, like you said, the median prime, from the from the day you thought of it until you actually put it in production, how how long was that process and and how many hiccups did you come across the way? I know it was a lot of good.

Speaker 2 6:09

Lots of lots of hiccups, I can assure you. Lots of hiccups. I think between having the idea and actually getting a first sale would be just around two years, right? So I'm gonna three. I think just around two years.

Dana 6:29

That's not bad, actually. I mean, that's that's that that's it. That's a good thing.

Prototyping, School Project, First Sales

Speaker 2 6:33

It was it, I mean, it was great that um we could use it as an idea for school because we had to put in however many hours a week on something, and I was like, well, we might as well do it towards something that um is cool and maybe we can make some money off of at some point and just yeah, solve solve a problem for people that we actually know too.

Rob 6:52

Okay, cool. Now I know it's on your website, but can you describe uh all the practical uses for it for like uh maybe a brand new uh band you know looking to use MIDI as a form of putting backtracks or lighting or whatever? But can you explain, leak a lot of the processes and and uh basically use things you can use it for?

Practical Uses Across DAWs And Lights

Speaker 2 7:14

Yeah. So the setups are honestly endless, and whenever we talk with people, there's always some new idea that somebody has um for a specific setup for them. But kind of the basics are you have all these different music, DAW softwares, presentation softwares, lighting softwares, and most of them have been designed to accept MIDI signals. So traditionally used, sorry about just for pianos and things, but kind of got hijacked because it was a useful protocol. And so Logic Pro, Ableton Live, um Pro Presenter, even like OBS Studio, um, I think supports MIDI that does uh screen recording. And so all these different uh software applications, you can map MIDI signals from a physical MIDI device to do something in a software. So if you wanted to have a physical way to start a track, then you would use a MIDI signal and in your software say, Hey, when I hit this button, I want you to play this track. When I hit this button, I want this light, this lighting cue to start. So most MIDI controllers are um a lot of them would be like something you would you would put on uh some sort of desktop um for kind of a a studio perspective. But then for performance, a lot of times people will use the flip switches. So you have something that you can control with your feet and trigger tracks, cues, whatever. Um kind of what our iteration on top of that is something you can clip to your belt, your pocket, guitar strap. So kind of like I like to call it a PowerPoint clicker for musicians. So we don't make any software, it's just like a PowerPoint clicker sends a thing, and your software um gets you gets trained what to do with it. So yeah, the most traditional thing would be hey, I'm a band, maybe we don't have every instrument yet, or maybe I'm just a singer and I need traps to sing over and I go to restaurants and I need a way to trigger off XYZ backtrack, and I would rather not have a laptop up on stage with me because that's what some people do. If you're like for aesthetic reasons, I don't have the laptop on stage with me, I don't want to have to have some other um physical, conspicuous device that people see me interacting with, and that's where our device would help. And then also that you can walk around. Um, that's also one of the things that surprised me talking with people is I kind of thought that what people would like the most was that it wasn't noticeable, but a lot of people liked that they can walk around. Um, and even we had one guy who worked at a summer camp teaching kids music, and him and his band would kind of rotate out the kids um into different band parts. And so they would have a track and he would be walking around the room constantly showing kids what to do, where before he had to run back to his laptop every time he hear the track and then run back to whoever he was talking to. Now we get to do that from wherever he is in the room. So that was uh a really a really big help for him.

Rob 10:24

Well, very practical.

Dana 10:25

Yeah, okay. So uh so I'm a bass player, and you know, and of course I've got you know uh a footboard with a couple you know pedals that I like to use and and such. Um as a guitar player, bass player, yeah. I I could put this through my footboard instead of having to go over and stop a certain thing in between a certain song or point. I can be I could be anywhere on stage and use this, right? Just clip it on my belt or pants pocket or whatever, right? Cool. I love that idea. Is there any you like other wireless stuff? Is there any you know latency problems or in how far does the signal work within? What would be a good distance? Good question.

Mobility, Discreet Control, Real-World Wins

Speaker 2 11:05

Yeah, so um we wanted to make it as as long a range as possible. So it doesn't use Bluetooth, it uses RF. So it has a little receiver, kind of a glorified mouse dongle. It's larger than a mouse dongle because it just has a big antenna in it, and that's what you actually plug into your computer, iPad, phone, whatever. Um but the range is at least about a hundred yards of football field. Oh wow, so more than anybody should really ever need. And that's line of sight. So if you like stick it in some room behind a wall, hopefully you still get your signal and it's it's not gonna be as far. Um, but that was our goal. Of all the things we want people to worry about, we do not want to have to have them worry about uh walking out of range. That's something very much in our control. So the the range is like 300 feet. Latency is I mean, obviously not instantaneous, but as about as close to it as I think you can get. Um and yeah, the signals get sent on the button release. So that's the one thing is if you press it down, you're not gonna get it immediately. Um, and that's because the a long press will do something different.

Rob 12:18

Oh, okay.

Speaker 2 12:18

So if you hold the button for more than a second, it's gonna do something different. So I guess I should mention the device looks a little bit like a garage door opener and has four buttons for four different functions, and then the long press gives you another four, so you get eight functions total.

Rob 13:08

Oh, nice. Okay. I hadn't actually read that part yet. Now, have you had any issues with it interfering with other wireless devices?

Speaker 2 13:17

So far, we've had no complaints um from anybody. So so far we've been good.

Dana 13:24

Yeah, I mean that was a good question because you know, usually I use you know, I've got a wireless you know, mic um for my for my base. Yeah. Um, which, you know, of course, and most bases I think are 2.6, 2.8 hertz, or whatever the the frequency is on that. And mine's a 5.6. I did different just so it wouldn't interfere with what most people um now is this one on a whole different, I guess, wavelength or what I'm not very technical, so I don't know if I'm asking the right question here.

Latency, Range, And RF vs Bluetooth

Speaker 2 13:54

So it it it uses it uses 2.4 gigahertz, which is the same as Wi-Fi, same as Bluetooth. The the nice thing for us is we just have to send a very little amount of information very reliably. So it's not like we're sending a whole audio signal, it's just um kind of small pulses that really have to reliably get through. So so far the interference hasn't really been an issue.

Rob 14:19

Awesome. Cool. We actually have talked to and have future guests that are in, I'm not sure if you've heard or not, but symphonic metal. And they're I'm sure they'd be very interested in this this product because they use a lot of backing tracks. In fact, one of our last guests actually talked about their laptop they were using, went into a uh startup mode because it was did a software update during the concert. So I'm sure something like this would be uh really interesting to them.

Dana 14:46

So that's actually a good point.

Rob 14:49

So basically, can you tell uh our audience and uh we really cater to a lot of like you musicians or musicians that are on their journey? Um, what would be a good starting point for them to start using this product?

Speaker 2 15:05

I think as soon as you have something you want to use software for.

Rob 15:09

Okay.

Speaker 2 15:10

So if you want to use software for tracks, use software for lights, our device just gives you a way to control that without being tied down to whatever device is actually doing that. So a lot of like you get started, you don't always have, you know, sound guy, light guy, all these other people supporting you. It's usually you doing it. So if we can make it easier for you to control what you would already be controlling and just make it a more intuitive, more discrete um interface, that's that's kind of our goal. So definitely I think that the biggest, the biggest benefit is for um people just starting out where they have all these things that they need to be doing, um, because they don't have all the support of you know a full production team, etc.

Rob 15:55

Right.

Speaker 2 15:55

And um they still want to, you know, have the cool effects and things, uh, but don't need need a need a way to control it without um distracting from performance and just really have it add.

Dana 16:07

Well, you know, d during our episodes, we always have a moment, you know, and I think this is gonna apply to you in probably a different kind of way, but we always have a moment that we call, oh shit. It's usually when you know, you know, typically, like I said, we've talked to mostly artists and musicians where they've had something happen on stage or during practice or in some public way, something that was you know funny or you know, embarrassing, just something we say, oh shit. Now, during the process of you making this, I'm sure you had a moment like that where you know, probably dealing with government entities or something with licensing and stuff. Yeah, so they're so tell tell us your oh shit moment.

Interference And 2.4 GHz Considerations

Speaker 2 16:46

Go on, the oh my goodness. So at the end of 2024, so we we had the whole thing done, but since it's wireless, it has to be like approved, certified, whatever by the SNC that's not like gonna cause cancer or whatever. So um we we were using like we we found these modules that are like pre-certified, so you only have to do you have to do less testing to do whatever conformity stuff. So we're using these things, and then we go to actually do the testing, and I'm reading through the stuff on the FCC website for the transmitter, like the ID that it's supposed to be under.

Rob 17:31

Right.

Speaker 2 17:31

And I'm like, this this does this does not look like what I'm seeing online, does not look like the thing that I have right in front of me. And so I email the company and they're like, oh yeah, so we we just kind of certify all of our stuff at once. So if your government is very strict, then you might want to do this one separately. And I was like, usually usually the US government is known for being very strict, so I guess we should probably try and figure this out. Um, so wasn't got it done. Um, but yeah, literally had like a hundred emails with the lab, had a hundred emails with the manufacturer, ended up where we find like they they finally put the um like the document on the FCC website so we could see the thing, read like yes, like this is our transmitter under whatever ID, approved for use and configuration, ABC, whatever. They're like, you can't use it in this specific configuration. I was like, that's literally the exact configuration I told you guys we were trying to use it in. So yeah, so I emailed the manufacturer one more time, and I was like, hey, I there's we this this needs to be changed because this is what we're trying to do. And they're like, yeah, we don't know if we can change that. I was like, oh my goodness. So I just I just went to bed, I prayed about it, woke up the next morning, went on the website, and it was it was fixed. Oh no what happened. All I know was it was fixed, and we're gonna pray to the Lord.

Rob 19:03

So there you go.

Who Benefits Most And When To Start

Speaker 2 19:05

Aye, aye, yeah. So that was that was last January where we finally got through that process. So that's right. Last January was when we first got like permission to sell, we can actually sell this thing.

Rob 19:15

Very cool. How long was the testing process?

Speaker 2 19:20

I mean, including all the emails, it was like three or four months, but the actual test itself is like I don't know, a week or two.

Dana 19:30

Now you're saying, you know, obviously, like I said, I'm not very tech wise tech savvy. Um but you had to go through all the US government stuff. Now, would something like this work abroad, like say over in England, and you know, if we had bands that were over there, I I don't know if it makes a difference being overseas, but does does this apply to them?

Speaker 2 19:50

So will it work? Yes. Oh, okay. Are we allowed to sell there? No. Really? Because it isn't certified there. So each country you have to certify things differently. Um, for like the European Union, you need the little like CE mark if you've ever seen that on products. So does that apply globally, or is that just like UK or it's like um on if you turn over like any electronics, you can see where it's like the little FCC symbol, and then you have like the little UK symbol. Right. Um Canada's got their own one, Brazil's got their own one. So all these countries have different ones. And most of thankfully, the US one wasn't actually that expensive compared to some of the European ones. Um, but I like we were thinking about that, you know, the lab, they're like, yeah, that's like it was ten or twenty thousand dollars to get to be able to just sell it in Europe. And I was like, that is that is not worth it to us at the moment. So if anybody wants to put it in order for $120,000 with a transfer, we'll happily get it certified.

Rob 20:56

Well, we're currently in 33 countries, so you might still have a global global sales.

The “Oh Shit” FCC Certification Saga

Dana 21:01

So technically, if somebody would buy it from us and we shipped it to them, it would still work. I mean, I don't know if this is gonna get me jailed.

Speaker 2 21:11

That's all I'm gonna say. It'll be functional.

Dana 21:13

Okay, all right. So for you listeners, you know, say Jay, Gospels of Odin, some of you other people that we've yeah, if one of these applies to you, just give us an email.

Rob 21:26

Okay, so Willem, thank you for being on our show, number one. But two, can you please describe your product and its functionality for like new musicians and basically do a sales pitch for your product in 30 seconds or less.

Dana 21:42

In 30 seconds or less.

Speaker 2 21:45

I think I I think I can.

unknown 21:46

Cool.

Speaker 2 21:46

So just just go. The Midian Prime is a wireless, discrete MIDI trigger controller that allows performing musicians to control DAW software, lighting software, and other performance software from anywhere on stage through the press of simple buttons in a PowerPoint clicker-like form factor.

Rob 22:11

Nice. All right, very nice. All right, I think that works. Now, as Dana mentioned, we are going to put a link on our website to your product as well. And I'm assuming we'll use a promo code or something like that. But please do visit their website, which is MIDI and Live. And in closing, what would you like to say, uh Willem?

Speaker 2 22:32

I I really appreciate you guys having me on. It's always fun to talk to new people, hear new ideas to use the product. There's definitely yeah, every every time we talk to new people, there's always something that I learned, which is great. Cool.

Rob 22:45

Now, like I said earlier, we're gonna actually do a little video of uh testing the product as well. And before we uh publish it, we'll definitely uh ask for your permission. Uh but thank you very much for being on our show, and we hope this helps with your sales and uh looking forward to testing your product, and it's been a pleasure talking to you.

Dana 23:03

Thank you. Thank you. I mean, your product is I I think it's amazing and so many applications that can be used for musicians. So we're definitely going to spread the word and get this out so everybody knows what they can use this for and why they need it.

Speaker 2 23:18

I appreciate it. I appreciate a lot.

Dana 23:20

Thank you, sir. William, William, thank you.

Rob 23:23

Thank you. Bye bye.

International Certifications And Limits

Dana 23:25

So that was cool talking to William. You know, he had uh a lot of uh a lot of cool stuff to say about this product that I think will help a lot of artists and musicians and sounds like a cool thing. Um so my quote that and this you know first off, I'd like to thank everybody that's been you know listening to us and downloading us, streaming, whatever the technical term is for all that shit. Um but you know, even you know, we've been away for almost two months now because of some you know issues beyond our control. And um, you know, I'd just like to say thanks Wardrums for sticking with us and being alive still. And you know, he went yeah, he went through some shit that nobody wanted to deal with. So he he's he's back with us and we're we're back at it doing this. So we'd like to thank all you loyal listeners and and new people that have listened to our show because you know we're still getting you know constant hits and stuff, even during our app the absence of our podcasting. So appreciate that and all the different cities and countries we're in. You know, if anybody out there has a couple extra bucks, you know, we will we've we've got a support page, you know, as little as two or three bucks a month, it'll really help us out. You know, we do all the shit ourselves, and you know, sometimes we can use a few bucks. Well, actually all the time. So, you know, you know, two or three bucks, you know, on our on our follow page or uh support page, and that would go a long way. Um, so my my closing quote would be it's by a person named Matthias Alexander, and it goes like this it's people don't decide their futures, they decide their habits, and their habits decide their futures, which is wow. Fucking, I mean, how many bad habits do people have that fuck up their futures? So, for all you musicians out there that have had bad habits in the past, and you know you wonder why your future is all messed up. Well, listen to that quote. I guess I could I guess it can go likewise, you know, the other way too. People that have made good habits and good choices, you know, probably have had good futures. So, you know, sometimes you're lucky and sometimes you're just not.

Rob 25:21

Hey, thanks everybody. It's been a pleasure. And uh, like Dana said, please you do support because we do all this ourselves. We don't have a production team, it's just me and Dana. So any any help would be appreciated. And thank you for being a loyal listener. And sorry again for the delay. We are gonna try to be bi-weekly, and uh, you know, we're not gonna stick to a certain day or nothing, but we're we're pretty much bi-weekly and we'll be in the future, unless, of course, there's other issues that come up. But other than that, thank you. We appreciate it.

The 30-Second Sales Pitch

Dana 25:50

And we're on every social site that you can think of. You know, just put in Franklin's Garage of Stage and our webpage, Franklin's Garage of Stage.com. Um, you want to you want to buy a shirt to help uh hard cause, we can we can make that happen. Get on there, let us know, leave us an email, phone mean you know if you don't want to do phone number, that's cool. But email email and we'll we'll definitely get back to you and you know, give us any comment, good or bad. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Bye.