Using this program you can use a midi-input device as a pc-keyboard extension.
It is called footware because I used it with a 'Foot Controller FCB1010' by Behringer.
I configured five ot the ten pedals of the FCB1010 to help my hands (especially my pinkies ;o) typing inside vim... Esc, Shift, Ctrl, End and Alt can now be triggered by my lazy feet.
You can map midi-notes to different keys inside the sourcefile... I don't think that it is necessary to use an extra configuration file since the whole program is only a little longer now than a config file would be ;o)
To map note number 35 to an additional Escape-Key use this:
case 35: result = XTestFakeKeyEvent( pDisplay, XKeysymToKeycode( pDisplay, XK_Escape), inpacket[1], CurrentTime );
You can add more notes into the case statement...
To find the correct name for the key you want to emulate, look it up in keysymdef.h (probably /usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h)...
To compile footware try:
make
If there are some problems, you may have to change some directories in the Makefile...