The price for the Evolution foot switches is remaining at $300USD. However, some things to be aware of -
The Evolution foot switches are not only hand assembled. They are drilled out by hand. They are labeled by hand. Lastly, they are sanded, clear painted, and buffed out, all by hand.
The Evolution foot switch is made to last. Most common MIDI controllers use a PCB mounted tactile switch with a "vintage stomp box" looking spring loaded actuator that pushes down on it. This setup is a cheaper setup so the manufacturing costs keep things more affordable, but the down side is that tactile switches wear out after a few years.
The Evolution foot switch uses real heavy duty switches that last. This setup is a little more costly as heavy duty switches are not cheap. But the point was to engineer a foot switch to last through just about anything imaginable. It also comes with a 5 year warranty.
The circuitry in the foot switch isn't just a bunch of switches wired to a connector. It is 100% digital. The switch bank talks to an internal microcontroller, and the microcontroller sends out digital messages. This means we also had to write, test and debug the firmware that makes it do what it does.
Lastly, the Columbus sends out program change messages only. It will not do what the Evolution foot switch does. This means you have to store a patch for every imaginable configuration, then you have to remember which patch holds said configurations. While that is wonderful for being able to switch from one set of sounds to another, it does not work well for controlling the amp "stomp box style" where you have the convenience of switching just one channel or one function on or off. The Evolution foot switch gives you this convenience. Also, when combined with an external MIDI controller, you have the ultimate control as you can not only have stomp box style control of the amp with the Evolution foot switch, but you also get patch switching as well. When switching patches with the external controller, the Evolution foot switch can be programmed to respond to these patches by placing its switches in the same on/off state as they are on the amp on each patch, which keeps the Evolution foot switch buttons in sync with the amp's functions that it controls whether you're switching from the Evolution foot switch or the external controller.
If the Voodoo Lab Ground Control Pro will work better for you, you can always purchase the Evolution chips for the Herbert/VH4/Hagen instead. This will give you both patch switching as well as instant access control all from the Ground Control Pro. If you really want to step it up, add the Evolution foot switch to the mix and you can use the foot switch for stomp box style control of the amp and leave the GCP's instant access buttons available to individually switch other stuff in your rig.
As you can see, the Evolution series products will add many possibilities to your rig that were never before possible.