I used it for 10 years. It is ugly (well the 80's look), it is mono ... but it is well done job! And it is no longer ... a good competitor ENGL MIDI Switcher is the Z11, which he accepts stereo cables. So if you have a stereo output footswitch effect on non-MIDI with the octopus, it must be a stereo jack cable to two mono jacks, and it takes 2 input on the Octopus (he has eight, which is sufficient).
I used to order my preamp and my graphic EQ via a single MIDI pedals (one of my multi purpose). Connected upstream to the outputs of my effects pedals not MIDI. Downstream, from the multi-effect via its MIDI out MIDI. And multi-effect remembers the position of the switch according to the preset selected. It avoids really walk around with 5 or 6 footswitch, it's really cool.

I would put 10 to 1 pt for its looks corny and -1 for its only mono inputs