Recording ACTIVE track with a midi foot pedal in Ableton?

I’m trying to incorporate my old midi pedal to use in Ableton to record individual tracks.

At first I thought I could midi learn the record track, but that was way off.

Do I have to midi map the record for each individual track? Would it be easier to just get a M4L device to use for a looper and get the audio from that? What is the best option for controlling individual tracks for a midi pedal?

(FYI its a disaster artists pedal- basically just 8 buttons.)

Thank you

Looks like the Push is coming in again on this front(and I’m going to have to buy another sustain pedal)

Why is the Push SO useful and yet so big?!