is this possible?

[tambek]

I got this idea when i saw a friend playing with a digital effects processor. It had 5 pedals on 1 box. When the guy stepped on one of those, it switched to the corresponding effect, switching the others off. SO i wonder, would it be possible to build DIY effects processor kinda thing where if you switch one of the effects on, it switches any other off?

I like this idea, because when in a middle of a song, it can be pretty annoting to step on one pedal to switch it off and on the other one to switch it on... (ie two pedals on at the same time is always not the best idea)...

[Ansil]

i am sure you could ask someone who works with Pic's  to build it for you for a little bit of scratch.  or you could get into it yourself. it is a similar principle to the sansamp triac

[tambek]

ok... that gives me two  more questions... what are Pic's (not pictures, i believe?), and what is a sansam triac?

[Ansil]

www.sansamp.com

goto products and click on the triac. its a mutlichannel programable analog distortion pedal



and a pic is a programable little device that does what you want it to do.. belive me i am not the best one to explain this to you

[tambek]

mind me of my stupidity... but can you maybe gimme any names who work with PIC's?

[Nasse]

http://www.microchip.com/

[tambek]

but that looks more like a PIC distributor/seller/manufacturer site... as i understand, i'd need someone to program the pic's for me? Any forums or emails maybe?

[casey]

if your setup is not too crazy, you can do the same thing with an
a/b box.  i use that to switch from my modulations to my overdrives
smoothly.  i always have one of my overdrives on and just switched out
of the signal chain.  ex: that way way if i have to go to a o.d. from a
tremolo, i can do so with just one switch.

[Mark Hammer]

Good idea Casey.  Ultimately, one wants "nested" loop selection, such that the Loop A/B option is nested within a larger Loops/Total-Bypass option.

This is actually a pretty simple box to make.  You can do it with a pair od DPDT stompswitches, or a pair of 3PDT switches if you want visual indicators.  Suitable LEDs with current limiting resistors, a battery snap, and 6 jacks complete the unit.

Switch 1 selects between total bypass of the box or use of send/receive loops.  If loops are selected, the second switch lets you choose between loop A or B.  Stepping on that second switch lets you bop back and forth between two sets of pedals.

Of course, what this does NOT do, is let you have the same combination of pedals in one series and select subsets from that series, although I can think of ways to tap the effects chain at one of two different points.

[Ansil]

i htinks giles was doing soemthing like this

[tambek]

uh well, as far as i understand, it basically let's me switch between two effetcs, or effect combinations...

hm.. yeah... but i'm still looking for a way where i can build one box with several footswitches that enable me to switch between those effects (and maybe one for a complete true bypass - that shouldn't be hard..)

[newb]

it could be possble with relay switching


if you want i can help

[downweverything]

yeah a pic is a brand of microcontroller,  like a microproccessor but with integrated i/o and sometimes memory.  but unless you are good with assembler (computer language) id avoid that.  and its pretty much overkill for an application like this, unless you want to do some weird, save and recall stuff. awesome idea though. i was thinking of doing some kind of board with a midi input and a microcontroller to switch fx on and off via midi messages.

[1wahfreak]

Not sure if this is up your alley or not, but Carl Martin makes the "Combinator 2". You can control up to 8 boxes from it. You can program any combination of pedals and store it into memery to recall anytime you want. So if you want fuzz, vibe, and wah you can store that as program 1 and when you want overdrive, phaze and compressor you can store that as program 2 and so on. It's pretty pricey but it may be well worth it if you want total control over multiple boxes from a single board. Check out the web site. You may be able to find a used one here and there on ebay.

[tambek]

it could be possble with relay switching


if you want i can help

Can u maybe explain relay switching?

Not sure if this is up your alley or not, but Carl Martin makes the "Combinator 2". You can control up to 8 boxes from it. You can program any combination of pedals and store it into memery to recall anytime you want. So if you want fuzz, vibe, and wah you can store that as program 1 and when you want overdrive, phaze and compressor you can store that as program 2 and so on. It's pretty pricey but it may be well worth it if you want total control over multiple boxes from a single board. Check out the web site. You may be able to find a used one here and there on ebay.

This combinator thing looks awesome! I wonder, if pressing one stomp, say 2, selects those pedals assigned to 2, and switches other ones off, or if it just switches them on/off...

like i explained before...

if i press on button, then it SELECTS effects assigned to that button, by turning other effetcs off, that might be assigned to, say, button 3. So it just won't switch those effects ON, and leave others ON, too...

IF it selects the stuff, it's wicked. I'd be looking for a schematic then.

[fab]

go here :
http://tomscarff.tripod.com/
and look for the guitar Fx program change
Buy the Pic and you can control 8 stompbox with 8 DPDT relay
( i use 3 Pic for my DIY multi FX  :lol:  )

Now you need a Midi floorboard to send the program change.
Go here :
http://www.ucapps.de/
and look for the floorboard.

Now you can put your FX in a Rack.  :lol:



Fab

[niftydog]

I am currently designing and building something that will do just that. It's a kind of like a combinator on steroids. But, I have spent the last six months part time doing this, and I'm an experienced electronic engineer!!!

In fact what you're after is not so much something that switches pedals on and off, but something that routes the signal to the pedals you want to use, but not to the other pedals.

It's not as simple as just buying a PIC and having someone program it for you. You need to interface the PIC with all of your pedals and have some way of controlling the whole deal. This requires first understanding how all of the switching systems in your pedals work. Then, you need to recreate the switching signal with software and hardware. Then, you need to work out how you want the switching to work; that is, if you turn on this pedal, which ones turn off and vice versa.

Even then, a week after you get it all working you say to yourself "gee, I wish it did that instead of this!" and because you've got no idea how to reprogram the PIC, you're stuffed!

I hate to say it dude, but you're entering a world of pain! But hey, some of us geeks love the challenge, so go for it if you're keen; Just don't expect it to be working for your next gig in a weeks time ok!

[tambek]

yeah, signal routing sounds like something that mite just work

[ragtime8922]

It seems like those Bradshaw systems and Roctron floor unit systems use loops where each loop has one pedal on it only. Now at this point it just makes each and every effect truly bypassed whether it is a true bypass pedal or not.
      Now for what I think you are asking you'll then need some digi switching. In otherwords, if you want say pedal 3, pedal 5 and pedal 8 to be preset number 1 THEN you want to be able to hit preset number 2 and have it be only pedals 4 and 2. Is this what you are asking for? One switch to shut off all unwanted pedals and turn on all wanted pedals? Then like 8 more presets at least?