Opinion about pedal switching

[wcampagner]

Hello,

I have a question for you people who uses pedals:

If you have a second button in your pedal to momentary switch your pedal on/off, would you find it usefull?

For example, of you have to use your pedal for a few seconds, you don't need to turn it on... and then turn it off... you just need to hold the momentary switch for a few seconds and then release it...

I'm asking it because i'll implement it and i want a few opinions.

Thanks,
Wagner.

[KMS]

The answer to your question.........Yes!


MOM switches are much better for coming in (or out) on Que.  Especially if the MOM switches right at the instant you touch it (top of the switch action).

I have not yet built a looper...but I would think that a MOM would be a must for a looper.

All of my stomps that I have made have this feature along with the standard "click" stomp.

Also a SPDT MOM or DPDT is best because you can wire it to a SPDT or DPDT mini toggle and switch form NO to NC on the MOM.

No...I don't use it that often....but when I need it it is there.

I wire it as a slave to the "click" style DPDT. 

[wcampagner]

Thanks KMS,

That's really what i'm thinking... make the tradicional switching and also a momentary switch in the stompbox.

But i'm doing some things different than you... because i'm using electronic bypass so both the switches don't have "click"... they are both push-buttom switches with an actuator.

Please, i'd like to have some more opinions... 

Thanks again,
Wagner.

[wcampagner]

Hello,

Does anybody have any other opinion or sugestions about this momentary switching method?

Thanks again,
Wagner.

[d95err]

Thanks KMS,

That's really what i'm thinking... make the tradicional switching and also a momentary switch in the stompbox.

But i'm doing some things different than you... because i'm using electronic bypass so both the switches don't have "click"... they are both push-buttom switches with an actuator.

If you're using electronic switching, then you could have a switch to select if the stompswitch should be latching or momentary.

I'm building a delay and I'm thinking of implementing delay "trails" (i.e. the current delay keeps ringing until it fades away when you turn if off). If you use a momentary switch with it, you could make a cool effect by adding a short "burst" of delay, e.g. at the end of a solo. The last note of the solo could keep ringing while you get back to rythm playing.

When you're at the climax of a hot solo, it can sometimes be difficult to focus on finding the right stompswitch to get back to rytm (e.g. turning off a booster or OD). With a momentary switch you would only have to step of the pedal. Would be a bit awkward for long solos though, or if you want to run around and pose a lot... 

[Mark Hammer]

I like them both.

The relative utility of a MOM switch would depend on the category of effect.  Some pedals, like compressors, or EQ are "set-and-forget" types.  People leave them on and pretty much never turn them off.  Some are for songs, but not left on all the time, independent of songs.  Here would be things like chorus or tremolo.  Others are "for solo use only" like certain fuzzes or wahs.  Still others are for riffs that may form *part* of a solo but not the whole solo.  Examples here may be delays, extreme flange effects, or ring modulators.  Effects in the latter 2 categories would benefit more from momentary switches, where effects in the first two would see little benefit.

I used to have a rackmount thing I made (this is 15 years back or so), based entirely on Craig Anderton modules and projects that had two nondedicated CMOS switch modules in the main unit, with remote actuating footswitches.  When I say "nondedicated" I mean that they had in, out, send, receive and anything I wanted could be plugged into them via the rear patchbay.  Anderton's EPFM switches use a SPST switch to actuate, which makes them ideal forsticking a momentary and latching switch in parallel, such that the user has their choice.  I went so far as to lay out the footswitches 4 in a row, with the momentaries in the middle two and the latched ones on the outside. That way, if I wanted to momentarily step on two switches, I could position my foot just right and bingo.

Momentaries are the live-performance equivalent of "punch-in" in studios, and permit the kind of targetted use of effects that post-production techniques usually accomplish.  That being said, they are more useful for some types of effects than for others, simply because of how we typically use effects,