A/B/A+B/AorB looper project issue

[timmy_c]

Hi everyone,
being tired of having sometimes to focus more on tapdancing than playing and singing,
I came up with an idea of a passive custom FX looper that would quite free me from this.
  What I intend to do is : being able to choose from No Loop/Loop A/Loop B/Loop A+B/Loop A or B.
By loop A or B I mean switching in one single movement from one loop to another, without
having to deactivate the first one.
  I'm an almost total newbie here so of course it doesn't work out as I planned...
  Well the basic idea is to switch (Mode switch) between the classic AB looper or the A or B mode.
In the A+B config (Loop Mode), the signal goes to the Order 4PDT switch, which allows to
choose the loop order (A or B first). The two loop switches are 3PDTs wired the usual way.
In the A or B config (Y Mode), the signal goes to the Y 4PDT Switch, which routes it either to
A loop or B loop.
  4 LEDs, two for each loop (Red and green in Loop mode, both yellow in Y mode). The idea of having
two different sets of LEDs is being able to identify quickly what mode is on in a live situation.
  As I said, something is wrong. Basically, what I noticed is the the Y switch ALWAYS impacts
on the signal route, whether Mode is selected. For instance, when in loop mode, when I engage
one of the two loops, if I flick the Y switch the other way, the signal doesn't go through that loop
anymore. About the same thing for the LEDs. If I remember properly, the selected yellow Y LED
is always on.
  Would be really happy if somebody around here had the time and the patience of giving me a hint
on what might be wrong !!! I'm thinking about several possibilities, either a ground problem (tried to
ground the unused inputs and I'm not so sure of what can happen here), or as there are two sources
per Send/Return loop, maybe put a diode somewhere in here to prevent the signal from going to
the Y switch ? Or maybe my whole idea is just wrong from the beginning ? As I said I'm new to this
(I just built a 3 loop switch before, which worked alright).
  I tried to draw several schematics of it, all ended up a bit messy but that's the best I could do !

Well, that's it ! If anyone has ideas about it, I'm all ears !!!

Cheers,
Tim


The extra blue wires on the switches indicate rows of connectors that don't exist, it's just
the simpler way I figured out on how to draw the switches in Fritzing...




If this can be of any help... Here is what I mean by those letters :
IN : input
OUT : output
1FX : Loop part input
2FX : Loop part output
1Y : Y part input
2Y : Y part output
GND : common ground
GNDL : Loop part ground
GNDLA and GNDLB : loop status LEDs (red and green) grounds
GNDY : Y part ground
GNDYA and GNDYB : Y status LEDs (yellow) grounds
IA : Loop A input
IB : Loop B input
OA : Loop A output
OB : Loop B output
SA : Send A tip
SB : Send B tip
RA : Return A tip
RB : Return B tip


And finally, just for fun, a pic of the temporary first version !

Thanks !!!

[alfafalfa]

I like the idea very much . Did it work the way you wanted ?

[timmy_c]

Hello, as I was saying it is not working properly. The Y switch always impacts on the Loop mode,
for instance when it points to Loop A, even if the Mode switch is set on Loop mode (0/A/B/A+B),
the effect in Loop B isn't heard at the output.
And at this moment I still don't see the reason why... Maybe I should start all over again, but first
I'd like to know if someone can see what was wrong in my design I might be totally mistaken from
the start, I don't know if it's feasible this way.

[youlhann]

Hey.

If you've fixed your problem I am very interested, cause I'd like to make a copy of the wobo double looper and it's kind of similar to your project, even more simple I think.

So please if you have any more informations, I would appreciate that, or if anyone reading knows where to find a diagram for a double looper with an "invert" switch, that would be awesome, cause I'm having a hard time trying to understand geofex articles.

Thanks.