I'm imagining a switch...

[willienillie]

...a DPDT momentary push-button (stomp) switch.  One where Pole A was switched before Pole B as the button was depressed, and then Pole A was switched back after Pole B as the button was released.  A two-stage switch, maybe you'd call it.

Anybody know if such a thing exists?

[Danich_ivanov]

Just out of curiosity, does it have anything to do with ehx hazarai? it reminds me of how it's preset switching is done.

Edit: To answer you'r question though, i doubt that it exists in a simple form, but relays with micro controller should do, personally i haven't dealt with that kind of system yet, but my basic understanding of mechanics tells me that it should work.

[EBK]

Reminds me of my camera shutter button.  Pressed halfway to set the focus/exposure (depending on mode), then all the way down to take the photo.

Edit:  A quick search suggests they are called multistep push button switches (maybe).

[willienillie]

Just out of curiosity, does it have anything to do with ehx hazarai?

No, I'm thinking of a box in the front of the signal chain (pedals, amp), push the button with your foot and first it mutes the main output (tip to ground), then it switches signal to a secondary output to go to a tuner pedal.  I have a Boss TU-2 tuner, so buffered bypass.  It seems best for the guitar to connect directly to the tuner, so you don't have to turn anything else off, but you can't have that buffer before a Fuzz Face, for example.

Just hold the button down with your foot while you're tuning, no need for any LEDs.  Yes I know there are other ways to switch over to a tuner, including a latching switch, which may require adding a resistor to control popping.  Or more complex things like relays, etc.  I was just thinking of the simplest possible device, and one that won't alter your regular signal chain in any way.

Reminds me of my camera shutter button.  Pressed halfway to set the focus/exposure (depending on mode), then all the way down to take the photo.

There's that.  I was thinking of WWII fighters, where you squeeze the trigger and first it turns the gun camera on, then it fires the guns.  There are flight-sim joysticks with 2-stage triggers, but the one I've seen the innards of was using springs and two separate microswitches.  More of a mechanical thing, not something I can easily whip up at home.

A quick search suggests they are called multistep push button switches (maybe).

Awesome, I'll do some googling.  It would be nice to find one that can hold up to being stomped on.

[Mark Hammer]

There are momentary DPDT stompswitches.  Their only difference with normal latching type is that the rocker contacts inside have a different bend which prevents them from remaining in the "other" position.

[Rob Strand]

Probably easier and cheaper to do with electronic switching.

[PRR]

> switched before Pole B ... switched back after Pole B....

Is there a "time"? Spec?

I'd think the time is "instant" (few milliSeconds). Seems to me a DPDT relay meets all needs?

[EBK]

Probably easier and cheaper to do with electronic switching.

I absolutely agree.

[MikeA]

I recall using a Toshiba TLP222G photocoupled relay to similarly switch an audio path, and setting up a "break-before-make" sequence by using a time-delay cap on the "make" contacts control lead (100 uF for around 55 ms delay maybe? enough to suppress the pop at any rate)....

[RickL]

Aria marketed a series of pedals that pretty much did that. Here's an example of one: https://reverb.com/ca/item/35882550-aria-fl-10-dual-stage-flanger?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=1695015338&utm_content=campaignid=1695015338_adgroupid=64140426937_productpartitionid=918426749903=merchantid=237020980_productid=35882550_keyword=_device=c_adposition=_matchtype=_creative=391637461800&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIr7vusZiX7AIVS77ACh2xwQFZEAQYCSABEgKfMPD_BwE

I have several of this series and it was done mechanically - two switches, with the first one activated if you pressed lightly. It turned the effect on and off. Press a little harder and the second stage was activated (a second rate control on the flanger in the link) as long as you held the switch down. Let off and the effect was still activated. You had to tap lightly again to deactivate.

If you wanted to go through the effort you might be able to make this work with two momentary switches. You'd probably have to mount the first switch on a spring loaded sub-board to avoid breaking it.

[willienillie]

Probably easier and cheaper to do with electronic switching.

Maybe cheaper, but nothing could be easier than what I'm thinking of, if I had a switch like I describe.  No power required, just a box, 3 jacks, the switch, and a few bits of wire.

This isn't something I currently need, just something I've been thinking about.  I don't have a band right now, no gigs coming up, I can take my time here at home plugging into my tuner, then swapping over to fuzz or whatever.  Hell I've never used a fuzz at a gig anyway!

Is there a "time"? Spec?

No time delay, just a sequence.  Mute the output to keep any switching pop/noise from coming out of the amp, unmute when done.

[Ripthorn]

Maybe cheaper, but nothing could be easier than what I'm thinking of, if I had a switch like I describe.  No power required, just a box, 3 jacks, the switch, and a few bits of wire.

Is there a "time"? Spec?

No time delay, just a sequence.  Mute the output to keep any switching pop/noise from coming out of the amp, unmute when done.

It's not easier if it doesn't exist. Relay switching is really quite straightforward and you can do all kinds of stuff.

Also, you will need a time spec to prevent pops and clicks. This will depend on the circuitry feeding it and that it is going to. The time will range from a couple milliseconds to potentially a couple hundred, depending on sources. We do this with audio signals frequently at work. A tunable time is almost a must.

[willienillie]

It's not easier if it doesn't exist.

Well yeah.  I can design this switch in my mind, but I certainly can't manufacture it.  I'm sure something like it has existed for some special purpose somewhere - industrial, aerospace, whatever - but maybe rare, expensive, large, or otherwise impractical.  I just thought it was worth asking if anybody knew of anything.

[DIY Bass]

Aria marketed a series of pedals that pretty much did that. Here's an example of one: https://reverb.com/ca/item/35882550-aria-fl-10-dual-stage-flanger?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=1695015338&utm_content=campaignid=1695015338_adgroupid=64140426937_productpartitionid=918426749903=merchantid=237020980_productid=35882550_keyword=_device=c_adposition=_matchtype=_creative=391637461800&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIr7vusZiX7AIVS77ACh2xwQFZEAQYCSABEgKfMPD_BwE

I have several of this series and it was done mechanically - two switches, with the first one activated if you pressed lightly. It turned the effect on and off. Press a little harder and the second stage was activated (a second rate control on the flanger in the link) as long as you held the switch down. Let off and the effect was still activated. You had to tap lightly again to deactivate.

If you wanted to go through the effort you might be able to make this work with two momentary switches. You'd probably have to mount the first switch on a spring loaded sub-board to avoid breaking it.

I have this pedal.  There are indeed 2 switches, with 2 different length springs to activate them.  The longer spring activates the pedal and the shorter one the second rate control.  You could use something similar to arrange what the OP was asking about - the difference in spring length would give a delay between one switch activating and the next, and the reverse as you let it up again.  It would not be simple mechanically though.

[Rob Strand]

The method PRR mentioned using a relay for sequencing was actually quite common in the old days.   A lot of power supplies were sequenced like that.

[willienillie]

I have this pedal.  There are indeed 2 switches, with 2 different length springs to activate them.

Sounds similar to the 2-stage joystick trigger I mentioned above.



(not my pic, looks like somebody doing some mods)

[Mark Hammer]

For the Tone Core series of pedals, in order to provide a more compact footprint, Line 6 implemented a single dual-function foot-treadle, that could actuate two different microswitches, positioned at slightly different heights.  The "taller" one was for enabling alternate functions (e.g., speed change) or for tap-tempo.  If you pressed down a little harder, you'd actuate the lower one, which was surrounded by a disc of spring-steel that would make an audible and tactile "click" when you depressed the treadle hard enough.

In some pedals and switching units I've built, I used regular stompswitches, but mounted them at different heights, such that a person could press one without necessarily pressing the other, but placed the "other" switch close enough that the user could intentionally hit both with one footpress, if desired.

FET-switching normally uses an RC network to add just a hint of lag in turning on the FET gate, such that one doesn't produce any audible pops.  Perhaps the value of the cap could be leveraged to alter the turn-on/turn-off speed of different FETs.

There's a lot of different ways to do it.

[willienillie]

There's a lot of different ways to do it.

Agreed.  It's also possible that a common DPDT momentary would work just fine, with no noise to worry about.