Switching System...

[Arn C.]

Howdy All !
     I am trying to figure out a design that:   

I have 3 pedals that I use reguarly.  An Overdrive, phasor and delay.  I would like to not use the pedals but instead using a switch box.   I would like to be able to switch different combos of the three pedals or maybe even more than 3.

Example:  OD alone,  phasor alone, delay alone, OD + Phasor, Phasor + delay,  OD + phasor + delay.

But, also would be nice to have a volume control for these combos, as volume changes between setups.
This way I can preset the pedals and then adjust (through the switch box) each single unit and or combo of units with independent volume controls.   

Is there any such beast?   If not, any suggestions from anyone would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Arn C.

[d95err]

There's a simple programmable effects switcher somewhere over att www.geofex.com. No digital programming, just simple presets programmed by setting DIL-switches (one DIL-switch per preset, each switch selects one effect on/off).

[R.G.]

d95err is correct - there is a basic setup of designs at GEO to do pretty much all of what you want to do.

The info is not exactly as you describe it, so there will still be some invention required, but it's the "move block A to position B" kind of invention.

The manually programmable footswitch system can be made to do that with the addition of a selector setup for volumes.

For only three effects, it's pretty simple. See http://geofex.com/Article_Folders/fxswitchr/fxswitchr.htm for the article. In fact, it uses a three effect setup for the explanations.

If you don't need the any-order stuff (which is probably true; not many people want to rearrange permutations of their effects on the fly) then it gets simpler. You're only switching in subsets of the whole mess. In that case, you just use a DPDT relay (I like the EA2 from NEC, about $2.50) for a bypass on each effect, then concoct a set up for driving different combinations of the relays. A DIP switch works for programming the combinations, and the circuit in figure 7 of that same article lets you have a one-of-N selector footswitch to pick the combination.

The only tricky part is then picking one of three (or N) volume controls. For this, I would use either a CMOS switch or three JFET switches and the output of the one-of-N switch to select the signal going to the hot side of three different volume controls. The output of the one-of-N selects a volume control directly.

[Arn C.]

Thank you both for your insight!   I will check it out and see what I can come up with.

Sounds like this may be just what I need.

Peace!
Arn C.