Stomp 3pdt´s and dpdt´s..I´ve just had enough!!

[nelson]

You could remove the need for mechanical switches completely.

[darron]

You could remove the need for mechanical switches completely.

ahh. thought activated... i see....

[nelson]

You could remove the need for mechanical switches completely.

ahh. thought activated... i see....

Not quite. I was thinking more along the lines of this.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/question42.htm

Maybe one day though.

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/inane/2417

[alparent]

a touch switch would imply that you are playing barefooted. Might work if your in a Hawaiian band......but I don't recall a lot of players going barefooted?    OK sorry for my 2 cents........I'll just go back in my hole now.

[nelson]

a touch switch would imply that you are playing barefooted. Might work if your in a Hawaiian band......but I don't recall a lot of players going barefooted?    OK sorry for my 2 cents........I'll just go back in my hole now.

There are other ways to implement a touch switch. I'm just giving idea food. It's possible to make a stompbox switch without any moving parts. I know, because I've done it. It's cheap too. I've posted an early idea/version to the forum before.

Piezo.

[dschwartz]

hmm piezo element sounds nice. You mean like just tapping the box with the foot? sounds nice, but some kind of filtering should be used to avoid unexpected activation due to external vibrations (like jumping on a wood floor near the pedal).. If it is feasible would be a nice actuator (like hidden inside the box, almost no space used), but i think a PIC should be used for this instead of a flip flop...

[SISKO]

I was thinking more like the zvex wah probe. When an object (your foot) is getting near, the voltage at the output rises.
So a comparator at the output of the probe set to a high level ( = a very short distance) will give us the pulse to active the flipflop-.

Just thinking out loud here 

[puretube]

A magnet & a reed switch...

[R.G.]

hmm piezo element sounds nice. You mean like just tapping the box with the foot? sounds nice, but some kind of filtering should be used to avoid unexpected activation due to external vibrations (like jumping on a wood floor near the pedal).. If it is feasible would be a nice actuator (like hidden inside the box, almost no space used), but i think a PIC should be used for this instead of a flip flop...

geofex, 1/6/2002 http://geofex.com/Article_Folders/footswitch_pancake/footswitch_pancake.htm
Also suited to "Anything a uC Can Sense", such as variable capacitors, magnetic proximity with reeds/hall effect, RF loading/detuning and so on. But the tact switches are so easy, cheap, and easy to integrate into the pancakes... 

[dschwartz]

I was thinking more like the zvex wah probe. When an object (your foot) is getting near, the voltage at the output rises.
So a comparator at the output of the probe set to a high level ( = a very short distance) will give us the pulse to active the flipflop-.

Just thinking out loud here 

sound interesting, but complicated..a capacitive sensor variable voltage generator, comparator, flip flop and switching componentes sounds tooo much for a simple, reliable switching method..unless using SMD double layer, a pcb board for that will be ussually bigger than the actual effect pcb.

[R.G.]

sound interesting, but complicated..a capacitive sensor variable voltage generator, comparator, flip flop and switching componentes sounds tooo much for a simple, reliable switching method..unless using SMD double layer, a pcb board for that will be ussually bigger than the actual effect pcb.

With an 8 pin PIC??

[earthtonesaudio]

How about RFID tags built into your shoes so no one but you can toggle your effects on and off?  Of course then you couldn't play barefoot even if you wanted to...

[jacobyjd]

SHOES!?

You might as well go all out and get implants in your feet.

[R.G.]

SHOES!?
You might as well go all out and get implants in your feet.

SHHHHH!! Putting tracking implants in musicians? The Feds will love that one! From there, all they need to do is legally define "musician" as "one who makes or *can* make a musical sounding tone", and then anyone who can whistle gets implants...

[jacobyjd]

just wrap it in some tinfoil--nobody will notice!

[bobp1339]

SHHHHH!! Putting tracking implants in musicians? The Feds will love that one!

And in order to be able to play music, you must have an implant, and to get the implant you must pay a fee and take a drug test!

[alparent]

But what about musiciens that have no feet? Sorry! you can't play music anymore! New law!  OK going back in my hole now.