# bypass looper with tap tempo and favorite switch



## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

I'm in the early planning stages of building a true bypass looper and I'd like to add a external tap tempo for a Flint and a favorite switch for a El Capistan. I'm pretty sure I have what I need to build the looper print wise but I'm not sure about the Strymon accessories. I've been checking out the web and found a few schematics but nothing that inspires confidence so I'm wondering if anyone has built one or both with positive results. A link to prints or pictures would be awesome, please and thank you.

Vadim


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

By "looper", do you mean a loop selector?

Assuming that's what it is, consider getting a suitable box for a more general purpose set of function switches.

For example, a box might have two momentary switches, each with a jack to run a cable from, plus a loop-selector and associated stompswitch, and maybe even a toggle for an order-flipper.

This video - How to make a Boss pedal remotely switchable - YouTube - demonstrates how to make a variety of pedals remotely switchable. In many instances, the momentary switch used for things like tap-tempo, or even program select use a similar approach - a simple momentary grounding of a contact.

If the momentary switch doesn't simply ground, but rather makes some other momentary contact, you can still use a jack like this one - DC Power Jack 2.1mm Enclosed Frame With Switch - since it isn't connected to the chassis. As long as you have room on the other end of the cable to install a suitable jack in the pedal, a remote switch will work. The nice thing is it would let you centralize your "command centre" in one convenient location.

Keep your eyes peeled for orphan amp footswitch units, which can often come with holes suitable predrilled. You'd have to change out the switches, probably, but the chassis would be a nice size, have the holes decently spaced, and be angled for foot comfort.


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

I'm just building a true bypass looper, something like this but without the master or tuner. Just a simple 5 or 6 loop system. What I'd like to add and I'm looking for a schematic for is a tap tempo and a favorite type switch that will work with/for the Strymon Flint and El Capistan. Everything is going into a long (24-30") and narrow (1.5") enclosure, loops on the left the rest on the right, should fit nicely on the bottom of the pedalboard.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

NIce!

A few suggestions....

1) Use closed circuit jacks for each loop. That will allow each loop to hard-patch the send to the receive if nothing is plugged in. If you should accidentally step on a bypass switch that leads to nowhere, you won't go silent that way.

2) Consider using switches like these - Switch - Momentary SPST "Soft-Touch" - for your tap tempo and "favourite" selector. From reading the Strymon literature, it would appear that the one TRS jack on the pedal handles tap tempo, favourite, and expression pedal, presumably by "reading" what's at the jack, and how quickly it changes. Believe it or not, it would not be that hard to have two TRS jacks on a remote box: one going to the pedal itself, and one going for the expression pedal to plug into. A ground connection is common to the expression and external switches, so flipping from using the expression pedal to using a pair of momentaries would appear to involve only a DPDT toggle. And if you want, you could also use a stompswitch instead of a toggle.

3) Could tap tempo switches from both the Flint and the El Capistan be situated close enough to eachother to hit them both with your foot simultaneously? You betcha! I won't vouch for how precise the tempo matching will be, but it's worth a shot. Just be sure to leave enough room so that you aren't _obliged _to hit them both at once, but can tap each selectively.


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

That is some good tech talkin' advice! When I posted this afternoon I was specifically hoping you'd get a chance to read and reply. I was just a bit worried it would be 6 pages long and all of it over my head.

1) I am not familiar with this but I like the idea behind it and I'm going to look into it. I am thinking of actually having an empty spot just in case of future expansion.

2) Those momentary switches is what I was planning on using, I once bought a badly modded and therefore inoperative DL4 that had them and it was smooth switching after some bad soldering was fixed, love the feel. Unfortunately I don't think the on the fly switching between tap/favourite/exp. is going to work, I can't remember exactly but the El Cap is different than the Flint I believe. The El Cap recognizes when you plug in or on startup, can't remember, but the Flint you choose what you want and follow a power up procedure holding this and toggling that. I'm guessing it stays that way until reboot with the correct "secret handshake".

3) Tap tempo, I thought about actually trying to use one switch and sending the same signal pattern using a "Y" type connection to each pedal respectively but in my experience I don't use my delay and trem together. I decided to keep them separate so I'll just have individual switches for each one. I do like the suggestion of having them closer together so the option is available just in case I do change my mind or use them in the same song just at different times.

Thanks for the input.
Vadim


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Now that you mention it, yes, I recall seeing that the functioning of the EXP jack on one of those pedal required the user to press and hold down one or two controls on the panel. I think Strymon has done a _great_ job in implementing their primary/secondary controls arrangement - real analog control feel and dialability withut a cramped overabundance of knobs and all that - but its a bugger to be sooooo close to having instant selectability, yet not having it, ain't it?

I'm in the process of finalizing my DIY modular system, and built the footswitches into an old extruded aluminum Hayes modem chassis. The unit houses 8 physical switches, remotely controlling 4 electronic switches. Each electronic switch is controllable via the remote unit by either a latched stompswitch, or a momentary footswitch (plastic button), wired in parallel. If the latched switch is open, then the momentary can over-ride it. Of course if the latched switch is closed, the momentaries I'm using cannot over-ride them. 

It's arranged like so:

L1 -- M1 - M2 -- L2
M3 -- L3 - L4 -- M4

Where M=momentary and L=Latched. The switches in the middle of each row are slightly offset, and any pair of physical switches is re-assignable to any electronic switch (which is, in turn, patched into whatever the heck I want). All switches can be individually turned on in latching OR momentary fashion. But because of the layout, I can step on M1 and M2 simultaneously if I want, and can step on L3 and L4 simultaneously as well. Note that L3 / L4 can be set to _opposite_ states so that I can turn loop 3 on and loop 4 off in one motion, if I want, or turn them both on at once, or turn them both off. The physical unit itself has no explicit "front" or "back", allowing me to orient the unit with switches 1 and 2 OR 3 and 4 facing me. Or if I want to get really weird, M2 and L4 facing me. This is a VERY flexible system, especially when you consider each electronic switch is essentially a loop selector, that one loop can be nested within another, and anything within the loop can be individually on or off.

The momentaries are good for riff-wise switching; helpful for things you really don't want to leave on for very long like ring modulators or sample-and-hold things.

I mention all of this to spur your thinking about how the physical layout of your various remote switches might be planned so as to facilitate the _*strategic*_ use of remote switching in your playing. It's all too easy to think purely in terms of isolated functions, and neglect how one might move more seamlessly to the sort of pedal/effect use that is ore typically associated with post-production.


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