# Flexi-Switch



## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

I just discover that EQD is using a new footswitch for certain models, the Flexi-Switch.



> *Flexi-Switching*
> This device features Flexi-Switch™ Technology! This relay-based, true bypass switching style allows you to simultaneously use momentary and latching style switching.
> 
> 
> ...


I really like the idea behind it. Can add alot of flexibility on a pedal without too much modification.

@mhammer is it something that can be added to any pedals?


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Nice!

I forgot that (at least) the main 8 buttons on the fx8 can be set to momentary or latching as well.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Ti-Ron said:


> I just discover that EQD is using a new footswitch for certain models, the Flexi-Switch.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Dr Scientist uses this technology on some of his pedals.


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## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

sulphur said:


> Dr Scientist uses this technology on some of his pedals.


Nice! Those switches are really interessing!
TC Electronics seem to use them as well.


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## JMann (Feb 18, 2007)

Budda said:


> Nice!
> 
> I forgot that (at least) the main 8 buttons on the fx8 can be set to momentary or latching as well.


This is good to know. I’ve been using my FX8 with just a couple of presets, for now, to learn and go over songs for an upcoming gig. But when I fine tune the FX8 for the show the momentary switching will come in handy.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

JMann said:


> This is good to know. I’ve been using my FX8 with just a couple of presets, for now, to learn and go over songs for an upcoming gig. But when I fine tune the FX8 for the show the momentary switching will come in handy.


I have a volume block set up to be a "kill all" switch, which may be my first endeavour.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I'm a fan of the old CMOS switch circuit, that Craig Anderton laid out in his _Electronic Projects for Musicians_ books, primarily because they permit use of either momentary OR latching switches....so I use both. I'm a firm believer that there are some effects that benefit from use of momentary switching, like ring modulators, because they are not going to be used on any sort of continuous basis. There are also effects that can be used in creative ways by momentarily inserting them. Why advocate for momentary, when stepping twice will do the same thing? Simple, it's more fluid and less disruptive to one's live playing to simply lift your foot when you no longer want the effect.

The newer MASH switches on TC pedals are something different (I'm assuming that nothing even more recent has appeared when I wasn't looking). I traded notes with Tore, and he told me that they use Hall effect sensors. There is a small magnet at the bottom of the switch, that affects a nearby sensor to generate a voltage as it comes closer to the sensor. So, where the EQD-type switch changes between two types of _fixed _function (momentary/latching), the TC switch changes between a continuous control and a fixed function. I asked him what MASH stood for, and he said "Nothing. It's what you do with the switch....you mash it".

On the old Boss DF-2 Feedbacker pedal (and I think the VB-2 Vibrato as well), the momentary switch would change function if you held it down for a few seconds. In the case of the DF-2, the pedal - once engaged - was a run-of-the-mill distortion. But if you pressed and held the momentary switch down, it would engage the feedback simulator on top of the distortion for as long as you held the switch down. Though not necessarily intended for the function, if you continued holding the switch down, the generated noted could function as a drone while you continued to play over it. Think of it as a poor man's monophonic Freeze pedal, that sampled the pitch of one note, rather than sampling the overall audio signal.

My buddy Joel Korte includes a momentary/latching option on all Chase Bliss pedals, however it is set by a dipswitch along the rear skirt of the pedal, rather than relying on holding something down. Six of one, half-dozen of the other. Both methods are valid and have uses.

Can a Flexi-switch arrangement be added to pedals? In some instances, yes, though not without some significant modding. For instance, a great many modulation and delay-based pedals engage the "effect" by using one switching FET to either include or block a second signal. Boss has traditionally used this for their flangers, chorus, phasers, and analog delays. The normal footswitch uses a flip-flop circuit to hold that FET in an on or off state, but the same FET could also be adapted to be turned on with a simple external momentary footswitch that sidesteps the flip-flop aspect, such that the FET would only be on as long as the switch is held down. It would involve drilling a hole to install a small mini phone jack, and probably adding a few components, in addition to the obvious external momentary footswitch in its own box. Needless to say, the pedal would be left in a "bypass" state in order to take advantage of this.


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## troyhead (May 23, 2014)

mhammer said:


> I asked him what MASH stood for


It stands for the TV show that made me change the channel when I heard the theme song as a kid, but later found out that it is actually one of the greatest shows ever!


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