Reccomend an External switch with an indicator light?

richb

Inspired
I want to use an external switch to turn my volume boost on & off (via the Null Filter Block), rather than dedicate a switch on the AX8 for this function. Does anyone know of an external switch with an indicator light that I might consider? Thanks for any help.
 
I believe you will need a battery in order to use the LED light on the Boss FS-5L. I have been contemplating the same issue. I did find this one by Strymon. Despite seeming to meet all of the necessary requirements, I am still not positive if it will work.

http://www.strymon.net/tapfavorite/
 
You also have to keep in mind that when you change presets, the External switch is *not* reset. So if you have it turned on and switch presets, the new preset will read the switch state and turn on your boost.
 
You also have to keep in mind that when you change presets, the External switch is *not* reset. So if you have it turned on and switch presets, the new preset will read the switch state and turn on your boost.

Not to derail the thread, but is there a setting to change this?

I use an external switch (inside the misson exp pedal) as my wah on/off and occasionally forget to turn off when I change patches. I guess my subconscious expects the default patch to be recalled and not read the external switch states....
 
I've requested this and IIRC there are others that have as well. I've tried the internal settings in all combos of momentary/latching/continuous with my switch in both latching and momentary hoping one of them would work, and I'm hoping they will implement it at some point.

To my (limited) understanding, a momentary switch always has the same state, and just sends a signal when you hit it (hence being momentary), so it doesn't make sense to me that the AX8 remembers the previous state when changing presets. Somebody who's more knowledgeable feel free to chime in. @Admin M@ - any thoughts on this?
 
Between issues with battery life and having to change the battery, not to mention not having the correct state reflected when changing patches are reasons why I returned my Boss FS

I use ext switches only for things that work well with a momentary setting, since that will always be correct patch by patch, and I know its only engaged when I'm stepping on it.
 
Not to derail the thread, but is there a setting to change this?

I use an external switch (inside the misson exp pedal) as my wah on/off and occasionally forget to turn off when I change patches. I guess my subconscious expects the default patch to be recalled and not read the external switch states....

That switch is latching, meaning that there's a physical latch holding the switch in on or off state. To change that physical state you would need to build a small midi controlled robot finger that reads the state of the switch and presses it down on preset or scene change :) Or you could replace the switch in the pedal with a momentary switch. A momentary switch doesn't have a physical latch but instead the Ax8 remembers the state and switches on or off each time you press. This also means that the Ax8 can reset the state when you want on a preset or scene change, as you wanted it to.
 
I use a Boss FS-6 dual footswitch. It has indicator lights, and can be selected to function as latching or momentary. I have had them for years. I have 2. Excellent footswitch, very sturdy, and after years of use, no issues. I use them to control the X/Y amp function and to control the boost (null filter block) since I use these functions the most. I set them on the floor next to my AX8. Easy to step on to change functions. I use the filter boost the most (for the all-important guitar solo) and occasionally for fills. With the LEDs a quick glance tells me the on or off state.
 
That switch is latching, meaning that there's a physical latch holding the switch in on or off state. To change that physical state you would need to build a small midi controlled robot finger that reads the state of the switch and presses it down on preset or scene change :) Or you could replace the switch in the pedal with a momentary switch. A momentary switch doesn't have a physical latch but instead the Ax8 remembers the state and switches on or off each time you press. This also means that the Ax8 can reset the state when you want on a preset or scene change, as you wanted it to.
Yes, but the preset change algorithm could be written such that, upon a preset change, it reads the state of the latch and makes that state represent the initial state of the effect its assigned to... Or, best of both worlds, this setting could be made programmable so you can have either the preset as the master or the switch as the master...
 
Yes, but the preset change algorithm could be written such that, upon a preset change, it reads the state of the latch and makes that state represent the initial state of the effect its assigned to... Or, best of both worlds, this setting could be made programmable so you can have either the preset as the master or the switch as the master...

Yes, technically it could, and it won't. I've been wanting something seemingly easier and that is to have an external controller also be controlled by a scene, so you could have an external controller attached to say the amp boost, and also be able to set this to default enable in scene 2 and 4, and disabled on default in scene 1 and 3. But by the looks of it I'd say it's far more likely that you'll off my robot finger idea :)
 
I guess my subconscious expects the default patch to be recalled and not read the external switch states....
A momentary switch doesn't have a physical latch but instead the Ax8 remembers the state and switches on or off each time you press. This also means that the Ax8 can reset the state when you want on a preset or scene change, as you wanted it to.
Sort of... turning PC Reset ON in the Modifiers popup menu makes it so it does recall the preset/effect in the default state. (my earlier post was wrong, I forgot about PC Reset).

Unfortunately, the AX8 still 'remembers' the state of the physical switch itself - so that even though the effect is in the correct state, if the switch was 'on' in the previous preset, you have to hit the switch twice to get it to engage again. Which doesn't make any sense if you're using a momentary pedal.

@joe rogers - can this functionality be updated so that the AX8 doesn't remember the switch as 'on' after a patch change? To my way of thinking, it shouldn't ever see a momentary switch as 'on' except for when you actually step on it, whether you're using it as a true momentary, or to switch states. Thanks!
 
@Mitch Lavin I've been using the DS Guitar Engineering Mandate that I mentioned in a Post #12 for about a week now and it does everything I need it to do for volume boost. FYI, an external switch with an indicator light will require an external power source. DS makes versions of their Mandate with an indicator light and with no indicator light.

https://dsguitarengineering.com/store/mandate
Which switch did you buy, the latching or the momentary? I'll give it a try. Thanks for keeping me posted!
 
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