My FM3 Footswitch Usage

hippietim

Axe-Master
First, off this post assumes you've got a basic grasp of the footswitching paradigm used by the FM3 and you've taken a look at the Factory default layout.

I've done a number of gigs at this point playing rock covers - I play guitar in one group and bass in another.

We can get the bass gig discussion out of the way quick. I just use one preset and the Per-Preset layout. I only use three switches:
  • SW1 Press: Scene Toggle 1 & 2
  • SW2 Press: Drive On/Off
  • SW3 Press: Chorus On/Off
  • SW3 Hold: Tuner

For the guitar gig, I had been using the factory layouts with two expression pedals. One expression pedal is External 1 which is Wah in all of my presets. The other expression pedal controls the Out 1 volume level - I've been using a Boss EV-30 which lets me set a minimum level so heel is rhythm level and toe is lead level.

Here's the thing for me, in the heat of the battle (aka, playing a song live) I do not like to use Hold functions. Also, the Factory layouts give you access to 8 scenes, 8 layouts on the Master Layout, 12 effect On/Off, 12 Per-Preset switches, and 4 sets of 3 ABC channel selects. In looking at my usage of things over the years - from the Ultra to the Axe-Fx II to the FX8 to the Ax8 - I've never used more than 6 switches for any preset and it's usually one or two. I also don't switch presets in a song.

Now what I'm doing is to treat each layout as two views into 6 switches. So that eliminates the need for View +1 and View -1 switches - I just need a switch to toggle between the first two views. This is done by having a switch that does View Inc 1 with Wrap enabled and Lower Limit = 1 and Upper Limit = 2 (see page 18 in the Footswitch Functions Guide). I don't want to use hold functions in the middle of a song. That means I need to use external switches configured as Stand-In switches (see page 80 in the FM3 Manual).

I am using a dual footswitch configured like this:
  • Ext SW1 Press: View Toggle
  • Ext SW1 Hold: Master Layout
  • Ext SW2 Press: Tap Tempo
  • Ext SW2 Hold: Tuner
The bonus with this approach is that I always have access to tap tempo and tune.

At this point, you are probably thinking "but there's not enough pedal inputs to hook up a two button switch and two expression pedals". That's true. I need the two button switch to be connected to the FM3 because stand-in switches cannot be mapped to MIDI. So one of the expression pedals needs to come via MIDI. Enter the MIDI Expression IO. This little box allows me to add up to three more expression pedals or dual switches and is powered via a standard USB cable (the new version has four pedal inputs and can also be powered via 9-volt pedal power). I wanted to use a Fractal EV-2 for this instead of the Boss EV-30, but it does not have ability to set a minimum threshold. Fortunately, the MIDI Expression IO can be configured to do exactly that using the EV-2.

When I get this secured properly on a pedalboard, I'll share some pictures and maybe a video.

Here's what my layouts look like. No hold functions needed for me.
1583256377585.png
 
I need 2 exp pedals as well so I'm following you! :cool:
Love to see a pic when you do it.
 
Back
Top Bottom