Tempo on an external switch?

giantslayer

Experienced
In my church, we play with a click track and I know what tempo everything is. I often will just use the knob on the Axe FX III to manually set the tempo for delays. It would be nice to have a little knob on my pedalboard to set the tempo with, in the event that Axe FX 3 was offstage and not accessible. (Yes, I have tap tempo but it can be tricky to nail the tempo exactly.)

Anyone know of a suitable product I could add to my pedalboard for this? Would this use stand-in switches or an expression pedal?
 
In my church, we play with a click track and I know what tempo everything is. I often will just use the knob on the Axe FX III to manually set the tempo for delays. It would be nice to have a little knob on my pedalboard to set the tempo with, in the event that Axe FX 3 was offstage and not accessible. (Yes, I have tap tempo but it can be tricky to nail the tempo exactly.)

Anyone know of a suitable product I could add to my pedalboard for this? Would this use stand-in switches or an expression pedal?
Before you give up on Tap Tempo, here are a couple of things to consider:

1) If you have a hold function on your Tap Tempo switch (e.g., a lot of people put the tuner on the hold function), then the switch won't register until you release it. In that case, it's your switch release that has to be timed right, not the switch stomp. You can do that by keeping your stomp/release rhythmic. When you do that, it gets a whole lot easier to tap in the tempo.

2) If you remove the hold function altogether, Tap Tempo becomes dead simple to nail accurately.
 
Before you give up on Tap Tempo, here are a couple of things to consider:

1) If you have a hold function on your Tap Tempo switch (e.g., a lot of people put the tuner on the hold function), then the switch won't register until you release it. In that case, it's your switch release that has to be timed right, not the switch stomp. You can do that by keeping your stomp/release rhythmic. When you do that, it gets a whole lot easier to tap in the tempo.

2) If you remove the hold function altogether, Tap Tempo becomes dead simple to nail accurately.
Wow, I had wondered about that but I really should test that out. I’ll post back later with results. I may have to find another way to access the tuner though...
 
Tempo is not controller assignable, with the exception of tap tempo. Even if it was, an expression pedal will have nowhere near enough precision to be able to select 1 of 226 possible tempo values (24 bpm to 250 bmp). Moving your pedal even a millimeter would blow through a dozen values. Tap Tempo or adjusting via the front panel encoders is your best bet.

That said, Tempo Increment and Decrement functions would make for good wish list items. I could see the benefit in scenarios where you need to select an exact value to sync with a backing track or whatever.

Another option is to tap a MIDI feed from the click track source if possible. The Axe III's global tempo can automatically sync to incoming MIDI clock at its MIDI In port.
 
My ideal vision for this would be a little box with a knob that just clicks right or left (like the ones on the Axe FX) and does increment/decrement. Sounds like that isn’t currently possible even if I found an external box that does that. It’s not super important as far as wish list things go. Thanks to both of you for your help on this! I’ll try the tap tempo thing and report back...
 
Have you considered the Disaster Area SMARTClock or micro.clock?

https://www.disasterareadesigns.com/shop/p/smart-clock-gen-3

https://www.disasterareadesigns.com/shop/p/micro-clock

I used to own the SMARTClock and it worked well. However, I don't think the knob clicked when turning in 1 BPM inc/dec.

Although not a pedal, the Peterson Body Beat Sync might do what you need and has some other cool features. I have one, but never used it to send MIDI clock to the Axe-FX.

https://www.petersontuners.com/products/bodybeatsync/
 

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Have you considered the Disaster Area SMARTClock or micro.clock?

https://www.disasterareadesigns.com/shop/p/smart-clock-gen-3

https://www.disasterareadesigns.com/shop/p/micro-clock

I used to own the SMARTClock and it worked well. However, I don't think the knob clicked when turning in 1 BPM inc/dec.

Although not a pedal, the Peterson Body Beat Sync might do what you need and has some other cool features. I have one, but never used it to send MIDI clock to the Axe-FX.

https://www.petersontuners.com/products/bodybeatsync/
Those are some cool ideas! The Peterson can only receive MIDI clock, not send, from what I am reading, so that wouldn’t work. The other one could work though. I’m reluctant to add a power supply to my setup but it would give me exactly the functionality I was looking for.
 
Those are some cool ideas! The Peterson can only receive MIDI clock, not send, from what I am reading, so that wouldn’t work. The other one could work though. I’m reluctant to add a power supply to my setup but it would give me exactly the functionality I was looking for.
You're right about the Peterson, good catch.

Here's another idea: Perfect Circuit "Midiclock⁺ Master Clock Source". I've never used one, so can't vouch for it. Also, it's not a pedal - that may be a pro or con for you.

Other ideas ...

Just about any MIDI Drum machine
BeatBuddy
Digitech SDrum

The last two are pedals and, as I recall, have tap tempo as well as a click-y knob to set tempo. I'm pretty sure all three ideas will send MIDI tempo info. An added plus: each of these ideas is multi-use and not too expensive.
 
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Before you give up on Tap Tempo, here are a couple of things to consider:

1) If you have a hold function on your Tap Tempo switch (e.g., a lot of people put the tuner on the hold function), then the switch won't register until you release it. In that case, it's your switch release that has to be timed right, not the switch stomp. You can do that by keeping your stomp/release rhythmic. When you do that, it gets a whole lot easier to tap in the tempo.

2) If you remove the hold function altogether, Tap Tempo becomes dead simple to nail accurately.
I tested it out and you're half right: it is based on when you release it, not when you press it. However, removing the hold function doesn't change that behavior. (No wonder I'm having trouble with it.)

Appears an external device like that micro click @secondwidow mentioned would be the only way to get a proper tap tempo set up. I put a wish thread for the option to have it use the press timing instead of release.

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/wish-tap-tempo-based-on-when-you-press-not-release.173813/
 
I tested it out and you're half right: it is based on when you release it, not when you press it. However, removing the hold function doesn't change that behavior. (No wonder I'm having trouble with it.)
Read what he wrote again: it fires on press IF there is not a hold function on the switch.

This is regardless of what the switch does - not specific to tap tempo.

Edit 1:

Sorry, I realized that you did mention removing the hold function.

Edit 2:

I was looking for the reference to my comment above about timing and found this:

A67B38B0-7AD0-42C2-9801-AF8217872D1B.jpeg

So... What you're saying doesn't add up.

I have tap tempo with Tuner on hold and I have no problem with the tap tempo.

But you might want to check the other setting mentioned about the Config setting.
 
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If you know what all of the tempos are, why don't you just copy the preset into as many different tempos that you need with the name of the song and the correct tempo set. Step through presets for each song in the set. Or have the backing track do it for you.
 
Read what he wrote again: it fires on press IF there is not a hold function on the switch.

This is regardless of what the switch does - not specific to tap tempo.

Edit 1:

Sorry, I realized that you did mention removing the hold function.

Edit 2:

I was looking for the reference to my comment above about timing and found this:

View attachment 84597

So... What you're saying doesn't add up.

I have tap tempo with Tuner on hold and I have no problem with the tap tempo.

But you might want to check the other setting mentioned about the Config setting.

In that case, this is a bug instead of a wishlist item. Here's how I tested it:
1. Press down for a half second, then release and quickly press again. I get 250 BPM. Two regular presses with the same timing gets me about 80.
2. Two quick presses but hold the second one half a second. I get about 80 bpm there. If I don't hold the second one, I have 250.
 
In that case, this is a bug instead of a wishlist item. Here's how I tested it:
1. Press down for a half second, then release and quickly press again. I get 250 BPM. Two regular presses with the same timing gets me about 80.
2. Two quick presses but hold the second one half a second. I get about 80 bpm there. If I don't hold the second one, I have 250.
As I mentioned, I don't have this issue even with a hold function...

Maybe try resetting your System Settings?

Worst case you may need to work with Fractal support.
 
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