MIDI machine idea: AB / ABY / ABC for chains or chain slots

[craftygrass]

I am finding that I I’d like to assign a footswitch to be able to do two things at the same time; e.g.:

• turn OFF one chain, or slot within a chain
• turn ON another chain, or slot within a chain

Really I’m looking for the footswitch to serve an A/B function, between two chains or two slots in a chain. I want to say that I’ve seen @LoFiLeiF demonstrate this somehow, but I have forgotten where, and I haven’t been able to hack it out on my own. I’m happy to use a workaround, but I got to thinking that maybe this could be a utility MIDI machine (not knowing anything about how those are constructed on the inside)?

Perhaps such a machine could have one control socket for mapping to a footswitch, and then two other ones to connect to the bypass switches of other components. Whatever value hits the input gets sent straight to one output and inverted to the other.

And if that is workable, one would think you could create similar implementations of, say, an ABC switch that cycles A-B-C-A-… (etc.) with each incoming message; or an ABY switch; or possibly others. Especially if there are limits to how many control mappings we can make, the ability to dual-function any mapping might come in really handy.

So, this question is: is something like that possible?

[LoFiLeiF]

I can’t give you a definitive answer for all of your questions here, but let’s start with the A7B switching setup. Could something like this work for you?

Can’t Get MG3 Looper Module to Work

I am not sure what you mean with “Sub in instruments”, but if you are talking about simply changing one for another, there are a few ways to go about it: Control full Chains with an expression pedal: Switch between them using the “Invert” Modulator. Connect you expression pedal (here coming in on CC1) to the first Chain ON/OFF button directly, and also connect your CC1 to the handle (little circle) on the “Invert” MODULATOR envelope. Then connect the output of that modulator to the second Cha…

I know @JamO has had some ideas around a triple chain/instrument splitter/switch, but as with all of these things there is not enough time to pursue every avenue all at once.

[craftygrass]

Oh, that’s what I was missing, thank you! I had forgotten that the handles on the modulator envelopes aren’t just draggable, but can receive connections too. And although you describe using an expression pedal in the above example, it looks like you could do it with a footswitch as well, either momentary or latching, which is what I was after originally. (I’m not connected right now so will have to try it later…)

Well, I think that totally solves my A/B problem for now, plus remembering that those handles can receive connections is probably going to open up other ideas too.

And of course I do understand that @JamO must prioritize; I don’t mean for my “kid-in-a-candy-store” enthusiasm with questions (I’ve always been “that student” when learning things, it’s just my nature) to overshadow that. From what I can tell, having had more chance recently to actually dig a little into my own testing, I am simply amazed at what MG3 represents. I’m sure I missed more in MG2 than was there to capitalize on, but I still get the impression that MG3 is truly a revolutionary step forward, not just an evolutionary one. And thank you all for the inspiration it has been bringing to my table!