Another post.
There were already talks about the footswitch modes (some of which I might have started myself =P ).
So, the QC will surely support:
– stomp mode
– presets mode
– scenes mode
and hybrid options were requested, e.g.
– presets in the lower row, stomps on the upper row
– presets in the lower row, scenes on the upper row
– scenes in the lower row, stomps on the upper row
So, first off, another proposal would be:
– scenes in the lower row, stomp in the upper row, but
– stomps slots change when changing scene
For example, on a clean scene my upper row footswitches could map to
– compressor / chorus / delay / reverb
but then on my lead scene they could map to
– boost / flanger / (different) delay / different (reverb)
What do you think about this?
Another question I had regarding footswitches is whether they’re clickless, and if you can encode some behaviour when holding them pressed (for instance, how you trigger infinite reverb on the Strymon bluesky).
Toggling stomp, scene and preset mode is cool and useful- that shouldn’t go away. Hybrid modes sound cool too. However in ‘performance mode’ or whatever they decide to call it- i should be able to program each footswitch to do whatever i want it to do, on a patch by patch basis. Regardless, when in this ‘mode’ the display should show color coded icons that match the color of the corresponding footswitch LED’s, with a small acronym to describe what they toggle.
Press and hold functionality is implied by the low-right switch, which is tap tempo / ‘hold for tuner’- so clearly it can be done. It would be sick if we can program press-and-holds to our footswitch layouts in our patches- as that doubles the usefulness of the switches.
In addition to the above ‘latching’ scenarios, we should also be able to program a footswitch as ‘momentary’, which is what i think you were referring to - so an effect / scene / whatever can be activated but continue running only while the button remains held down.
I feel like much or even all of this functionality will probably be a ‘given’ as it already exists on other modelers.
Gotta say, I’m not a huge fan. Not so much because I don’t see the usefulness but because
It makes managing the displayed stomps much more complex
Even with performance mode, keeping track of what switch does what gets more difficult. This is a case where we’d wish we had scribble strips, though I accept that they were probably a casualty of size and cost.
One thing that occurs to me now that you brought up footswitching is having an easy way to switch between footswich modes:
If in preset / scene / stomp mode, be able to cycle through them
If in hybrid mode, toggle between hybrid mode and the other mode (e.g., if hybrid mode is stomp/scene, be able to easily flip to presets).
Switching between modes is something I do often with my Helix. Mine defaults to Preset/Snapshot but I’ll often go into Stomp mode to kick stuff on and off.
One other interesting new switching feature I like in Helix is the ability to associate snapshots with switches in stomp mode. That effectively lets you do an arbitrary split between stomps and snapshots.
The challenge with press-and-hold interactions is using the function for things that aren’t time-sensitive. It could definitely be useful for stuff like switching modes but depending on it for something like secondary presets would be not so good.
Just as I’m sure they’ll at some point add functionality to assign a switch to be momentary or latching, they could code the ability for the ‘change’ to occur upon release of the switch, after a press-and-hold. Each switch should get the following options:
-Momentary
-Latching
-Long press
And for long press, one should be able to select: long press= engage after _____(time interval), or, long press= engage on release after _____ (time interval).
The time interval for what activates ‘long press’ should be user selected, and a global parameter.
Totally doable. They’ve got their hands full getting the promises kept for release, but in the time following - this is the kind of thing they’ll need to implement - as the competition already has a lot of this functionality.
Would like to add a suggestion that one of the modes would be a midi mode and that it could be used in the hybrid format so that a subset of switches can control external midi via usb. …Please?
I’d love to have MASH (pressure sensitive expression functions) in the footswitches like on TC Plethora X5…
Moreover, I think it should be completely freely definable what each individual footswitch does (preset, scene, stomp) and how it operates (single use, sequence of events for each press, X/Y switching, X/Y + Hold, toggle latching or momentary unlatching). A fairly good but far from ideal implementation can be found on the Atomic Amplifire or the AMT CP100FX for inspiration.
Oh, yeah and I agree with the Gardner, that wherever possible it should be settable whether the associated event occurs on press or on release of the switch.
Preset A/B or Morph functionality. For live performance, being able to toggle between a rhythm and lead from the selected preset switch saves a lot of “tap dancing”…
I know that the QC will be capable of scenes however I haven’t seen anyone specifically mention this… for example;
AX8 - I set up a range of A/B parameters and toggle between them so Rhythm (A) is dry, and then Lead (B) introduces Reverb, Delay, Gain and EQ etc
Kemper Floor - Similarly, the Morph does the same thing except i can control the time it takes to switch between the A and B state.
I’m hoping that this functionality is already possible within the QCs foot switch capabilities but if not, it’s a very useful function for live performance.
That’s a very good arrangement for live use. 4 amps from clean to dirty on the bottom row, with 4 stomps/effects for each amp that can be turned on/off using the switches on the top row. What is also needed is the ability for each amp to jump to a higher volume for lead work and changes to delay, gain and other settings to be included in that jump (morph function in Kemper world). The 4 amps would then have a default rhythm setting and a lead setting that is accessible through the ‘morph’. One way this could be done is that tapping the lower switches would toggle between the default rhythm settings and the ‘morphed’ lead settings, with a very visible indicator on the screen which state is active. Having this arrangement would make it much easier for Kemper users like myself to migrate across.
The best way to solve all these issues is for each footswitch to be assignable to whatever the user wants. I hope scene mode allows for scene ‘toggle’, so a single switch can flip back and forth between sceen 1/2, 3/4 etc
Correct, per preset footswitch layout is the way to go. Even better would be the ability to save footswitch templates, which would make building new presets even faster.
This kind of flexibility in footswitch programming is essential to make the most of the unit. I know it’s the right and best way to do it, as that’s what i can already do with other floor modelers and it works terrific. As they start stuffing more and more into this thing via updates (looper for example), and more people get their hands on it who are used to this kind of flexibility - to me this change seems inevitable at some point. It’s powerful enough that we can get by with the per-row layout for now, but it’s not ideal.
Since the switches are rotary encoders: adding a button cap and being able to hold down and use the encoder as a “temporary” expression button (volume of effect)(rotary speed)(delay time) which would save from having to use an external expression for these CC’s. Seeing the position on the screen would be cool.
If used as a “permanent programming” button, it could auto-save when lifting off, and would help in dialing in tones hands-free while rehearsing? Also visible on the screen.