Custom Made FX Mute Foot Switch (TCP/IP)

[kngaParticipant]

I’m still very excited about this footswitch, keep us informed! I’m definitely buying it, when it is possible:)

[Lee7Participant]

A lot of the hard work regarding setting up a test board and making sure the test board connects to the QU-16 and sends midi strings back and forth has been done. Will now be moving on to the next stage, will keep everyone updates as soon as more testing has been done.

🙂

[DocDocDocDocParticipant]

Concerning my approach to the “QuSwitch”: It’s up and running, sending mute on/off and tap delay commands to the Qu16 via TCP/IP. It doesn’t receive mute on/off yet, though. Furthermore, I’d like to have the communication happening via USB/MIDI so that the network connection is free for the iPad. Further improvements would include a more precise formula for computing the delay parameter values.

The picture linked above shows the prototype that has 2 mute groups configured for button 1 and 2, and FX2 tap delay for button 3. On the Qu16, I have 2 FX sends on 2 mute groups, so i can drop in/out reverb and delay either using the softkeys or the foot switch.

Quite some work went into this, so I definitely won’t manufacture another one. But I might release the code and write a little DIY manual if I find the time.

Best
Doc4

[Nicola A&HKeymaster]

would it be possible for you to publish the fancy formula that computes the NRPN parameter values for the delay time, say from seconds or millisec?

DocDocDocDoc, Will send to you via PM 🙂

[DocDocDocDocParticipant]

“rock solid”: https://niels.drni.de/stuff/quPy-Footswitch-on-stage.jpg – first show with our new Qu-16 and my DIY TCP/IP footswitch. I know it reads “Hughes & Kettner” on it – it’s actually an amp footswitch that I used as a case for the RaspberryPi, a little board with resistors and stuff, and another little board with a DC/DC converter that creates stable 5V from any DC between (I think) 8V and 17V, so standard guitar stomp box wall warts (9V) would do the job.

The Qu-16 did great on its first gig. The fellows from the band enjoyed the delay that I dropped in here and there, e.g., in some blues harp solo in a slow piece. The DIY embedded device did well, too. And me as a computer nerd quitting my nerd job this year really enjoyed kicking a linux system. 😉

I hope I find the time to make a DIY manual or similar from this experience, including source code (in Python, the most obvious programming language for hardware 😉 )

[DocDocDocDocParticipant]

Hi there,

for all those who thing the DIY foot switch is just some kind of powerless phantom, here’s a little video demo:

Ive been working on a blog post including source code and schematics but it has been delayed by months by a real bunch if life’s obstacles… hoping to get it done finally in the next couple of days!

Best
Doc4

[Lee7Participant]

Our techy who is building me a footswicth for muting FX should have completed by mid august, we/I have moved the goal posts since first brought the idea up. The new footswitch should and hopefully will be a wireless one.

We have already tested out a wired footswitch a few months ago to see if the desk excepted the commands, so all being well I should have a wireless footswitch availble for others to purchase. You won’t need to program or assemble anything, plug and play.

Lee

[DocDocDocDocParticipant]

So, here we go with the blog post about the DIY foot switch, including schematics and source code: https://zwei.drni.de/archives/1553-Kick-the-Qu-A-DIY-Foot-Switch-for-the-Allen-Heath-Qu-Series.html

[ZueriParticipant]

This is great. If I find some time I will definitely try it. Thank you for sharing this. You could put you code on Github or another collaboration platform so if somebody wants to improve something in your code it could be handled easier.

[KeefParticipant]

Hi All – Doc you did a great job here and I really appreciate the time taken in coding all those Python scripts, etc.

As they say, the proof is in the eating and I now have a working breadboard design which works perfectly and wirelessly with my QU-24.

Attached photo shows the breadboard and Raspberry Pi.

Doc, did you ever develop the code further and add the ‘read tap tempo’ from the QU?

Did anyone else build Doc’s footswitch? Experiences?

My goal would be to get the ‘actual’ footswitch working wirelessly with a Raspberry Pi Zero, so any experiences with WiFi dongles and antenna on stage would be useful?

Thanks again Doc.

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[[XAP]BobParticipant]

don’t forget the Pi3 – built in wireless could be enough to justify the cost here…

[DocDocDocDocParticipant]

Keef, cool to hear that the stuff works for somebody else too.

The code linked below my blog post is still the latest version I have. I did this project in between two jobs when I had plenty of time… It would still be great to have the delay time in the opposite direction (qu->foot switch) implemented but I can’t find the time and motivation at the moment. After all, the stuff works for my purposes.

Of course, I am willing to accept contributions. 🙂

Concerning wireless, this for sure is a good idea and I’d love to have it, too. I got some WLAN USB key, but for some reasons I didn’t manage to get it to work with the Pi and also it is not very sturdy. Furthermore – at least in Germany – old wireless mics are now forbidden since they re-assigned the frequencies to mobile phones and stuff. So people are going for the more recent 2,4Ghz wireless audio which conflicts with WLAN. So, if you use WLAN, be it with the iPad or this foot switch, better go for a solution that can use the 5GHz band. (I recently had two wireless mics killing my entire WLAN communication with the ipad… grrr!)

[DocDocDocDocParticipant]

Oh and by the way, I found that some more recent versions of the Qu-App can actually trigger the user defined keys, so for those who want to start their own foot switch project from scratch, this might be a lot easier. However, I’m not sure how precise the tapping of delay tempo “over then net” works in the end. I wasn’t satisfied with the experience on doing this via the iPad.

[KeefParticipant]

Thanks for the suggestion Bob.

I should have mentioned that the breadboard design in the photo is done with a Pi 3 and it certainly made life a bit cheaper and easier for testing things out!

One problem in a metal footswitch design is that ideally the Pi will be encased within the footswitch enclosure. I suspect that won’t be good for the onboard WiFi chip signal and there doesn’t seem to be a way of bringing out an antenna from the chip?

Hence the suggestion of a Pi Zero with a USB WiFi dongle (with antenna), so that could be mounted outside the box? . . . and with the Pi Zero, the cost is also kept down. One problem with the Pi Zero is it doesn’t have an ethernet connector which is a nice backup if the venue causes any problems with the WiFi signal – swings and roundabouts as usual!

[KeefParticipant]

Hi Doc and thanks for the feedback!

Will have to see if I can set some time aside to look at the tap tempo in reverse – watch this space! Any tips on the code, or exactly where to look in your code, would be gratefully accepted!

Thanks also for reminding me about 5GHz – you’re right, 2.4GHz is getting very congested.

The tap tempo from my test rig seems to work fine over WiFi in my workshop at home – I can actually change from ethernet to wifi quite easily on the rig and both seem to work seamlessly with the QU-24.

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