HX Effects + External Switch?

[Mincer]

Can the HX Effects respond to a momentary switch plugged into an expression pedal jack to either toggle between 2 values or mimic a foot switch? It would be a super useful thing for people who don’t have room for an expression pedal on their board.

[codamedia]

IIRC, a normal footswitch won't work but you could easily wire in a 10K resistor with the switch, then it will respond just like an expression pedal moving instantly from "heal down" to "toe down". At that point you can assign anything to that switch that you could assign to an expression. Values, auto engage, toggle, etc... etc... 

[Mincer]

8 hours ago, codamedia said:

IIRC, a normal footswitch won't work but you could easily wire in a 10K resistor with the switch, then it will respond just like an expression pedal moving instantly from "heal down" to "toe down". At that point you can assign anything to that switch that you could assign to an expression. Values, auto engage, toggle, etc... etc... 

Ahh, ok. I am wondering if I could do this on an Ernie Ball volume pedal with the side 'kick switch'. I use the pedal itself for the expression pedal (it has a custom 10k pot), but I have this other switch just sitting there. Where does the resistor go? I should be able to do this. 

[codamedia]

15 hours ago, Mincer said:

Where does the resistor go? I should be able to do this. 

 

It goes in series on one side of the switch

 

1: Connect one lead to the switch

2: Connect the resistor to the other side of the switch

3: Connect the 2nd lead to the other side of the resistor. 

[Mincer]

OK, tried a few things...

Tried connecting the resistor to the switch, tried another switch, and tried making a cable with a 10k resistor in series. Nothing worked. Well, I got it to switch 1 time after I turned it on: say I was controlling the mix of the delay, with 'on' of the switch at 100, and 'off' at 10. It will switch to 100. But it won't switch back. Shutting the HX off will get it to reset to 10, and then I can switch it to 100. But that really isn't so convenient. 

 

My guess it is how the HX implements the expression pedal jacks. I don't think the Helix has this limitation. 

 

Maybe it has to do with the same reason why it doesn't work to use my expression pedal, the Mission SP-2. This pedal has a switch to switch between 2 expression pedal inputs, so you can plug into 2 jacks with 1 pedal. It works on my Fractal, but not the HX Effects. Maybe the HX needs to constantly 'see' the variable between 0-10k constantly, and a simple switch won't work. Maybe it is something that should be added. 

[webjunk4]

I struggled with this too on the HX FX, but found that the EHX Ctrl Knob worked for my needs (https://www.ehx.com/products/cntl-knob/).  I leave the effect on at a very low, or zero level.  I then use the Ctrl Knob to switch between two pre-set levels (i.e., for the Kinky Boost, the boost is either off or on).  Works well, without taking up a foot switch on the HX FX, or squeezing another expression pedal onto my board.  It needs a TRS cable to work (in the box) and only one of the two polarity settings seems to work.  I think this should work too: https://www.oldbloodnoise.com/pedals/expression-ramper.  The latter has polarity jumpers inside and swappable digital pots.

[bushwackermark]

I mistakenly put my HX into edit mode in the middle of a song, while standing on a momentary switch for a swell effect.  I don't want this to happen again, so I took a switcher I used touse for banking up and down on an effects box, and wired it to work.  This box has two momentary switches, which I wired, through the normay closed contacts, in series, between the tip and ring of the jack.  This leaves a permanent "heel down" 0 ohms.  Across the contacts, I wired resistors.  5K ohms across one, and 10K ohms across the other.  You can use any resistance you want to toggle an effect on.  Pressing either of the switches takes that short out of the circuit, leaving the resistor as the only path from tip to ring.  5K is 50% of an expression pedal, while 10K is 100%.  Releasing them immediately goes back to heel back, which toggles the effect off.  If you rely on an open contact, you're basically putting an infinite resistance, which is the same as unplugging the expression pedal.  Here is the schematic.