Thinking through series/parallel and independent/master switching options on a dual effect pedal

[junderwood]

I've been working on a dual pedal enclosure using two PedalPCB boards - in this case two Muroideas for a dual-rat pedal. I thought it might be cool to allow them to operate in a few different ways. I haven't breadboarded this up yet, but thought I'd post this here to discuss in case there are any obvious options I hadn't considered, and to learn from the excellent experience of the folks in this forum. I'm only just dipping my toe into this sort of thing, so please be gentle

I thought it would be interesting to allow them to work either in parallel or in series, and also to allow either independent operation with two foot switches, or allow the first footswitch to be the 'master' to bypass the whole thing. I didn't know how the switching would work immediately so I started to draw it up in a logic diagram.

Here's a typical single pedal where the stomp either sends your signal through the circuit or not:


Here's two pedals independently controlled in series:


Here's a setup where the first footswitch is a master control, and the second footswitch either adds or removes the second effect:


Here's a setup where you can put that behavior on a switch so you can either allow the first stomp to the be 'master' control, or have both effects able to be turned on independently:


And finally here's the best I could come up with in order to also add the ability to run them in parallel as well as series, using something like the Paralyzer from JMK PCBs:


The Series/Parallel is a 3PDT switch, and the Independent/Master switch is a DPDT switch. Stomp 1 also ends up being a 4PDT switch. It seems to all work, but depending on the switching setup sometimes you'd get a buffered signal on the output and sometimes you wouldn't which seems a little poorly thought out on my part...

Anyway, any thoughts? Aside from the benefits of running these two specific effects in series or parallel, I'm curious if anyone has thought through this sort of signal switching here before.

 

[Cybercow]

TBH, I got a bit lost after the second drawing.

I wanted to accomplish a similar passive series/parallel ordering setup with a 3 circuit combo build - "Destroyer Of Angels". It's a Rat, BMP and Boost all in one pedal. Only the Rat & BMP are switched - the Boost is always last. Each has their own stompswitch. The series/parallel ordering is a 4P3T toggle switch.

Mind you there is a flaw in this approach . . . . . . BOTH circuits involved in the series/parallel order switching MUST be engaged for the parallel option to work. If either is in 'bypass' when the parallel setting is turned on, a feedback loop is created on the circuit that remains engaged. IMO, the BEST way to manage a series/parallel ordering setup is with a dedicated active series/parallel ordering daughterboard. The active buffering on the series/parallel ordering daughterboard prevents feedback loops when one of the two involved circuits are in 'bypass'.

Here's the gutshot . . . .


Here are some close-up shots of the ordering switch . . . . .



And here's the schematic of the ordering switch . . . .


And here's the finished pedal . . . . .