Foot switch with the FW-1884, or FW-1082?

[Steve Fogal]

I've just got around to having the idea of using a foot switch with my FW-1884 (or my FW-1082). I've done a search for a while on this and I'm still not clear. The manual says that a foot switch is automatically detected, and I can see it somewhat is, being that Cubase 8.5's activity meter is showing something on it's midi meter/graph whenever I press the foot switch, but nothing happens. So I've been researching & reading the manual.

In researching/reading the manual, I take it that I actually have to program either the Tascam, Cubase or both for it to have any desired affect. The manual says something about "Dedicated Modifier Keys" but which modifier key is the one used for programming a momentary foot switch?
I read that a foot switch is primarily for punching in and out of record, and that's exactly how I used my Tascam footswitch with my old Tascam 246 4 track Porta-Studio many years ago, which with the 246, the foot switch just 'worked'. But can a foot switch be programmed & used for just starting & stopping? Even some other functions? Below is part of the manual I've copy/pasted....

"There are four dedicated modifier keys on the FW-
1884’s control surface: SHIFT, CTRL, ALT/CMD
and REC. These keys have no effect when pressed
alone. However, when they are pressed and held, they
will modify the functions of a number of other keys
when pressed. These functions are always dictated by
the host application software.
In most DAW applications, pressing and holding the
REC key and then pressing a channel SEL key will generally
arm the selected track(s) for recording.
The SHIFT, CTRL and ALT/CMD keys will perform
various functions, depending on the host application
being addressed."

Has anyone used a foot switch with these Tascam FW series units? If so, can you just tell me exactly what to press to get the foot switch to do record punch-in/out and/or just start/stop?

 

[Steve Fogal]

Has no one ever connected a foot switch to be able to punch in/out, start/stop? I never could get it to respond to any function, though I did see in Cubase some activity.

 

[Steve Fogal]

SOLVED!!! bitches!!! Ok, so I guess I AM the 1st person in the world to get these Tascams working with a foot pedal, all thanks to me, me, me! I knew I was always the Trail Blazer lol. Actually, someone from the Gearslutz forum led me in the right direction

I'm a Cubase user, so this is how I got it working. It may or may not be quite the same for other DAW software. Also note that I tried programing the foot switch with the Tascams midi programing functions, so I don't know if doing that was needed or not (?)

Also note that, I was told to add a midi track in Cubase, and put Midi Monitor in the as an Insert. What this did was allow me to view what midi signal I was sending into the DAW from the foot switch plugged into my Tascan FW-1884. Foot switch is sending an F#6 midi signal & 127 pressed/0 depressed. In order for the Midi Monitor & midi track to receive the midi signal, I had to go into Cubase's Midi Port Setup, and (re)check In 'All MIDI'. I leave this unchecked, because if checked any Midi or Instrument Track will be triggered by any buttons pressed on the Tascam transports or anything else as well.

So, here was my solution, within Cubase, I went to 'Devices' > 'Mackie Control' mode (what I'm using, and my Tascam is set to Macke Control too), I saw the 'User Commands' A & B buttons, with the 'A' button, under 'Category' I double-clicked, then selected 'Transport' , then under 'Command' I selected & tried out various selections... such as START, STOP, START/STOP, RECORD (which activate & deactivate Record).

Oddly, the functions associated with Punch In/Punch Out Recording don't seem to do anything, maybe I have to 1st set Cubase to do punch-in recording for the foot switch to work that, dunno (?).
Another odd thing is that I can only get anything to respond to the footswitch with using the ' User A' button, but not the 'User B' button, and this is whether I have one or the other populated, or both...even if I select User A or B and then select the Apply button. Not sure this is a big deal, being I'm only using one foot switch at this time. I'm just trying to understand fully how this works, and say if I want to switch between the type of commands, this may come in handy, rather than having to edit the Category & Command fields.

This is just my report from the last hour or so of getting this going, and I could explore this a bit more. For example, say if I DO need more User buttons, A, B, C, D, E, etc I don't know if there's a way to add them if needed later, I don't see an option within Mackie Control mode

 

[DeeringAmps]

Thanks for posting the solution Steve, all too often on these forums users do not come back
and follow up.
And, of course, it is "all about you!" (I say this completely tongue in cheek)
Not a Cubase user, I always set punch in and out points in Sonar (now CakewalkbyBandlab).
Take care,
T

 

[Steve Fogal]

Hi Mr T, if there's a way to mark the thread title as 'solved' I would but don't know how.

Yeah like you, I used to use Cubase to do punch in points, but stopped, mainly in favor of just recording on another track or lanes within a track so I wouldn't have to punch in between 2 other events, because they ended up cutting off an event on either side.

Then a while back I was curious about getting my Tascam controller to do punch-ins with my foot switch. Even my Tascam 246 4-tracker had set points to repeat, but a foot switch was needed to go into record mode. Now my FW-1884 with that same old foot switch works just like my old 4-tracker, which is kind of nostalgic, though very useful & convenient. I must say, I like the ability to just punch-in with my foot, when I want, rather than have Cubase continually doing punch-ins until I uncomfortably & inconveniently reach over my guitar to press a keyboard button, or the record button on my controller by hand to stop it.

 

[Kris wac]

Hi, Steve thank you so much for the tip with the pedal, I managed to get punch in/out recording with it using my fw1082.

now if only I could get a fw cable longer than 2meters to put that beauty away from PC

 

[Kris wac]

Also, did anyone managed to use more than these F1-F4 buttons on fw1082? I would imagine if one pressed shift and for example F1 that way it would become F5 and so on. But it's not working for me. I'm in cubase SX/nuendo mode using 1.8 driver on win7 64bit