Help with Mod to Sync Two NU-X Time Force Pedals

[artsta]

I am looking for a 4-channel (or 2 x Stereo channel) loop pedal, and none exist that I can find.

I like the idea of being able to loop (in sync) 4 separate instruments into 4 separate amplifiers (i.e., 4 separate Inputs with 4 separate Outputs). At the moment, I use the Left and Right channels of my NU-X Timeforce to separately loop (and sync) 2 instruments into two separate amps at a time. I guess I could buy two Digitec JamSync pedals, but I already have 2 x NU-X Timeforce Pedals.

So I have decided that the best way to try and sync these two pedals is to:

Hook up both of the left On/Off switches to a separate third switch (which I will need to build) and then use that third switch to activate (and de-activate) the loop (see pic attached). Of course, even the minutest delay will put them out of sync, but I feel confident they should stay in sync if they are activated at precisely the same time with this third switch.

Can anyone suggest the best (or a better) way of doing this? I was just going to create a footswitch with two sets of leads, each attached to the ON/OFF button of each pedal.

[artsta]

SOLUTION

I managed to solve the problem. Given there was over 70 views for this thread, I thought I would post my solution in case it was of interest to anyone.

Here is what I did:

I took the bottom covers off each pedal and noticed that the Left ON Switch had 4 "legs" soldered into the main board. Lets call them "switch-legs" for the purpose of this explanation.

I found that if either of the left two switch-legs on one pedal were connected to either of the left switch-legs on the other, clicking any one left switch activated both left switches at the same time.

So I soldered a wire onto the top left "switch-leg" on pedal one, fed it through the battery chamber (so no drilling or cutting was needed), then fed that through the battery chamber of pedal 2, and soldered the other end of the wire onto the top left Left switch-leg of the second pedal.

Now when I activate RECORD on pedal 1, RECORD gets activated (and deactivated) on pedal 2 at precisely the same time. Both pedals stay in perfect sync for about 5 - 10 minutes, but then they do start to drift out of sync a little.

So I now have my 4-channel loop pedal.

My next goal is to work out a way where they stay in sync a little longer than 5 - 10 min. I need to make sure each pedal has exactly the same power source, leads, etc...

To be continued...

[artsta]

Final Solution

Since you were all asking, I thought I would post the final solution

The reason the two pedals were not staying in sync is because there was a slight delay down the wire. When I clicked on pedal A, it activated pedal B, but milliseconds later as the signal from the pedal A switch had to travel down the wire to pedal B. After 5 minutes, these milliseconds compounded and eventually created a noticeable lag.

So I measured each wire precisely, and created a new switch (lets call it "common switch") in the middle. The common switch activated both pedals at the same time. Big improvement. BUT...after 15 minutes, they went out of sync again! Pedal A for some reason was moving faster.

So I just kept increasing the length of the wire going from the common switch to pedal A until both pedals stayed in sync. 30 minutes has passed and they are still in sync.