But let me first as promised answer to what CharlieC first suggested, that the last pedal position is remembered. CharlieC wrote in http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f36/zoom-b3-preamp-936505/#post14180446:
According to my experimenting, no, this seems not really to be the case or perhaps I do not understand well enough what you CharlieC meant by "recalls last known value".
What I now believe is going on is the following: Zoom's engineers thought about this and decided to make a patch switch as smooth as possible. This means, first of all the volume stays what it is regardless of the patch switch. Then the pedal may be in a position that conflicts with the new pedal volume settings. So, when I touch the pedal, e.g. in an attempt to increase the volume, the volume may surprisingly and annoyingly for the player change by e.g. going first down when I push the pedal towards toe, since it is synchronized according to the pedal settings. Note, the range of the pedal is in % of what the patch volume setting is ("TOTAL" menu PATCH LEVEL). Which means when the original patch level supported a very high level, you can never get back to it once you touched the expression pedal. On the other hand this means when the switch occurs between two patches with the same volume range, the pedal can easily be used without causing any audible problem with sudden or unwanted changes in the signal level. I believe now that is what Zoom's engineers intended to support. This also means that what jovino last suggested, i.e. to set
does not help anything, because this is going to mute the patch totally, regardless what you do with the expression pedal. No sound coming out anymore.
The B3 behaves differently when the expression pedal controls something else than the volume, say the balance (I haven't been able to test yet all other possibility such as the gain in an effect). Then the pedal position does not matter and is basically ignored by the patch switch. Instead the initial settings of the new patch matter ("TOTAL" menu PATCH LEVEL settings). jovino, here in this case you were right. E.g. when I switch from a patch where the pedal controlled the volume to a patch where the pedal controls the balance (effects mix), the pedal's volume does not change during the patch switch, but the initial mix is the one that determines the actual mix, exactly as I have tweaked it for that patch. Different to volume treatment the pedal's position is also completely ignored when I switch from a patch where the pedal controlled the balance to a patch where the pedal controls again the balance. Again the initial balance parameter is the one as set for that patch. Note, with balance the effect of the expression pedal is also another one than for volume. The full balance range as set for the pedal is available and it is not constrained by the patch's balance setting. This means of course once more, you can set an initial mix that you can never regain once you touched the expression pedal. E.g. initial balance at 25% and the expression pedal varies between 75% and 100%. Then upon patch activation you have the mix of 25%, but as soon as you touch the pedal, it jumps to some value between 75% and 100%.
It all makes quite some sense in hindsight and I believe this behavior of the B3 to be actually very useful and probably intended by Zoom's engineers for smooth patch changes in the middle of playing. But one has to tweak patches such that this all makes sense or one may end up with rather surprising results. E.g. volume level goes down when you push the pedal towards the toe when you wish to increase the volume. Or e.g. having upon a patch activation a sound that you can never get back once you touched the pedal, whatever you do with it. etc.
The remedy is to make to neighboring patches that you wish to switch among, say during playing, in terms of settings very compatible.
a) For volume compatibility set in menu "TOTAL" both the PATCH LEVELS the same and both expression pedal settings for heel and toe position the same or at least similar. I would also avoid mixing control of INPUT and OUTPUT VOL (albeit the B3 keeps current volume during patch transition regardless of this combination).
b) For effect control things are trickier, but the closer the settings match, the less likely you get surprises. E.g. keeping the range covered by the expression the same should help, but in addition it might be recommendable to keep the "TOTAL" BAL level of the target patch similar to a well defined pedal position, may it be toe or heel. As a player one needs then merely to remember before the patch switch to move the pedal to that compatible position and the pedal use should result in no unintended behavior once the patch switch took place.
I believe now having understood quite well what is going on. Unfortunately no manual teaches you anything about this. Hope therefore these observations help others too. Let me know if you find something different or get to learn something new what I have not yet been able to test.
I have now to get tweaking to adjust my patches accordingly.
Thanks to CharlieC and jovino for all the help and suggestions, which triggered me to delve into this so deeply.
According to my experimenting, no, this seems not really to be the case or perhaps I do not understand well enough what you CharlieC meant by "recalls last known value".
What I now believe is going on is the following: Zoom's engineers thought about this and decided to make a patch switch as smooth as possible. This means, first of all the volume stays what it is regardless of the patch switch. Then the pedal may be in a position that conflicts with the new pedal volume settings. So, when I touch the pedal, e.g. in an attempt to increase the volume, the volume may surprisingly and annoyingly for the player change by e.g. going first down when I push the pedal towards toe, since it is synchronized according to the pedal settings. Note, the range of the pedal is in % of what the patch volume setting is ("TOTAL" menu PATCH LEVEL). Which means when the original patch level supported a very high level, you can never get back to it once you touched the expression pedal. On the other hand this means when the switch occurs between two patches with the same volume range, the pedal can easily be used without causing any audible problem with sudden or unwanted changes in the signal level. I believe now that is what Zoom's engineers intended to support. This also means that what jovino last suggested, i.e. to set
does not help anything, because this is going to mute the patch totally, regardless what you do with the expression pedal. No sound coming out anymore.
The B3 behaves differently when the expression pedal controls something else than the volume, say the balance (I haven't been able to test yet all other possibility such as the gain in an effect). Then the pedal position does not matter and is basically ignored by the patch switch. Instead the initial settings of the new patch matter ("TOTAL" menu PATCH LEVEL settings). jovino, here in this case you were right. E.g. when I switch from a patch where the pedal controlled the volume to a patch where the pedal controls the balance (effects mix), the pedal's volume does not change during the patch switch, but the initial mix is the one that determines the actual mix, exactly as I have tweaked it for that patch. Different to volume treatment the pedal's position is also completely ignored when I switch from a patch where the pedal controlled the balance to a patch where the pedal controls again the balance. Again the initial balance parameter is the one as set for that patch. Note, with balance the effect of the expression pedal is also another one than for volume. The full balance range as set for the pedal is available and it is not constrained by the patch's balance setting. This means of course once more, you can set an initial mix that you can never regain once you touched the expression pedal. E.g. initial balance at 25% and the expression pedal varies between 75% and 100%. Then upon patch activation you have the mix of 25%, but as soon as you touch the pedal, it jumps to some value between 75% and 100%.
It all makes quite some sense in hindsight and I believe this behavior of the B3 to be actually very useful and probably intended by Zoom's engineers for smooth patch changes in the middle of playing. But one has to tweak patches such that this all makes sense or one may end up with rather surprising results. E.g. volume level goes down when you push the pedal towards the toe when you wish to increase the volume. Or e.g. having upon a patch activation a sound that you can never get back once you touched the pedal, whatever you do with it. etc.
The remedy is to make to neighboring patches that you wish to switch among, say during playing, in terms of settings very compatible.
a) For volume compatibility set in menu "TOTAL" both the PATCH LEVELS the same and both expression pedal settings for heel and toe position the same or at least similar. I would also avoid mixing control of INPUT and OUTPUT VOL (albeit the B3 keeps current volume during patch transition regardless of this combination).
b) For effect control things are trickier, but the closer the settings match, the less likely you get surprises. E.g. keeping the range covered by the expression the same should help, but in addition it might be recommendable to keep the "TOTAL" BAL level of the target patch similar to a well defined pedal position, may it be toe or heel. As a player one needs then merely to remember before the patch switch to move the pedal to that compatible position and the pedal use should result in no unintended behavior once the patch switch took place.
I believe now having understood quite well what is going on. Unfortunately no manual teaches you anything about this. Hope therefore these observations help others too. Let me know if you find something different or get to learn something new what I have not yet been able to test.
I have now to get tweaking to adjust my patches accordingly.
Thanks to CharlieC and jovino for all the help and suggestions, which triggered me to delve into this so deeply.
