Boss "ES" Switcher Deep Dive | Assigning Switches & More!

If you haven't noticed, we have a good amount of tutorial videos on the Boss "ES" series of switchers. That is because their versatility and ease of use is pretty great! Here we take a closer look at using the "Assign" function of the ES-8 to assign switches on the ES-8, control the external switches, and make universal changes amongst presets.

I. Making Universal Changes

If you are making a change that you'd like to be relevant on all patches, globally, within the ES-5 (or 8) - the Universal change is a great way to program once and have it hold amongst all presets.

1. Press Edit
2. Scroll to preference
3. Scroll to desired switch
4. Change "PAT" to "SYS" on desired switch

II. Define the Target Switches Function

1. Scroll to CTL/EXP and hit [Enter]
2. Scroll to the desired switch you are trying to change, hit [Enter]
3. Select the function you are wanting the switch to perform (see table from Boss manual at the bottom of blog)
4. Define the Min/Max/Mod values as needed (shown in table from Boss manual)
5. Hit [WRITE] 3 times to save

III. Using the "Assign" Function

1. Scroll to Assign 1, hit [Enter]
2. Set “SW” value to “ON”
3. For “SRC” select the switch you are wanting to use on the ES-5
4. For “CATE” select the type of message you want the switch to send
5. Set corresponding values, i.e. CC, Min/Max for MIDI messages
6. Hit [Write] 3 times to save

image courtesy of the Boss ES-5 manual