mongoose_eyeball
Inspired
Disclaimer: this thread starts out looking like it would be better placed in the MCF-101 Discussion section, but I'm putting it here because I'm ultimately asking for FX II programming suggestions.
It took me awhile after my MCF-101 came in to decide how I wanted to set it up. I started with two banks of presets and no scenes, but I was put off by some of the glitchiness I got switching between presets (sudden loud noises, unpredictably-long between-patch pauses, etc.).
I play in a wide gamut of stylistic situations, so I have to be ready for anything from ultra-clean to 80s high-gain to wacked-out space sounds. Just about the only genre I never need sounds from is modern metal.
So after reading about scenes, I decided to go with zero bank size, using five scenes per patch (so that I'd switch between patches only between songs, or at least in long gaps during songs); that way, the bank up/down became my patch selector, and within each patch, I'd use a consistent, five-scene plan (so that I could use the bottom row on the MCF to switch between them):
Scene 1: cleanest
Scene 2: halfway between cleanest and dirtiest
Scene 3: dirtiest
Scene 4: modulated
Scene 5: lead
And beyond that, the idea was that my first patch would have a totally-clean scene 1, a noticiably-hairy scene 2, a solidly crunchy scene 3, and a totally clean lead sound.
The second would be like the first, but with the gain on every scene ramped up a bit.
The third would be like the second, but with the gain on every scene ramped up a bit.
"Special effect" patches aside, those three patches would give me just about all I'd need, gain-wise, since scene 2 on the first patch would have about the same amount of gain as scene 1 on a fourth patch, were I to make one.
At least three of the modulation/delay/reverb combination patches I need would fit into scene 4 of one of the first three patches, then if I needed more, I could assign the MCF to default to scene 4 (the modulated scene) in any more patches, still following the clean-to-dirty ethos in scenes 1-3 (and basing the starting-point gain on the sort of song for which I'd use the modulated patch)
OK. sorry to make you read so much background; I did it hoping that I'm not the only user who planned to do it this way.
Because when I sat down to build my patches yesterday, I got really, really frustrated. Here's why:
I started with the cleanest patch, #1. I got a great scene 1 (BTW, I kind of "discovered" how good the previously-overlooked CA3+ Clean works in this situation--for me, it trumped both the Vibrato Verb and the Friedman BE, my two previous faves), a great scene 2 and a great scene 3. I didn't notice any problems until around the time I started on scene 4. I already knew from reading that any new blocks I added in would be engaged in every scene until I bypassed them. What I didn't count on was the unpredictable interaction between scenes once I started going back to listen to all of the scenes and trying to even out the output levels between them. I'd change something on an amp in scene 3 and suddenly scenes 1 and 2 would be altered. This is really annoying, if you've found a sound that makes you go, "ah! perfect! lock it in!" only to discover that it's been diminished by a change you made in another scene.
I also wish there were a "save as scene 3" (or scene whatever) feature, since often I'd tweak a scene until it was just right, then go to the next one thinking, "I want the next one just the last one, but with univibe and delay" only to find that all of the tweaking in the previous scene wasn't repeated in the new one.
Has anybody worked out a clever, repeatable process for creating scene-oriented patches like this? I still like the idea of scenes, but it seems more complicated and easy to botch, so I may just go back to a single-bank MCF setup, using my bottom row for patches rather than scenes (but with the same general philosophy).
Thanks in advance for those wise and patient enough to not look up my address and send me a teaspoon of ricin.
It took me awhile after my MCF-101 came in to decide how I wanted to set it up. I started with two banks of presets and no scenes, but I was put off by some of the glitchiness I got switching between presets (sudden loud noises, unpredictably-long between-patch pauses, etc.).
I play in a wide gamut of stylistic situations, so I have to be ready for anything from ultra-clean to 80s high-gain to wacked-out space sounds. Just about the only genre I never need sounds from is modern metal.
So after reading about scenes, I decided to go with zero bank size, using five scenes per patch (so that I'd switch between patches only between songs, or at least in long gaps during songs); that way, the bank up/down became my patch selector, and within each patch, I'd use a consistent, five-scene plan (so that I could use the bottom row on the MCF to switch between them):
Scene 1: cleanest
Scene 2: halfway between cleanest and dirtiest
Scene 3: dirtiest
Scene 4: modulated
Scene 5: lead
And beyond that, the idea was that my first patch would have a totally-clean scene 1, a noticiably-hairy scene 2, a solidly crunchy scene 3, and a totally clean lead sound.
The second would be like the first, but with the gain on every scene ramped up a bit.
The third would be like the second, but with the gain on every scene ramped up a bit.
"Special effect" patches aside, those three patches would give me just about all I'd need, gain-wise, since scene 2 on the first patch would have about the same amount of gain as scene 1 on a fourth patch, were I to make one.
At least three of the modulation/delay/reverb combination patches I need would fit into scene 4 of one of the first three patches, then if I needed more, I could assign the MCF to default to scene 4 (the modulated scene) in any more patches, still following the clean-to-dirty ethos in scenes 1-3 (and basing the starting-point gain on the sort of song for which I'd use the modulated patch)
OK. sorry to make you read so much background; I did it hoping that I'm not the only user who planned to do it this way.
Because when I sat down to build my patches yesterday, I got really, really frustrated. Here's why:
I started with the cleanest patch, #1. I got a great scene 1 (BTW, I kind of "discovered" how good the previously-overlooked CA3+ Clean works in this situation--for me, it trumped both the Vibrato Verb and the Friedman BE, my two previous faves), a great scene 2 and a great scene 3. I didn't notice any problems until around the time I started on scene 4. I already knew from reading that any new blocks I added in would be engaged in every scene until I bypassed them. What I didn't count on was the unpredictable interaction between scenes once I started going back to listen to all of the scenes and trying to even out the output levels between them. I'd change something on an amp in scene 3 and suddenly scenes 1 and 2 would be altered. This is really annoying, if you've found a sound that makes you go, "ah! perfect! lock it in!" only to discover that it's been diminished by a change you made in another scene.
I also wish there were a "save as scene 3" (or scene whatever) feature, since often I'd tweak a scene until it was just right, then go to the next one thinking, "I want the next one just the last one, but with univibe and delay" only to find that all of the tweaking in the previous scene wasn't repeated in the new one.
Has anybody worked out a clever, repeatable process for creating scene-oriented patches like this? I still like the idea of scenes, but it seems more complicated and easy to botch, so I may just go back to a single-bank MCF setup, using my bottom row for patches rather than scenes (but with the same general philosophy).
Thanks in advance for those wise and patient enough to not look up my address and send me a teaspoon of ricin.
