Day 1 First of all, have a bottle of water and a sandwich or something on hand, so you don't get dehydrated or keel over from low blood sugar: Don't be surprised if you go through a few presets, and the next thing you know, four hours have passed, and you really do have to stop for a bathroom break. And eventually get some sleep.
Day 2
1. Spend an hour going through the unit, the manual, and AX8 Edit at the same time: Have the Wiki up in case you something seems unclear. No more than a glance at advanced parameters: This is just a familiarization tour: so you know what and where things are. Learn how scenes work: which includes getting a feel for the function switches. The default F2 single/sticky assignment is ideal for me: Getting comfortable with scenes are the key to easily executed complex and powerful switching combinations.
2. Using a favorite all around preset: Plug in a guitar and gain stage the entire audio path from input setting and input trim, preamp gain: Drive and other effects blocks, Power Amp Master, preset level, etc. to output to DAW and Monitors. That way you'll always be working with optimal audio signal for greatest versatility with the amp parameters, and also have the traditional range of the guitar volume and tone knobs on the amp response. As additional effects and amp blocks are swapped around; they will be easier to optimize and the whole system will stay in gamut without much effort.
3. Don't try to do too much with one preset at the get go. Start with only what is needed for one song, and get that much down first. You can always add more later.
After a Week:
4. Saving a copy of a dialed in preset and switching out amps, cabs and effects for the next preset is obvious enough: but don't overlook saving each of those carefully tweaked effects as a block preset.
5. Work toward coming up with a consistent layout for the foot switching. According to my whim and preference: on every preset:: Switch 1 is always Drive, 2 = Mod A. 3 = Mod B, 4 = Delay (conveniently next to Tap tempo) etc. I have X/Y foot switching turned off (not just for minimal latency, but to avoid switching errors if I hold the switch too long) = all X/Y switching is done via scene changes. I also have scenes ordered in a consistent way: So even if I haven't used a patch in months, or I decide to use something different at the last minute: the foot switching assignments are always going to be the same. Any and all variations and unique effects assignments are at #6, 7 and 8.
In summary: F1 for preset changes, F2 toggles between scenes mode and a pedalboard type layout. Tuner on F3. An Expression/Volume pedal. That's pretty much the FAS default concept. I haven't needed more or different. Some may and it can be done. The point being to recommend coming up with your own foot switching layout that minimizes thinking and reading requirements to operate.
