Best Practices: Preset Ordering

C

claxor

Power User
When having your presets ordered in the way you like them, what is the best practice for sorting them? (assuming you have a MFC)

I ask, because it appears to me that if you have presets all over the place that you like (i.e., preset # 14, 8, 178, etc..) there are different ways you can sort them in order. Either through the MFC or order them sequentially in the AxeFx.

What do you recommend?

Thanks!
 
I reorder them alphabetically by the names of the amps used.

For example: 001 Fender: Dlx Reverb #1
 
You can use the song or set list mode in the MFC-101 and order them any way you like.
Its also easy to reorder presets using Axe-edit.
 
claxor said:
How do you reorder presets using Axe-Edit?
Click to expand...

I'm sure there are many ways but...

I load a bank into Axe Edit from the Axe II & then (right click) Audition & save to the desired location in the Axe II.
 
The Fun Part!!!

I believe that one should be able do a whole gig in one bank of ten (10) patches/presets. That isn't manadatory (obviously,) but I think it's less stressfull to know that in any current bank (say of 10-presets) you can get to any one of your core sounds. Then the differences in the banks themselves might be genre-specific (I.E: a Metal-bank; Prog-Rock-Bank; Classic-Rock Bank; G-B/Wedding-Bank - (I know...don't throw stuff at me - LOL!) Acoustic-Duo bank; Funk/R&B/Blues-Bank; Original-band Bank; etc. So you show up to a gig, you determine the genre, and you use that genre's bank (I suppose certain "sonic-intensive genres" like prog-rock or avante-garde/experimental trance/mood-music might require multiple-banks, and that's OK too!

Does that make sense to anybody out there???

Bill
 
billmeedog said:
I believe that one should be able do a whole gig in one bank of ten (10) patches/presets. That isn't manadatory (obviously,) but I think it's less stressfull to know that in any current bank (say of 10-presets) you can get to any one of your core sounds. Then the differences in the banks themselves might be genre-specific (I.E: a Metal-bank; Prog-Rock-Bank; Classic-Rock Bank; G-B/Wedding-Bank - (I know...don't throw stuff at me - LOL!) Acoustic-Duo bank; Funk/R&B/Blues-Bank; Original-band Bank; etc. So you show up to a gig, you determine the genre, and you use that genre's bank (I suppose certain "sonic-intensive genres" like prog-rock or avante-garde/experimental trance/mood-music might require multiple-banks, and that's OK too!

Does that make sense to anybody out there???

Bill
Click to expand...
Makes sense to me, years ago I used to gig with one single channel amp, guitar and one stomp box. Then I got into early multi processors and guitar synths, which is all cool but at the end of the day a few basic sounds can do the job, the rest being dynamics etc.
 
i have 5 basic sounds:
clean
chorus clean (80s style)
crunch (classic rock style)
distortion (metal style)
lead (petrucci style)

each preset though has blocks that can alter the sound a bit. my clean preset is usually dry, but i can add reverb, delay, detune and compressor for different clean sounds. also a drive pedal for that kind of tone. similar things for the other presets.

but most recently the Amp X/Y has really let me increase the amount of sounds with just 5 presets, as i can have my mesa sound or a marshall sound if it sounds better for distortion, or Vox vs Fender for the specific kind of clean. really flexible and i don't have to change banks unless it's a very specific preset, like a Rage Against The Machine trem or something.
 
my presets are laid out specifically for playing live
ordering / grouping / cataloging would interfere with that..

I use 10 presets live

switches 1 / 2 are main main two riffing tones
switches 6 / 7 are variants of 1 / 2
switch 3 is my clean and 8 is a clean variant
switches 4 / 5 and 8 / 9 are special tones for individual songs

I have a couple of banks with this layout
1 to 9 is for practice
10 to 19 is for live
20 to 29 is experimental

the rest are not used
 
Presets 1-5 are song one
Presets 6-10 are song two
Presets 11-15 are song three etc.

I am generally using 5 presets per song.

From left to right I go cleanest to dirtiest, the far right being the solo.

I do ten presets per bank, thus two songs per, using the upper row to add stuff to the preset. I came from a 24 space rack, so I've emulated some of my favorite PCM 80, H3000S and Intellifex patches. I run them in parallel on the grid and turn then on as desired.

I also change the names to match the song. I'll give example of our original Wild;

51. Wild end
52. Wild clean
53. Wild medium
54. Wild
55. Wild solo.

I rarely use the exact same tone twice, but if I do, I'll resave it within the next songs grouping as many times as needed.

The entire point of 384 presets is to be able to have subtle differences in your presets, even if I'm the only one who notices.
 
Well, one of the issues I'm discovering is that I have 5 to 10 main tones that I use. The problem is, I use them in four different pitches: normal tuning, 1/2 step down, 2 and one half steps down (B tuning), 3 full steps down (B flat tuning) and a 12 string tone setting. I'm using a Whammy DT to do these tunings into the Axefx, and the Whammy DT does have midi control. I'd like to have my MFC to control the Axefx and the Whammy DT, but I'm confused regarding the best way to approach this. Should I do standard tune preset 1-5, then 1/2 step tuning for preset 6-10, etc. or have external switches connected to the MFC for selecting different tunings on the Whammy DT?

Note that I'm using the Whammy DT because it's better at down-tuning than the pitch block (I feel) and I don't want to use multiple guitars in different tunings. I want to use one guitar at all times.

Suggestions?
 
claxor said:
Well, one of the issues I'm discovering is that I have 5 to 10 main tones that I use. The problem is, I use them in four different pitches: normal tuning, 1/2 step down, 2 and one half steps down (B tuning), 3 full steps down (B flat tuning) and a 12 string tone setting. I'm using a Whammy DT to do these tunings into the Axefx, and the Whammy DT does have midi control. I'd like to have my MFC to control the Axefx and the Whammy DT, but I'm confused regarding the best way to approach this. Should I do standard tune preset 1-5, then 1/2 step tuning for preset 6-10, etc. or have external switches connected to the MFC for selecting different tunings on the Whammy DT?


Note that I'm using the Whammy DT because it's better at down-tuning than the pitch block (I feel) and I don't want to use multiple guitars in different tunings. I want to use one guitar at all times.

Suggestions?
Click to expand...

Does the whammy block have a X/Y feature? If so you could get down to half as many presets, with X =normal, y = -1/2 in one grouping and then X= -2.5, y = -3
 
I was planning on using the Digitech Whammy DT for tunings, and not the Axefx's own pitch block. This also allows me to independently use an octave effect or intelligent harmonies in the axefx as well.
 
I play a lot of covers with my band so I tend to make my presets by band, and I use x/y to switch from clean to distortion and to adjust different effects with one switch (X, clean w/ phaser, delay, reverb, and Y, distortion, bypassing chorus, and lessening delay reverb, but not complete bypass). If I need, I use a mission pedal to control modifiers. Then I use the mfc to create a setlist. Im new though so im sure others have a much better approch, but I haven't ran into any problems yet.
 
My preset ordering is based on two basic principles:

1-) I (almost) always use a single preset per song. If the song needs both a clean and a lead tone, I set up a dual signal chain preset, with two amp blocks (and two cab blocks, if needed), and I use an expression pedal to morph/blend from one to the other. I also use a fairly complex signal routing, with a bunch of effects blocks in the chain, whether I need it or not. Most of them are bypassed by default, and I enable them with my floor controller as required. This means that a single preset is usually flexible enough to take me through the entire song. Furthermore, it is also flexible enough to make it usable for several *different* songs.

2-) In each bank of 10 presets, I try to have a range of different presets which give me enough flexibility for perhaps an entire set. Or as a minimum, I could "get away" with quite a few different songs without having to jump to a different bank. The idea is that with a single push on one button, I can get to a preset that "will do" for just about anything, no matter what bank I'm currently in. Changing banks needs *two* buttons to be pushed (with my controller), so I try to avoid it. This means that I do NOT order presets such that similar ones are in the same bank. Quite the contrary.

Having said that, I need a cheat sheet to be able to find my way. I don't use *all* my presets frequently enough to fins them all by memory alone. My most common ones (maybe a dozen or so) are carved in my memory, but for the others, I have to search a list.

I don't think there's a "perfect" way, but the above meets my personal needs.
 
NJBengals85 said:
I play a lot of covers with my band so I tend to make my presets by band, and I use x/y to switch from clean to distortion and to adjust different effects with one switch (X, clean w/ phaser, delay, reverb, and Y, distortion, bypassing chorus, and lessening delay reverb, but not complete bypass). If I need, I use a mission pedal to control modifiers. Then I use the mfc to create a setlist. Im new though so im sure others have a much better approch, but I haven't ran into any problems yet.
Click to expand...

I thought X/Y is designed to toggle between two different states of a given effect. One effect at a time. You can x/y toggle and make multiple effect changes in the same preset?
 
This is why I don't have an MFC. Since there is no editor, the setlist mode is much harder to use than it needs to be. On my Axess FX1 (Liquidfoot works this way too) You can make presets anywhere you like. Then group those together as Songs..... then put the songs in setlist order with an editor. The MFC does this too. But reordering the songs manually is a PITA with any controller.

If there was an MFC editor this would no longer be a question.
 
claxor said:
I thought X/Y is designed to toggle between two different states of a given effect. One effect at a time. You can x/y toggle and make multiple effect changes in the same preset?
Click to expand...
Yes. It's all about MIDI and how you use it. For instance, you can set up a single switch to toggle X/Y on your amp and X/Y on your delay, turn on a drive, and dial down the reverb, all with a single stomp.
 
Rex said:
Yes. It's all about MIDI and how you use it. For instance, you can set up a single switch to toggle X/Y on your amp and X/Y on your delay, turn on a drive, and dial down the reverb, all with a single stomp.
Click to expand...

What if you have a Y state that requires an outside effect device? In this case, X would be standard pitch, Y would be the same preset but with 2.5 step downward on a Whammy Droptune connected to the Midi out of the axefx, and into the midi in of the whammy dt?

Can X/Y's control outside effects in a rack?
 
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