FC-6 and Increment/Decrement Preset via external switch

[rcv24]

Scenario: Take something like the Boss FS7 and plug it into the 1+2 Switch jack on the FC-6.

My understanding is that you CANNOT use this scenario to increment/decrement presets via the external switch. Is this correct?

Is this correct? If so, is this a feature that could/will be added later?

In the meantime, could you use a tiny midi controller to increment/decrement presets while still using the FC-6 for controlling scenes, effects, etc?

 

[trixdropd]

Don't expect the tiny midi controller to reflect any changes made on the fc6 or axe 3 though. That sounds cumbersome.

 

[unix-guy]

Scenario: Take something like the Boss FS7 and plug it into the 1+2 Switch jack on the FC-6.

My understanding is that you CANNOT use this scenario to increment/decrement presets via the external switch. Is this correct?

Is this correct? If so, is this a feature that could/will be added later?

In the meantime, could you use a tiny midi controller to increment/decrement presets while still using the FC-6 for controlling scenes, effects, etc?

Can you assign Scene Increment and Scene Decrement to External controllers? Check the Midi/Remote menu.

I'm pretty sure you can...

 

[hippietim]

Scenario: Take something like the Boss FS7 and plug it into the 1+2 Switch jack on the FC-6.

My understanding is that you CANNOT use this scenario to increment/decrement presets via the external switch. Is this correct?

Is this correct? If so, is this a feature that could/will be added later?

In the meantime, could you use a tiny midi controller to increment/decrement presets while still using the FC-6 for controlling scenes, effects, etc?

Preset inc/dec cannot be assigned fo an FC external switch. I wonder if that is intentional or an oversight because pretty much everything else in the MIDI/Remote space can be.

You can use a MIDI controller to do this. Either by send PC messages or assigning a CC message number to Preset inc/dec.

 

[hippietim]

Don't expect the tiny midi controller to reflect any changes made on the fc6 or axe 3 though. That sounds cumbersome.

If it is configured to send CC messages to inc/dec presets it should be fine because that command is relative to the current preset.

 

[hippietim]

Can you assign Scene Increment and Scene Decrement to External controllers? Check the Midi/Remote menu.

I'm pretty sure you can...

The OP was looking to control presets.

 

[unix-guy]

Preset inc/dec cannot be assigned fo an FC external switch. I wonder if that is intentional or an oversight because pretty much everything else in the MIDI/Remote space can be.

You can use a MIDI controller to do this. Either by send PC messages or assigning a CC message number to Preset inc/dec.

The OP was looking to control presets.

I actually understood the OP... Not sure why I wrote scenes instead of presets.

I also forgot that the option for external switches with preset Increment/Decrement were not there. Thanks for reminding me.

I do feel like this was an oversight, too. Maybe it should be raised as a bug or at least a wish? I don't use it, but imagine many probably do.

 

[lqdsnddist]

Certai my would be a big wish for me, provided I buy a FC6

I’d ideally run it with scenes 1-6, as for me, switching scenes is my ideal way of working, I don’t really need to turn on/off blocks, change specific channel etc, I just configure it all via scenes, even if a scene is changing just one thing.

Anyways, all I’d really want with that setup is the ability to change presets still, and I think that entering a layout mode, selecting the presets layout, picking a preset, then going back to the scenes mode would feel kind of annoying. Likewise, I don’t want reduced scenes to have preset up/down as that is two scenes I’m giving up

Easily solution, so I thought, was use external switches for preset up and down, so I’d have my 6 scenes and can still change presets as I want. Given I use the looper etc rarely, that would be fine with the layout mode. Maybe external for tuner and tap tempo too, I’ve got a box of switches and parts to build even more.

If presets need to be done only on the FC switches though it kind of kills the appeal of the 6 for me, since I’m left with only 4 buttons on the unit itself. Guess I could make external controls still do some cool stuff, but sounds like unless this is changed the 12 is going to be i my future.

I’d have the ability to have preset up/down, 8 scenes, tap and tuner all on the fly, and a spare for looper layout etc. still could bring up layout then too for mfc style IA etc, and could do stuff with external too such as momentary I guess

Kind of overkill, but not having external preset +\- forces my hand

 

[unix-guy]

Certai my would be a big wish for me, provided I buy a FC6

I’d ideally run it with scenes 1-6, as for me, switching scenes is my ideal way of working, I don’t really need to turn on/off blocks, change specific channel etc, I just configure it all via scenes, even if a scene is changing just one thing.

Anyways, all I’d really want with that setup is the ability to change presets still, and I think that entering a layout mode, selecting the presets layout, picking a preset, then going back to the scenes mode would feel kind of annoying. Likewise, I don’t want reduced scenes to have preset up/down as that is two scenes I’m giving up

Easily solution, so I thought, was use external switches for preset up and down, so I’d have my 6 scenes and can still change presets as I want. Given I use the looper etc rarely, that would be fine with the layout mode. Maybe external for tuner and tap tempo too, I’ve got a box of switches and parts to build even more.

If presets need to be done only on the FC switches though it kind of kills the appeal of the 6 for me, since I’m left with only 4 buttons on the unit itself. Guess I could make external controls still do some cool stuff, but sounds like unless this is changed the 12 is going to be i my future.

I’d have the ability to have preset up/down, 8 scenes, tap and tuner all on the fly, and a spare for looper layout etc. still could bring up layout then too for mfc style IA etc, and could do stuff with external too such as momentary I guess

Kind of overkill, but not having external preset +\- forces my hand

Not really a full solution, but you could have the preset buttons also use the Layout Link.

So, you could be in your Scenes layout, use a hold function to change to a Presets layout where all the switches not only select the preset but also then change back to the Scenes layout.

 

[hippietim]

Not really a full solution, but you could have the preset buttons also use the Layout Link.

So, you could be in your Scenes layout, use a hold function to change to a Presets layout where all the switches not only select the preset but also then change back to the Scenes layout.

This.

 

[lqdsnddist]

Not really a full solution, but you could have the preset buttons also use the Layout Link.

So, you could be in your Scenes layout, use a hold function to change to a Presets layout where all the switches not only select the preset but also then change back to the Scenes layout.

Clever idea, would save a bit of the extra button pressing to say the least, which really is the biggest downside I saw.

Hmmm...

So I could have scenes 1-6 readily available, which while not 8, is still plenty for most situations. Then I could assign a press and hold to 1 or more, which would bring up a preset layout, with I guess bank size of 4, and then an up down, and all 4 of the presets upon being selected would go right back to the scene mode.

I could then still have the two button combo bring up a master layout screen for 6 different layout options, if needed, though having only 6 switches makes things like IA style access feel a bit limiting....

If I could use just one external switch for tap tempo, I could use one other scene button with a hold for tuner mode, or an external tuner button.

Sounds pretty good overall! You may have swayed me back to a FC6

 

[hippietim]

Clever idea, would save a bit of the extra button pressing to say the least, which really is the biggest downside I saw.

Hmmm...

So I could have scenes 1-6 readily available, which while not 8, is still plenty for most situations. Then I could assign a press and hold to 1 or more, which would bring up a preset layout, with I guess bank size of 4, and then an up down, and all 4 of the presets upon being selected would go right back to the scene mode.

I could then still have the two button combo bring up a master layout screen for 6 different layout options, if needed, though having only 6 switches makes things like IA style access feel a bit limiting....

If I could use just one external switch for tap tempo, I could use one other scene button with a hold for tuner mode, or an external tuner button.

Sounds pretty good overall! You may have swayed me back to a FC6

...and on your scenes layout you could have hold functions that switch to 7 & 8.

 

[hippietim]

You could also have 5 scene buttons with 3 hold functions to get you 6, 7 & 8 and use one switch for tap tempo w/hold for tune. No external switches required is you’re ok with some hold functions.

 

[unix-guy]

You could also have 5 scene buttons with 3 hold functions to get you 6, 7 & 8 and use one switch for tap tempo w/hold for tune. No external switches required is you’re ok with some hold functions.

Or some of the scene buttons could be Scene toggle or even short Increment "loops".

Really depends on exactly how scenes are being used.

For me, because I pretty much use a "consistent" work flow for scenes, using hold to access some scenes would work ok because they don't require precise switch timing. But for some people using hold isn't going to be a great option.

I'm also actually looking forward to exploring Control Switches. I suspect most of my use of scenes can be replaced with CS, which will allow me greater ability to multi-purpose my presets as I think I can use all 6 CS to replace 6 scenes... Which then opens up those scenes for other purposes

 

[hippietim]

Or some of the scene buttons could be Scene toggle or even short Increment "loops".

Really depends on exactly how scenes are being used.

For me, because I pretty much use a "consistent" work flow for scenes, using hold to access some scenes would work ok because they don't require precise switch timing. But for some people using hold isn't going to be a great option.

I'm also actually looking forward to exploring Control Switches. I suspect most of my use of scenes can be replaced with CS, which will allow me greater ability to multi-purpose my presets as I think I can use all 6 CS to replace 6 scenes... Which then opens up those scenes for other purposes

I still haven’t “graduated” to using scenes much myself. My mind doesn’t gravitate there naturally. I still use the Axe like an amp with a pedalboard. So where a sensible person would use a scene, I press multiple “stomp boxes”. Part of me thinks that scenes are too much of a commitment and require far too much planning and preparedness.

 

[unix-guy]

I still haven’t “graduated” to using scenes much myself. My mind doesn’t gravitate there naturally. I still use the Axe like an amp with a pedalboard. So where a sensible person would use a scene, I press multiple “stomp boxes”. Part of me thinks that scenes are too much of a commitment and require far too much planning and preparedness.

Definitely... And I use them to solve tap dancing issues.

But even in your case, if you have "common" dance steps, you could take advantage of them.

For example, when I go to a lead scene, 3 things happen:

• A Drive pedal is activated
• A Chorus pedal is bypassed
• A scene controller applies a volume adjustment to a Filter block for boost

I could probably adjust things so the last step isn't required, but it would still take 2 button presses to get there and 2 more to get back. With scenes, it is 1 and 1.

It's all about what works for you.

 

[lqdsnddist]

I still haven’t “graduated” to using scenes much myself. My mind doesn’t gravitate there naturally. I still use the Axe like an amp with a pedalboard. So where a sensible person would use a scene, I press multiple “stomp boxes”. Part of me thinks that scenes are too much of a commitment and require far too much planning and preparedness.

What changed scenes to really useful for me is that we can now name them. So my scene 2 for example could be called “trem and spring verb” then scene 3 is called “deep trem and plate” etc, so it’s all these tonal variations in most cases with often more than just one variable changing, but, since I can name them, it’s real easy to keep track of what all they do. I previously found it difficult to remember that a given scene did what all exactly, and I didn’t like doing the scene x is always lead, scene Z is bridge etc as it was too limited.

Now I can have a given preset where each scene might be a complete chain for a given song. I have some Floyd presets like that, each scene is very unique, but as I’m using an external Patriot muff, I really just change delay times, mix etc for given songs, so scenes work well across a range of tones, and I can smoothly let one delay mix into another too vs preset changes, or with multiple blocks I also change pre and post amp delay etc.

Other times, scenes are all just variations on one amp, each scene adds a little more drive, so like “cool”, “mild” “hot”, “hotter”, across channels with some Eq, etc also adjusted to taste so I just select what I’m feeling in the moment, with the key being the naming so again it makes perfect sense.

I do think it’s really cool though we can now have a layout with per effect on/off, and then press and hold x/y too, so if I’m feeling like I just want to select a few effects on the fly, I can do it easily and still have my main layout also on hand

This all is where I think the FC and the Axe is pretty mind blowing, it’s so flexible and everyone can use it however they see fit.

 

[Sfalsetto]

Hi everyone, I’ve been following this thread closely. I’ve read through the manual and explored the MIDI/Remote options in my Axe III. I don’t see this as a possibility, but thought I might ask anyway. Can bank inc/dec be assigned to external switches? I’m planning on purchasing the FC-12.

Freeing up those two switches on the controller would be of great use to me. I currently am pretty content with my MFC and the III but the new features and integration seem quite impressive. Programming alone will be infinitely more convenient. If I could move the bank inc/dec to external switches, this would be ideal. Any assistance or thoughts are appreciated, thanks.

 

[unix-guy]

Hi everyone, I’ve been following this thread closely. I’ve read through the manual and explored the MIDI/Remote options in my Axe III. I don’t see this as a possibility, but thought I might ask anyway. Can bank inc/dec be assigned to external switches? I’m planning on purchasing the FC-12.

Freeing up those two switches on the controller would be of great use to me. I currently am pretty content with my MFC and the III but the new features and integration seem quite impressive. Programming alone will be infinitely more convenient. If I could move the bank inc/dec to external switches, this would be ideal. Any assistance or thoughts are appreciated, thanks.

I think that might be hard because an Axe Fx bank is 128 presets, and the FC bank size is user definable. External switches don't have any real settings (currently) that would allow that.

You can always submit a wish list item. I suspect a lot of people are going to be looking to use external switches for various types of incr/decr functionality.

 

[Sfalsetto]

Thanks for your reply. Sorry I should have clarified. I meant a bank of 5 switches on the controller. How I currently use my mfc is the bottom 5 switches as presets, the rest as IA’s, some scenes, etc.

So with the FC, I am hoping to have the bottom row be presets, and then be able to bank either up and down to access to next or previous 6 presets. Hopefully that makes sense. I will certainly submit a wishlist item for this if it cannot be accomplished. Though I think I can adapt if this can’t be accomplished.

These controllers are truly impressive either way. I look forward to seeing them in action.