mongoose_eyeball
Inspired
I've only had my Axe FX II since mid-July, and I've spent most of that time in wide-eyed wonder, like a pedophile at a toddler beauty pageant. Since the MFC-101 is still back-ordered, I've had an excuse for not settling down to business and actually beginning to organize patches into gig-ready groupings. There's just so much here, and so many different ways to make so many great sounds, that I've let myself get paralyzed by the ridiculous number of options.
But--and I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit this--I do own a GCX rackmount switcher and an old, original Ground Control. I bought them awhile back on eBay, thinking I'd start racking my pedals, but never got around to dealing with the hassle. At first, I thought I'd just hold out and wait for the MFC-101, so I wouldn't have to go back to square one when I got a new controller. But then i decided to go for it--I feel hypocritical playing through a Digitech rp500 and telling my bandmates, "just wait until I bring out my Fractal! It's gonna be amazing!" And I decided to make it work with the controller I have, and started trying to figure it out.
Anyway, I couldn't get the Ground Control to change patches on the Axe FX II (couldn't get the MIDI light to flash at all). After futzing around for a couple of weeks, I posted about it on the Voodoo Labs forum, and somebody suggested something that made it work.
So, finally, here's what this post is REALLY about:
Now that I'm out of excuses and have the means of changing patches with my feet, I have to work out the best way to organize patches for live performance.
I started by trying to group sounds into categories based on gain (clean, hairy, crunch, high-gain) and/or effect (ethereal, funky, etc.) . I picked a representative batch of sounds in each category and put them in their own folders in my presets folder.
The hard part now is choosing which ones will work best. The frustrating thing is that I know that the representative sounds in each category I choose at home, playing alone, probably won't be the ones that will sound best in a loud club, playing with a band. You just can't know how a sound will work in a mix until you try it.
I remember sitting down with the digitech (and a Floor POD before that, and a MagicStomp-plus-individual-pedals before that, and a Zoom before that), and programming for hours, then getting onstage and having the sounds disappear into the quicksand of the stage mix. So far, only the individual pedals haven't done that, but I did notice that I always had to drastically tweak them from the settings I'd originally planned.
So my question is this--are there any go-to choices in the categories I mentioned (say, amp and cab wise) that seem to work most reliably live? I may be drawn to the snappiness of the Dr Z or the AC-15TB at home, but find that the evenness of the HiWatt speaks better when surrounded by bass, drums and keys.
The Ground Control works in banks of ten (there are nine banks), so I've got 100 potential patches, though I don't see myself using anywhere near that. I currently use five banks on the Digitech, and it's set up so that each bank gives me a basic sound, with a single, switchable choice of compression, overdrive, modulation, delay and reverb. So I have a bank with an 80s-style high gain for the distortion, a bank with a rockabilly slapback for the delay, a bank for Cure covers, with lots of chorus and compression (and tap delay), etc. I'm in three totally different cover bands, so I have to have a wide palette.
This has worked pretty well for me, so I'll probably do something along the same lines with the banks on the GC.
So what are your favorite amps and/or cabs?
1. Clean
2. Hairy
3. Crunchy
4. Classic Rock high gain
5. Modern Rock high gain
6. Lead tone
Do you recommend going the "Global block" route?
BTW, I haven't yet figured out how to load aftermarket IRs, so I'm using the stock cabs.
Ok, that's enough stalling--time to mess with some sounds...
thanks for any advice you have!
But--and I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit this--I do own a GCX rackmount switcher and an old, original Ground Control. I bought them awhile back on eBay, thinking I'd start racking my pedals, but never got around to dealing with the hassle. At first, I thought I'd just hold out and wait for the MFC-101, so I wouldn't have to go back to square one when I got a new controller. But then i decided to go for it--I feel hypocritical playing through a Digitech rp500 and telling my bandmates, "just wait until I bring out my Fractal! It's gonna be amazing!" And I decided to make it work with the controller I have, and started trying to figure it out.
Anyway, I couldn't get the Ground Control to change patches on the Axe FX II (couldn't get the MIDI light to flash at all). After futzing around for a couple of weeks, I posted about it on the Voodoo Labs forum, and somebody suggested something that made it work.
So, finally, here's what this post is REALLY about:
Now that I'm out of excuses and have the means of changing patches with my feet, I have to work out the best way to organize patches for live performance.
I started by trying to group sounds into categories based on gain (clean, hairy, crunch, high-gain) and/or effect (ethereal, funky, etc.) . I picked a representative batch of sounds in each category and put them in their own folders in my presets folder.
The hard part now is choosing which ones will work best. The frustrating thing is that I know that the representative sounds in each category I choose at home, playing alone, probably won't be the ones that will sound best in a loud club, playing with a band. You just can't know how a sound will work in a mix until you try it.
I remember sitting down with the digitech (and a Floor POD before that, and a MagicStomp-plus-individual-pedals before that, and a Zoom before that), and programming for hours, then getting onstage and having the sounds disappear into the quicksand of the stage mix. So far, only the individual pedals haven't done that, but I did notice that I always had to drastically tweak them from the settings I'd originally planned.
So my question is this--are there any go-to choices in the categories I mentioned (say, amp and cab wise) that seem to work most reliably live? I may be drawn to the snappiness of the Dr Z or the AC-15TB at home, but find that the evenness of the HiWatt speaks better when surrounded by bass, drums and keys.
The Ground Control works in banks of ten (there are nine banks), so I've got 100 potential patches, though I don't see myself using anywhere near that. I currently use five banks on the Digitech, and it's set up so that each bank gives me a basic sound, with a single, switchable choice of compression, overdrive, modulation, delay and reverb. So I have a bank with an 80s-style high gain for the distortion, a bank with a rockabilly slapback for the delay, a bank for Cure covers, with lots of chorus and compression (and tap delay), etc. I'm in three totally different cover bands, so I have to have a wide palette.
This has worked pretty well for me, so I'll probably do something along the same lines with the banks on the GC.
So what are your favorite amps and/or cabs?
1. Clean
2. Hairy
3. Crunchy
4. Classic Rock high gain
5. Modern Rock high gain
6. Lead tone
Do you recommend going the "Global block" route?
BTW, I haven't yet figured out how to load aftermarket IRs, so I'm using the stock cabs.
Ok, that's enough stalling--time to mess with some sounds...
thanks for any advice you have!
