Wish Global Effect Block-Combos which act as a virtual block

S

Steffen Bernd

Member
Hi guys,

At the last axe-fest.de we discussed a feature which would really help me to create nice sounds with different combinations of amp/cabs and more like it is with a switched Pedalboard ..

If the whole effect chain aka combination of blocks would be storable at a global level and be usable as a "virtual block" inside patches/scenes ..

Why:
I have maybe preferred delayed, pedals, reverbs combinations which I want to attach or check with different amps.
IN the end it could be a patch itself.
IN - > compressor -> distortion -> delay -> reverb -> out
NAME: "lead effects 01"
which then could be placed like

IN -> "lead effect 01" -> amp -> cab -> out

Ideally these Global Block Combis could be created inside an existing patch
by marking what you need -> create Global Block Combi from selection

I guess this would be a nice approach, but lets see, what the community thinks.

Greets, Steffen
 
My approximation of this, and I bet other people's too, is to drop a new amp and maybe a new cab into a copy of a preset with my go-to add-ons. I may customize from there, tweaking drives, delays, and other effects however I feel that day.

That works pretty well. Obviously, it's not as granular as reusing just this set of 4 blocks in series, with these two in parallel with them.

OTOH I can see all manner of possible complications designing a system that could insert an arbitrary layout of arbitrary blocks in an arbitrary location in any existing preset.
 
Dave Merrill said:
OTOH I can see all manner of possible complications designing a system that could insert an arbitrary layout of arbitrary blocks in an arbitrary location in any existing preset.
Click to expand...

Or, you could look at it as: there's either room/capacity for the blocks where you want to drop them or there isn't. It's a simple binary outcome. The simplest design would just be a copy/paste (or insert from a library) of multiple blocks with the editor. That wouldn't even require a firmware change.

Probably the most common use case would be in the early stages of creating a preset where you have plenty of room in the grid and available block types, so there'd be a good chance it would fit. It would be nice if the signal routing within the blocks being inserted could be preserved, but the connection to the previously existing blocks in the preset could be done by the user after the insert.

Like the OP, I have a number of "sub presets" that appear in my presets over and over. Considering the Axe-FX aesthetic where you're given the tools and encouraged to create new meta effects by combining blocks, copy/paste/save-to-library/load-from-library of the multiple blocks that form that meta effect seems like a useful feature to add to the editor.
 
GlennO said:
Or, you could look at it as: there's either room/capacity for the blocks where you want to drop them or there isn't. It's a simple binary outcome. The simplest design would just be a copy/paste (or insert from a library) of multiple blocks with the editor. That wouldn't even require a firmware change.

Probably the most common use case would be in the early stages of creating a preset where you have plenty of room in the grid and available block types, so there'd be a good chance it would fit. It would be nice if the signal routing within the blocks being inserted could be preserved, but the connection to the previously existing blocks in the preset could be done by the user after the insert.

Like the OP, I have a number of "sub presets" that appear in my presets over and over. Considering the Axe-FX aesthetic where you're given the tools and encouraged to create new meta effects by combining blocks, copy/paste/save-to-library/load-from-library of the multiple blocks that form that meta effect seems like a useful feature to add to the editor.
Click to expand...
Doh! Having the user place a sub-preset on their layout is probably much simpler than what I was thinking, where you go to your library of those and say "add this to the current preset" and it figures out where to put it. It's also better for the user.
 
Thanks a lot for all your input, but IMHO a generic approach has lots of advantages compared to c&p:

1. People can offer their block-combinations like IRs, like presets at axe-exchange or sell them
2. If I made a certain effect-block combi and later on change this - as its mapped to say 5 presets, all of them change (has PROs and CONs I know, but for me it has more PROs, maybe at some point a scene switches even the effect chain - as it does now - but the generic ones
3. Beeing able to sit down and recreate effect chains present at pedal boards is some work, but if there is an exchange like (see 1) there will be even improvments to existing chains
4. And yes, of course you can always copy and paste, its like copy and pasting in Excel, or in any IDE to develop, but reusing, aka linking has so many other advantages. This opens up sooo many possibilities you did not even think about before.

Imagine the following:
  • the Wish would be implemented
  • some people would just extract their effect chains and create such virtual block combis and offer them somehow (axechange) or as downloads (even paid) for others
-> creating AutoWah effects, Synth Effects, whatever

Today:
  • you select a Preset you like which is near what you want
  • you copy and paste or edit it to your wishes
  • Maybe at some point you created a nice effects combination you really like, but you still have to find the song or lick you need it for
  • you may save it as a new preset, which is somewhere and you may even forget about it

There are tools in Professional Audio, which do such things already:
  • my Allen & Heath SQ has Libraries of effects, even effect combis which I can change -> User Library
  • typical namings: Male Vocal, Female Vocal etc. which have compressor, eq, and more
  • A&H even offers new Effects, like specific compressors, Dyn EQs whatever, which could be part of this

Finally:
- As AXE FX in special could also be used as a effects generator, aka Lexicon or Eventide or others, this could also open new applications

Just my 2 (4) cents;-)
- Steffen
 
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