Grouping presets?

alex1fly

Inspired
Apologies if this has been discussed, I couldn't find anything here or in the manual.

As I go through the FM3 I'm loving many presets, and am wishing for a way to group them somehow. I'm running several instruments through the FM3 (bass, guitar, vocals, loops), and this would be very helpful. Does anybody do this with the extra user slots, renaming, FM Edit, or other ways? Like if a preset sounds great with my Tele, somehow "mark" it for Tele. Same with bass, if I'm loving a bass sound then I could "mark" it for bass. I probably wouldn't use 10 presets per instrument, but it would quite helpful to have everything grouped somehow as I develop my sounds and find what I'm going to use.
 
I often rename presets in groups if they’re for a particular guitar: 513 for my PRS 513, 594 for the 594 series, HB for the Hollowbodys. So one might say “513 Cln“ for my 513s clean preset, etc. I then move them into an open bank so I can have them appear in the sequential order I want when using bank up or down.

It doesn’t matter if the labels make sense to everyone as long as they make sense to you! Use the available letters to make a system that’s easy for you to see and remember.
 
I'd recommend using layouts and just assigning your favorites to the various switches in particular layout. You could also copy all the presets to the end of the bank and keep the first hundred or so blank and make 1-20 rock, 21-40 metal, etc.
 
Cool, thanks for sharing your thought processes!

Good problem to have, managing all these ridiculously awesome sounds :)
Can you think of literally ANY other unit in the last 2 decades that has so many immediately usable and great-sounding presets right out of the box? Me neither :)
 
Can you think of literally ANY other unit in the last 2 decades that has so many immediately usable and great-sounding presets right out of the box? Me neither :)
Definitely not. It's pretty unreal.

I like your idea of moving all presets back 20 or 30 slots and then using the beginning slots for my own grouping. Is that pretty simple to do in FM Edit? Or do you have to do it gasp one at a time?
 
Definitely not. It's pretty unreal.

I like your idea of moving all presets back 20 or 30 slots and then using the beginning slots for my own grouping. Is that pretty simple to do in FM Edit? Or do you have to do it gasp one at a time?
Not sure if this works the same on the FM3, but on the Axe Fx you can back up the presets in banks, then reload them that way to a higher bank. So move C to D, then B to C, then A to B, and the first 128 can be blanked to put your stuff there without losing and factory stuff.
 
Not sure if this works the same on the FM3, but on the Axe Fx you can back up the presets in banks, then reload them that way to a higher bank. So move C to D, then B to C, then A to B, and the first 128 can be blanked to put your stuff there without losing and factory stuff.
Yeah but you don't really need to do that, since the unit wakes up on whatever preset you shut it down with.
I've left the factory stuff where it came, so far, my stuff starts after that.
 
Yeah but you don't really need to do that, since the unit wakes up on whatever preset you shut it down with.
I've left the factory stuff where it came, so far, my stuff starts after that.
You’re right, it’s just what you prefer. I like starting at the front, but it works the same either way.
 
Well, I definitely need to start saving my favorite sounds. Dialed in an amazing lead last night, did some recording, and then completely forgot which preset I was using. Whoops
 
Definitely not. It's pretty unreal.

I like your idea of moving all presets back 20 or 30 slots and then using the beginning slots for my own grouping. Is that pretty simple to do in FM Edit? Or do you have to do it gasp one at a time?
Not sure, to be honest; I've never moved that many presets - I just deleted the first 30 or so. You could always just export all the presets then import them all starting at 20 or 30 presets higher.
 
Not sure, to be honest; I've never moved that many presets - I just deleted the first 30 or so. You could always just export all the presets then import them all starting at 20 or 30 presets higher.
A better answer is to place your own presets in the FINAL user locations. Then, with just a tap of Bank Down, you've moved from Factory content to your curated preset location.
 
A better answer is to place your own presets in the FINAL user locations. Then, with just a tap of Bank Down, you've moved from Factory content to your curated preset location.
See, the problem is that I've never been able to successfully use "banks," so i've eschewed the whole idea. It started with when I first got my III and the FCB1010 MIDI controller in 2018. No matter what commands I sent, it would not change banks, so I've more or less just accepted there aren't any banks. This was 3 years ago, of course, so maybe it was a bug that was worked out.

But yes, that is a good idea; I think I've just gotten so used to having all my presets frontloaded (and again, assumed banks weren't a thing) that obvious solutions like that elude me lol!!
 
Back
Top Bottom