How do you navigate presets?

rog

rog

Inspired
Just curious how people handle going from preset to preset - I got my FM9T in September, so I'm just about 3 months in with this thing, and to date, I've only built one preset that's completely my own. I imagine once I've built up 5-10 of my own, this problem will take care of itself, but right now I have my preset, which is in the low 400s, and there are several of the stock presets that I like to play with, but it takes a minute to scroll to them (1st world problem), if I remember the number preset - otherwise, I have to look for it.

This isn't really a problem, and I'm not looking for anyone to solve it for me, but I am curious - assuming you use multiple presets, how do you organize and navigate them? Do you have a bunch that you've created yourself, that all live in the same area (as in, numerically close to each other), do you copy presets that you like from the stock presets to be closer to what you've built (or to other presets that you haven't built, but you just like), or do you just suck it up and scroll to and fro?

Looking forward to hearing various strategies!

Also mildly curious - does anyone delete any of the stock presets? I've thought about it, as there are some that I would simply never use, but then I don't, as I don't think there's any real benefit to doing so unless I'm going to delete a large amount, which I'm not going to do.
 
As far as navigating presets, I've used up to 20 for a gig but typically use less than 10. I have the first 26 presets reserved for songs we perform the most and they get arranged in the set list order for each gig. If I needed more than 10 consistently, I'd probably be taking advantage of the Setlist feature.

Regarding factory presets, I quickly auditioned each preset over the course of a couple of weeks and deleted any that didn't sound like something I would ever really need, use or didn't have any unique effects. Those I wanted to explore more, I saved to the last preset slots. Over the course of another 3-4 months, I went through the remaining presets and those I liked as were saved with a consistent designation in the name so I would know they were factory presets (i.e. JKR Nameless Streets). Those that I liked effects in but the amp was redundant, those effects were saved in the Block Library and then the preset was deleted.

All of the factory presets are the Axe/FM Edit presets folder in my computer so I still have all of them. They're just not loaded in the device itself.
 
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JoKeR III said:
As far as navigating presets, I've used up to 20 for a gig but typically use less than 10. I have the first 26 presets reserved for songs we perform the most and they get arranged in the set list order for each gig. If I needed more than 10 consistently, I'd probably be taking advantage of the Setlist feature.

Regarding factory presets, I quickly auditioned each preset over the course of a couple of weeks and deleted any that didn't sound like something I would ever really need, use or didn't have any unique effects. Those I wanted to explore more, I saved to the last preset slots. Over the course of another 3-4 months, I went through the remaining presets and those I liked as were saved with a consistent designation in the name so I would know they were factory presets (i.e. JKR Nameless Streets). Those that I liked effects in but the amp was redundant, those effects were saved in the Block Library and then the preset was deleted.

All of the factory presets are the Axe/FM Edit presets folder in my computer so I still have all of them. They're just not loaded in the device itself.
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That's really interesting, your approach to deleting stock presets. I use about 10, right now, there are a bunch others that I probably will play with more, but there's definitely a bunch that I wouldn't ever use. However, I don't want to just nuke a bunch before I've gotten the opportunity to learn from them, since I'm still very new to the Fractal way of doing things.

Plus, that Grim Groaning Ghosts (something like that) is hilarious.

Songlists are something I don't really need right now, though I would almost certainly make use of them if I was to start gigging again.

With your approach, do you have to worry about new firmware versions overwriting what you've done with the preset slots? I know that would be as easy to deal with as simply restoring your backed up presets; I'm asking mainly out of curiosity.
 
Admin M@ said:
Put your favorite presets next to each other. In FM9-Edit's MANAGE PRESETS area you can swap them around using Drag and Drop.
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I've thought about doing that, but I've been resisting just a bit to force myself to start developing my own library of presets. The great Fractal presets are making me really lazy!
 
rog said:
I've thought about doing that, but I've been resisting just a bit to force myself to start developing my own library of presets. The great Fractal presets are making me really lazy!
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Naaaaah. We made them for YOU.
 
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rog said:
That's really interesting, your approach to deleting stock presets. I use about 10, right now, there are a bunch others that I probably will play with more, but there's definitely a bunch that I wouldn't ever use. However, I don't want to just nuke a bunch before I've gotten the opportunity to learn from them, since I'm still very new to the Fractal way of doing things.

Plus, that Grim Groaning Ghosts (something like that) is hilarious.

Songlists are something I don't really need right now, though I would almost certainly make use of them if I was to start gigging again.

With your approach, do you have to worry about new firmware versions overwriting what you've done with the preset slots? I know that would be as easy to deal with as simply restoring your backed up presets; I'm asking mainly out of curiosity.
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Firmware versions won't typically do anything to the organization of the presets. If new factory presets are released, I will backup the presets, install the new batch and go through the process again.

I will add that the presets I actively use are ones I've created from scratch. I haven't used any factory presets as a base for my presets. I have used some effects from factory presets as a base for effect(s) in some of my presets.
 
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I have different presets for different guitars (strat, tele, PRS SE Hollowbody).

I group presets used for each guitar together and have assigned hold functions on my presets layout to take me to the start of each of those groups. Once I am at the start of the group I am interested in I can bank up from there to find the preset I want.

I have not deleted any stock presets even though I don't use them so i have all my presets up in the 500+ region.
 
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I used to move presets around and put them in order for gigs but the band invariably changes the order at the last minute so that gets to be a pain. Trying to move between them and remember where they all are is cumbersome & time consuming and doesn't work well on gigs.

I learned how to use the Song/Setlist feature and now moving presets around is a thing of the past! I define "Songs" that call presets from any existing location, and use any or all of 6 separate scenes and put the songs in the order in the setlist I want. It's much easier to rearrange the setlist than moving presets. A single song can use scenes from 6 different presets if you want. This works pretty well for me at gigs.
 
Admin M@ said:
Put your favorite presets next to each other. In FM9-Edit's MANAGE PRESETS area you can swap them around using Drag and Drop.
Click to expand...
This!
And I put the presets in the expected order for the gig, and have the upper right footswitch dedicated for next preset (tap) and previous preset (hold).
For unexpected changes i can access the Presets lay-out to navigate to any other preset.
 
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I leave all the factory presets stock since I often reference them if I need a tone that's outside my normal types of sounds. I keep all my user presets at the end of the preset slots. I use FM9-Edit to navigate them and make adjustments because I work at my desk with my computer, interface, and monitors so the FM9 is connected with USB anyway. Live I never use more than a few presets so I make sure they're all in one bank so I can quickly switch using the presets layout.
 
strabes said:
I leave all the factory presets stock since I often reference them if I need a tone that's outside my normal types of sounds. I keep all my user presets at the end of the preset slots. I use FM9-Edit to navigate them and make adjustments because I work at my desk with my computer, interface, and monitors so the FM9 is connected with USB anyway. Live I never use more than a few presets so I make sure they're all in one bank so I can quickly switch using the presets layout.
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Yup, keeping stock presets as a reference certainly is a valid way to go - I'm not going to be deleting anything unless there's no chance I can get anything out of it.
 
Greg Ferguson said:
I've never seen firmware change the organization of presets. That'd be way too heavy-handed and would cause users to grab pitchforks and torches.
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So what would happen if a new amp model was introduced, and from the factory was positioned where you have a preset that you've built (or otherwise put in that slot)?
 
guitarno said:
I learned how to use the Song/Setlist feature and now moving presets around is a thing of the past! I define "Songs" that call presets from any existing location, and use any or all of 6 separate scenes and put the songs in the order in the setlist I want. It's much easier to rearrange the setlist than moving presets. A single song can use scenes from 6 different presets if you want. This works pretty well for me at gigs.
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Yep.

Setlists and Songs work really well for quickly organizing and reorganizing, because the underlying order of presets managed by the Preset Manager won't change. Of course, we should still organize our regular presets to make it easier to locate the ones we want, but at least we don't have to do it every time a set changes.
 
rog said:
So what would happen if a new amp model was introduced, and from the factory was positioned where you have a preset that you've built (or otherwise put in that slot)?
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It sounds like you're confused about terminology or how the system works.

New amp models are introduced all the time and nothing happens to presets. Presets are a container for blocks and scenes and it all is nicely organized in the architecture so new models can be added to blocks and the presets don't care. Presets are identified by slots, but a new model in a block doesn't affect that organization at all.

The manual has a couple chapters that describe the hierarchy of presets, scenes and channels that might help conceptualize it all. Look for "Intro to Scenes and Channels" in Section 1, and in the "Presets" and "Scenes & Channels" sections.
 
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Greg Ferguson said:
New amp models are introduced all the time and nothing happens to presets. Presets are a container for blocks and scenes and it all is nicely organized in the architecture so new models can be added to blocks and the presets don't care.
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Right - I phrased that poorly.

What if a new preset was introduced, to showcase a new amp, or for any other reason, and from the factory was positioned where you have a preset that you've built (or otherwise put in that slot)?
 
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