How do you set up your footswitches?

Promit

Inspired
Just curious what everyone else has settled on, as I'm trying to decide how to configure things nowadays. I'm finding that setting 1-4 as scenes, 5-8 as stomp boxes is a nice middle ground, although I'm still not sure what I want to do with the F switches. I also shut off X/Y at the foot switches, as scenes seem to be a better (and more consistent) way to control things and upstroke switching is kind of weird to get used to.
 
Scenes 1 to 4 across the bottom from clean, low gain, mid gain, solo with a boost and delay.
Buttons 5 to 8 add in effects - depends on the amp and style of music but often I’ll have ch, ph, trem and delay with the type depending on the type of music the preset is for.

I don’t use x/y on the switches but often have xy utilised in the scenes so my clean scene 1 is probably a different amp to the higher gain amp in scene 3 and 4.
 
Scenes = 1 to 4 (clean, low gain, mid gain, lead)

Drive, effects, control switches = 5 to 8. Even though the scenes may have effects attached I like to have the option of turning on or off or just adding more drive if needed on 1 or 2.
 
I only recently got my AX8 so I'm still mucking around with how best to arrange things, but this is how I currently have it. I use pretty simple presets, based off Austin Buddy's excellent Naked Amps pack.

Each bank has four presets. For each preset the footswitches are arranged like this:

1-4: Preset switch 1-4
5: Scene 1/2 toggle
6-8: individual effects toggles

Depending on how I've built the preset, the scene toggle will either be lead boost, or x/y switch on the amp & cab. Having the toggle on switch 5 is great as it's right by my wah pedal, so it's really quick to switch on the lead boost and engage the wah. I'm a left-footer when it comes to wah though so YMMV :)
 
Just curious what everyone else has settled on, as I'm trying to decide how to configure things nowadays. I'm finding that setting 1-4 as scenes, 5-8 as stomp boxes is a nice middle ground, although I'm still not sure what I want to do with the F switches. I also shut off X/Y at the foot switches, as scenes seem to be a better (and more consistent) way to control things and upstroke switching is kind of weird to get used to.

Like you I use 1-4 as scenes, 5-8 as stomp boxes. Functions are:
1 - preset mode (tap), none (hold)
2 - none (tap), tuner (hold)
3 - scene 1/2 (tap), none (hold)

I'd gotten myself into some problems because I can't see the display very well, so this very simple set up fits everything I need the AX8 to do. I also have a Mission SP2 and use the toe switch to toggle between volume and wah, or volume and pitch (whammy).
 
I use a combination of scenes and stomp settings. My F1 & 2 are currently set as per delivery, F3 is tap tempo/looper.

I really like the Scene 1>2 toggle option and I wish we had more such options (eg Scene 3>4 toggle etc.) as it would seem to me it would afford users more options as well as help users get more mileage out of those 8 switches.
 
I set the Global for 1-4 as Scenes 1-4, 5-8 as stomps.
most my scenes are 1) Amp with Reverb 2) Amp with Drive and Reverb 3) Amp with Delay 4) Amp with Drive and Delay
It is pretty consistent across the board so I remember no matter which patch I am on
F2 I set for Preset Up/Preset Down, F1 and F3 are Stock Settings.

I wish there was revert to last Scene functionality on the switches, maybe there is and I do not know about it.
 
Just curious what everyone else has settled on, as I'm trying to decide how to configure things nowadays. I'm finding that setting 1-4 as scenes, 5-8 as stomp boxes is a nice middle ground, although I'm still not sure what I want to do with the F switches. I also shut off X/Y at the foot switches, as scenes seem to be a better (and more consistent) way to control things and upstroke switching is kind of weird to get used to.

A similar approach has worked for me for over a year, I'm hesitant to change it: because now everything habitually falls underfoot, and I'm used to setting stuff up to work this way.

I don't generally use more than 4 scenes for a song, so that works out (If I do: the F-Switches take you right there to all 8 scenes) and that leaves 4 switches for effects for my ingrained pedal-board workflow/mindset/comfort zone; and to improvise with.
#1 is always drive or boost, 2 for mod effects, 3 is ambience: chorus or reverb, and 4 is always delay (conveniently next to tap tempo). X/Y off for footswitches = lower latency, less to keep track of, no inadvertent X/Y foot-switching. Any and all X/Y is done with scenes and covers any multiple or complex effects changes, amp variations, compression, scene controllers or whatever.
#5 is scene 1/2 toggle, #6 is scene 3, #7 is scene 4, #8 is Looper. Before I got into using the looper: Scenes 1-4 were #5-8.

As for the F switches: the default is perfect for me: When an all scenes approach is called for or for changing presets: its easy to get around.

What I most appreciate is that the AX8 is easily configured to access a few scenes along with a basic pedal-board row. For me, that's enough. I don't want to keep track of a vast matrix of footswitches and flickering status lights. I don't want to need scribble strips. #1 is always the dirt box. #4 is always delay. #7 is always Lead. And not too few foot-switches, either.

I've also messed around with additional external switches: which are very helpful if needed: but I've so far managed to get everything onto the AX8 along with one or two expression pedals for controller tasks. If I actually used the looper regularly in performance: I might make use of assigning the record play/stop functions to external switches. I just don't bring along those switches and cables. But having the looper on call at #8 is super useful when dialing in sound or setting levels: so it's handy for me to have available on many presets at #8.

If/when I come up with a switching arrangement that will suit me better: It can be done. But this has worked very well for having useful access to the available sound possibilities: whether planned or improvised.
 
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I hope this isn't confusing but since I come from the original FX8 (switches 1-4 on top row and 5-8 on the bottom), I still think about switches that way.

So on the AX8, I set up switches 5-8 (top row) as stomp boxes and switches 1-4 (bottom row) as scenes 5-8. The benefit of this is that you can set up a function switch (F3 for me) to toggle scenes 1/2 and thus you get 6 scenes and 4 stomp boxes.
 
1-8 can be anything, it depends on the preset.

The Function switches I have as follows:
1. Tap, single preset. Hold, sticky scene. I use these two features the least so I put them at the top of the unit.
2. Tap, single scene. Hold, looper control. I use these functions more so I put them in the middle of the unit for easier access.
3. Tap, tempo settings, mostly for quick access to metronome as I rarely use tap tempo for effects. Hold, tuner. I use these two all the time so I put them closest to me.
 
2 ways
1-4 scenes and 5-8 FX............or 1-3 scenes 4 is a drive , such easy access to it on the bottom on 4. then 5-8 fx again
 
I'm using my AX8 in a cover band...and both the band and the AX8 are new to me. We cover a wide variety of material from the 60s (e.g., Beatles, McCoys, Zepp, through the 70s (e.g., AC/DC, Bowie, Tom Petty, the Commodores), the 80s (e.g., Duran Duran, Flock of Seagulls, Modern English) 90s (e.g., Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots, Metallica, Weezer) through a bit more contemporary artists (e.g., Kings of Leon, Black Keys, Velvet Revolver). In fact...this band is why I decided to try the AX8...I wanted an easy-to-setup-and-transport rig that was capable of producing a wide variety of sounds and stereo effects.

I haven't been at this long enough to have settled into a pattern that I use "all the time" and I'm not sure I ever will. But this is my basic approach. First I built a number of what I think of as multi-purpose utility presets that can be used for multiple songs and then a build a few scenes that enable me to use a slightly tweaked version of pretty much the same rig or additional scenes which are used largely to switch certain effects on/off and boost levels for solos. So on my typical "utility preset" I'll have some of the 8 buttons reserved for effects that I'm likely to want to turn on off and I'll have at least a Scene 1/2 button or often, Scene 2 and 3 buttons. I've not built only a couple presets that require 4 scenes.

I also have some presets that are pretty much dedicated to one or two songs. For example, I have one preset just for the Cult's Fire Woman. There's a real unique combination of effects that I only use in this tune...but I need several distinctly different tones/volumes too, that correspond to different parts of the song. I created Scenes for different parts of the song; so I'm switching between an X rig used for the intro part (which occurs several times in the song) and I use a Y rig for the other parts of the song...I have the three buttons on the bottom row assigned to the four Scenes I've set up (intro, verses & choruses, solos).

Another example of a preset dedicated to pretty much one song is one I use for Lonely Boy by the Black Keys -- I need that Whammy Ricochet momentary pedal effect--but just for this one song. I need easy access to that preset so it's down in the lower row in button 4 where I can get at it quickly.

But in my typical preset, if it's one in which I'm using the scenes to switch groups of settings and/or effects on/off within a song, then I assign the Scenes to the lower four buttons where they are most easily accessed. Conversely if I'm using the different Scenes in the utility patch mostly for different songs (e.g., I use one patch for tunes by AC/DC, Jet, Bad Finger and Tom Petty), then I'll assign the Scenes to the top row and various effects to the bottom row, where I'm likely to use them more often.

I also use a Vol/Pan block in virtually every preset because I've relied on using a vol pedal in my rigs since back in the 70s. I have a second expression pedal which is almost always used as a wah, but on occasion, it's used for changing speed of a Rotary block.

Just posted a thread about my first gig with the AX8 which was this past Saturday.

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/first-gig-with-ax8.145104/
 
After reading this makes me wonder if I’m doing it all wrong!! Lol. I Put a preset on each switch 1 through 5
Switch1 - rthm 1
Switch2 - rthm 2
Switch 3 - clean
Switch 4 - lead 1
Switch 5 - lead 2
That makes up 1 bank of 5 and I just repeat for 20 or so banks. Each bank of 5 I like to think as a certain genre. 1-5 metal 6-10 blues 11-15 rock etc. Works great for me!!
 
Scenes on the bottom row, stompboxes on/off on the top row. Seems like the latency is imperceptible with latest firmware, freakin love it.
 
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Seems like the latency is imperceptible with latest firmware, freakin love it.

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UAGE POLICE LINE - DO NOT CROSS ------ LANGUAGE POLICE LINE - DO NOT CROSS ------ LAN
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For the record, latency was never an issue. There was a bit of an audio gap, though. :)
 
Haha whoops! I agree 100%, it was a tiny audio gap. Which us now nearly imperceptible to me. This thing just gets better and better
 
I've managed to do have my whole gigging options covered through the following set up.

I have ONE main Preset, where the foot switches are controlling Scenes 1-8. The Modulation Block in this main preset is CHORUS and the AMPs are X/Y'd between Shiva Clean and Friedman C18. I have 2 Mission Pedals set up: One for touch activated WAH (off in the heel position) and the other is a Volume pedal. The SWITCH in the Volume pedal is connected to an external 4 controller and activates my Lead Boost (GEQ Block and Lead Delay Block) in my preset, so I don't need a dedicated "Lead" scene in my preset. Works pretty well!

I then duplicated the preset 3 times and put them in subsequent preset numbers in the same bank, with just the modulation changing, so Preset 30-1 is my Chorus preset, 30-2 is my Flanger, 30-3 is my Phaser and 30-4 is my Pitch Effect. I have an acoustic SIM preset in 30-5 and my "Metallica tone" preset as 30-6 for the random needs.
 
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