Managing delays

W

Wildwind

Experienced
My brain hurts from trying to figure this out, and my main task for the day is to do just that.

My P&W band is using more and more timed delays these days, with more to come. We play to a click, so I want to preset, not tap.

Tomorrow's set list contains four songs that have delay needs. In one case, the song switches from dotted 8th to quarter note as it moves along. I know I can program four delays and will set my MFC up for all four - easy enough, I guess.

But then there's the other three songs - and I'm well beyond four presets. And there is zero time between songs.

Someone suggested Scenes - will study that but not sure that's an answer. And I'd rather have something I can leave in place and just change tempos to cover all my songs.

I don't know this, but believe that many current standalone delays (like the DD20) can do this, so I would think the Axe-Fx could do it as well (and better).

If it helps, I stick to one delay type generally, or I can get by with just one type.

Not sure if I'm being very clear - sorry. If anyone can assist, I would be most grateful. I'll monitor my email throughout the day - pure music day today, tons to do.

Thanks!
 
Hello,

Maybe you can route the click track thru midi into your axe - this will take care of tempo. If you have one main amp sound, put in two delays in parallel. Put one to 1/8dotted in X and 1/4 in Y. Put the other one also with different x & y settings.

Now you could make four scenes. 1 & 2 have delay 2 muted, 3 &4 mute delay 1. S1 has delay 1 in x, S2 delay 1 in y, s3 delay2 x, s4 delay2 in y. Now you can have 4 delay tempi in 4 scenes. And possibly the click track takes care of main tempo.

Does that help a bit?
 
Thanks martijne. Well-thought out reply.

Routing the click via MIDI is not an option - no MIDI from the source.

But the X/Y thing - I think that might be the easiest for me today. The Scenes might be the ultimate solution, but I don't have a handle on how those work and need more time than I am allowed today. X/Y is easy enough, though, and part of that equation.

And actually the change to 1/4 note requires a different amp...again, easy enough to do.

Thanks again. That gives me a starting point. I had thought maybe there was some way for the Axe-Fx delays to be "set apart" like a standalone device.
 
Set up your presets to use "preset tempo."

new preset = new song = new tempo (predetermined/remembered by the preset).
 
Yes, study scenes, they make life much easier once you understand the concept.

You could add the other amp to the same preset as well and then set up the scenes accordingly. Better use amp2 block than xy on amp1 because of switching delays. Good luck!
 
Thanks guys. I am learning. And Rotti, I am now setting up my unit as you describe (I think anyway...). Scenes will have to come later due to time.

But X/Y isn't working the way I thought it did - I thought I could run one X setup and one Y setup and switch at will. If I can do that, it's not working. I ended up with my "new" Y amp, but the "old" X amp fell apart tonally. And I can't take any more time to figure out why, not today. I'll work on it more tomorrow and Monday.

So separate banks of presets are being put in place right now, using already leveled patches with just delay mods.

But I continue to welcome all comments, especially if I'm wimping out here.
 
Rotti said:
Set up your presets to use "preset tempo."

new preset = new song = new tempo (predetermined/remembered by the preset).
Click to expand...

Yes this is probably the easiest solution for the OP. With Delay1 and Delay2 X/Y you can have four different delay per preset. You can even add a multidelay block and you have one more delay. When you don't want to use scenes you can set up your midi controller with Delay X/Y on a separate foot switch.
 
I don't know if I'm missing something, but this is so simple.
Just save the same preset four times (one for each song) and alter the tempo.

This is what I do and I simple bank up to the next song and everything is set ready to go.

I'm not sure why the OP is saying he is out of presets? There are literally hundreds of storage locations for presets?
 
Wildwind said:
Tomorrow's set list contains four songs that have delay needs. In one case, the song switches from dotted 8th to quarter note as it moves along.
But then there's the other three songs - and I'm well beyond four presets. And there is zero time between songs.
Click to expand...

what's wrong with being beyond 4 presets? it takes a few milliseconds to changes presets.

i'm very confused as to the issue here. make as many presets as you need, put them in order and change presets when needed for different delays.

if you don't understand scenes or XY yet, don't use them until you understand fully. but surely you understand a preset?
 
That's what I'm doing exactly and what I've done all along. I didn't explain it very well. I just thought there was a "better" way of doing it, hence the X/Y and Scenes talk.
 
Wildwind said:
That's what I'm doing exactly and what I've done all along. I didn't explain it very well. I just thought there was a "better" way of doing it, hence the X/Y and Scenes talk.
Click to expand...

Scenes and XY help you accomplish the same thing without leaving a preset. but honestly, it's not THAT much different than using presets. Scenes and XY are more "hidden" and you really have to remember more specifics about what's in the preset.

but using presets, you can title them differently with the Tempo type and BPM in the title if you want - no guess work, just switch to it and it's ready to go.

when Scenes came out, everyone tried to immediately jump ship from Presets and many people made things WAY more complicated forcing Scenes and XY to do all 20 of their guitar tones in one preset, really for no reason. some will argue "gapless switching" but even with Scenes, there are some strict requirements.

don't fear the preset!
 
There's obviously many ways to do things in the Axe Fx 2. It's good to experiment what works the best for you. I would do a preset per song as well. I have a couple of generic presets with scenes for rhythm, lead, ... and blocks with X/Y, but if there's s specific song that calls for some specific effect, I create a preset for that song to make it easier to manage.

This is also where it's much more convenient to have a foot controller with individual screens. I have a MMGT/16 and it would be easy to have one button read ".8 Delay" and the next "Long Delay" or whatever you wanted to make it easier to remember for you.
 
The easiest thing to do is get a simple grasp of scenes and use one preset per song with your perfectly preprogrammed delays.

Scenes just lets you have different combinations of your fx and amps from with in a preset turn on and off at the same time. You can have up to 8 scenes. I have never used more than 4 scenes in a song before


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
scenes is the best way. i create patches for each song, program scenes for each song section. the scene contains all on/off x/y info. super easy. have the tempo saved with each preset...no tap dancing, at all.
 
Agreed. My thoughts on Scenes was that they would work great for others but only complicate life for the rest of us - me in particular. I have a close friend who swears by him, but he's in a cover band that does long gigs. And I haven't checked out his setup. With my gig, I have five main patches that cover 90 percent of what I do. The song-specific presets will go in the other banks - one or two clicks of the Up button and I'm there.
 
i do the cover band thing, play in an original band and play with the worship team at my church. scenes and per song presets just make your life so much easier.
 
i used to charge for this video, but i think i'll shut that service down and just do youtube moving forward. i think ;)

for now, check out this video where i teach how to use Presets, XY and Scenes. it's an hour long, so you may want to take it in chunks, but it's helped many people understand the basic concepts. knowing the history of the Axe and where XY etc came from really helps.

 
I will explore Scenes after the gig - long weekend, GF out of state helping son post-surgery, entire weekend dedicated to music.

Chris, your videos are great! I will explore your in depth - exactly what I need! Much respect and gratitude, brother.
 
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