Reducing scene change time

Roland

Roland

Experienced
What can I do to reduce the time it takes to change scenes? I’m the only guitarist in the band. Often I have to switch from rhythm to solo, then back to rhythm, between beats. There’s a lot going on in that split second: amp parameters, delay and reverb settings, maybe chorus settings.

How can I minimise the transition time?
 
the transition "time" is an audio gap happening on purpose to prevent noise due to parameters suddenly changing. the Scene change happens instantly; there's just a audio gap.

use duplicate blocks instead of XY switching, and Bypass/Engage the different blocks. some also use a Drive block on a clean amp for certain gain sounds, which has no audio gap.

Scenes can only do what they can do.
 
If you change delay and chourus settings it’s only going to ad too the gap to make a perfectly seamless gap you need two amps that are relative and you can even adjust advanced parameters to match on each amp like pre and power amp bias and hardness and everything just tweak until your gap is smaller I’ve made a patch I use for my band and we switch from high gain to glassy clean in an instant in a song and you can not hear it switch so I know it’s doable people have a hard time with it but remember to try everything and to realize what is not really possible in the real world like switching delay times or delay feedback
If something really dosnt work that you are trying then maybe it was not really a good idea to do in the first place maybe you can achieve your next chorus using the detune block at -7 ct and +7 ct
And also try using two different presets that are right next to each other I’ve found that way to be a little faster especially if you set up the presets the same and use less effects on one
Animals as leaders uses presets and lots of successful live bands use whole presets and change between them if you send me the preset I can try to make it seedless for you
 
Delay and reverb can make the scene change seem more obvious too if they are changing XY as well. Things like Chorus and Drive don’t really affect it too much since there aren’t any trails.
 
The Amp block X/Y was the only place I ever noticed it.

Use 2 amp blocks, and remember that even if one is bypassed there will still be a gap if it changes X/Y when changing scenes.
 
As always recommended... post the preset for others to have a look at, with a little background on what the scenes are supposed to do. There may be things that can be changed to make the preset more efficient and reduce, or eliminate any gaps?

Might be able to use scene controllers and/or an expression pedal to quickly switch/morph between the two tones? etc...
 
Last edited:
Last year I was using duplicate Amp blocks, turning one off and the other on with an IA. A few months ago I started bi-amping, which meant using Scenes instead of IAs to switch between rhythm and lead. The problem stems from that.

Scene Controllers are a feature I hadn’t noticed. (Scenes arrived after I started using an AxeFX). I’ll test that out next week. I’m also looking forward to using damping to smooth Delay and Reverb changeover. I don’t use duplicate Reverb and Delay blocks because they push the CPU over 90%.

Moke said:
As always recommended... post the preset for others to have a look at with a little background on what the scenes are supposed to do...
Click to expand...
Thanks for the offer. I’ll do that if Scene Controllers don’t solve the problem.
 
I never use scenes, although many do, and I guess for some that makes sense. I use a MFC for preset changes. I’ll use one expression pedal attached to a filter block set to null at the end off the signal chain at +6db for a volume boost for solos or when I want to accent a part. Works great. You can do the same with other parameters for effects. I have another controller assigned for whatever I might need in a preset, and an on/off switch to do the same. Preset changes might work faster than scenes. Works for me
 
I’d always used IAs. When I went for bi-amping I had to use start using Scenes because IAs couldn’t cope with changing Amp type. It seems that Scene Controllers won’t either.

Back to the drawing board. I’ll have to rethink my approach to bi-amping.
 
Roland said:
I’d always used IAs. When I went for bi-amping I had to use start using Scenes because IAs couldn’t cope with changing Amp type. It seems that Scene Controllers won’t either.

Back to the drawing board. I’ll have to rethink my approach to bi-amping.
Click to expand...
There are lots of ways to quickly go between two signal chains.

A mixer block after the two amps using a scene controller to morph between the two?

Or two Vol/Pan blocks with their (mute) bypass states (one reversed) tied to a Control Switch to select between the two chains, you could even make the Control Switch a momentary switch. This would let you select the alternate chain while the button is pressed, and go back to the original chain when it's released?

Post the preset!
 
@Moke I know the tricks, apart from Scene Controllers. The problem is that I’m using two Amps, both at the same time, and changing the amp type of one or both of them when the scene changes. The delay is caused by the X/Y changeover time.

First off I need to review my choice of Amps. I’ve been holding off from that because it works successfully live, apart from the changeover time. If I can avoid changing Amp type then the problem will go away.
 
Roland said:
@Moke I know the tricks, apart from Scene Controllers. The problem is that I’m using two Amps, both at the same time, and changing the amp type of one or both of them when the scene changes. The delay is caused by the X/Y changeover time.

First off I need to review my choice of Amps. I’ve been holding off from that because it works successfully live, apart from the changeover time. If I can avoid changing Amp type then the problem will go away.
Click to expand...
Ahh, ok... You didn't mention 'X/Y'..

The AX8 actually switches better than the Axe-Fx II right now. I only use 'X/Y' in the Axe-Fx II for song sections that already have a small break. Other than that, I make tone/gain changes using other methods (extra blocks, scene controllers, etc..)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom