How to organize presets for a song?

[Cygnus__X1]

I’m sure this is a VERY common question. I am trying to decide on a way to organize presets for individual songs. The logical way to me would be to say, have a Bank at the top level, then have the presets for the song assigned to foot-switches within that Bank. So for playing through a setlist I could start at Bank 1 for song 1, then switch to Bank 2 for song 2 and so on? I am RTFM btw. The snapshots look cool but I am a completely new to this so I am looking for a simple way to do this until I become more familiar. Right now I am trying to work my way through “Diary of a Madman” because it has a good mix of sounds to switch through and I can actually halfway play it :-). Thanks for any help.

[theElevators]

On 10/26/2023 at 8:49 PM, Cygnus__X1 said:

I’m sure this is a VERY common question. I am trying to decide on a way to organize presets for individual songs. The logical way to me would be to say, have a Bank at the top level, then have the presets for the song assigned to foot-switches within that Bank. So for playing through a setlist I could start at Bank 1 for song 1, then switch to Bank 2 for song 2 and so on? I am RTFM btw. The snapshots look cool but I am a completely new to this so I am looking for a simple way to do this until I become more familiar. Right now I am trying to work my way through “Diary of a Madman” because it has a good mix of sounds to switch through and I can actually halfway play it :-). Thanks for any help.

OK, it's clear you haven't spent enough time reading the manual / watching videos from your statement regarding "bank", "presets" etc.  So if I were you, I'd start with getting familiar what presets are, and what snapshots are. 

 

Once you familiarize yourself with those concepts....

 

I recommend a preset-per-song approach.  Inside the preset you can have snapshots for each different sections.  You can organize your presets in order of your set list. 

 

So yes, RTFM.... OTHERWISE you are jumping the gun. 

 

[silverhead]

I take a dual approach. I have many song-based presets that I organize in the order I want to play the songs. One song per preset when I want to get as close as possible to the original tone for covering the song.

 

I also reserve several banks in my main setlist for genre/style related presets. I have a bank for Clean tones, Acoustic tones, Blues tones, Crunchy tones, etc. These banks I use when playing free style, not necessarily a preordained setlist. As has been mentioned you can get a lot of variety using snapshots within a preset. Even more variety when you have 4 basic Blues (or whatever) tones each with several snapshots.

[DunedinDragon]

My approach has been consistent from the moment I started using the Helix Floor when it first came out.  I have a single bank reserved as my "show bank".  Each preset represents a specific song in the order it will be played.  Each of those song/presets are exported as individual files to my hard drive, so I simply import the songs in the necessary order for each show so it's a simple matter of stepping through the presets as the show progresses.  Each preset consists of a combination of snapshots and/or stomps depending on what the needs are for the song.

 

This has served me well as it minimizes the complexity of each preset such that I never have any problems running out of DSP memory or running out of available footswitches and I can individualize each presets for each song including changes between what instrument I'll be playing (different types of electric guitars, resonator dobro, banjo, acoustic guitar).  The powerful aspect of this arrangement is I can "pre gain stage" each preset so that the signal level/volume is always consistent preset to preset so going through a sound check only requires checking a single song's levels on the mixing board.

[Cygnus__X1]

Thanks for the advice everyone. DunedinDragon’s approach is close to what was thinking. A kind of “Serial” setup that simplifies things and eliminates a lot of pedal dancing. I made it through the manual last night and the snapshots do seem like the most efficient way to do things. Man, if I could have had one of these units back in the day when I was gigging!!! Thanks again.

[brue58ski]

Don't know if this has been mentioned but my way is to have the top row for patches and the bottom row for snapshots. I can go to pedal mode if I want more control.

[PaulTBaker]

I have several "kitchen sink" patches with different amps.  These are great when jamming, or a start for something else.  I don't do the preset per song because it seems redundant, but that is me.  

 

I play in a few bands and with one band I have one preset that I use in stomp mode that covers every song we do.  In another band, I have to switch to an acoustic guitar.  I use the command center to have a FS that will go to the next preset (electric goes to acoustic preset and the acoustic FS goes to the electric).  This works great because it lets me stay in stomp mode the whole time.   I just started doing this and really like it.  I may do the same thing where I tie my "kitchen sink" patches together so I can access different group of effects.

 

The great thing is there are SO MANY Options!  Of course that is also bad, but a good bad!