Newbie pre sales questions

[toasterdude]

I have been on wait list for a competing product for months and stumbled upon the MM GT. It looks very cool and by all reports RJM support is stellar. I have a few questions about capabilities etc.

What I would love to do is:

have say 8 preset buttons that read in Axe FX preset names

8 IAs to trigger Axe scenes 1-8. . .BUT. . .would want to label these IAs on a preset by preset basis. IOW, rather than having them constantly labeled Scene1 - scene 8, on one preset scene 2 may be X-amps, while scene 2 on another preset may be drive+delay, and yet another may be solo/phaser. Is this possible? I put in a feature request with FAS asking for labels for the scenes. Maybe that would make it possible to read in scene labels as the GT does with preset labels?

In a perfect world, I would also be able to add other functions to the scene IAs on a preset by preset basis. I use a POD HD Pro in conjunction with Axe II. I use the POD for routing a JTV variax as well as volume, wah, and additional filter, mod and synth FX. So. . .if I could have an IA that is set to scene 2 on Axe which is set to amp X, also kick on a mutron and slow filter at the same time on the POD, I could label that IA as filter lead for that preset. The next preset, may have scene 2, turing on delays in Axe, but activating a fuxx pi and het fizz on POD.

Does this make sense? Is it possible?

 

[rjmmusic]

Hi, welcome to our forum!

At this time, you can program scenes support for the Axe-Fx. It's not built in to the point where setup is automatic, but if you program the IA buttons with the right CCs, you can get it to work. The next firmware release of the GT should have better integrated Scenes support.

You could use button pages to change what a button does from preset to preset. You can set up similar pages with changes to the scene buttons and have them switch automatically when you switch presets. There are 16 button pages available.

Thanks, and keep the questions coming!

 

[toasterdude]

Ah. So button labeling is global and not on a preset by preset basis. I guess having preset names is better than remembering patch numbers. Having the same thing for IAs would rock. I put in a feature request with FAS to have labels for each scene, preset by preset. Maybe if that happens there would be possibility to read those labels as you do with preset names.

 

[rjmmusic]

Yes, if they provide a way to name scenes and query the Axe for scene names, we would implement it. I'll also think on it to see if there's a reasonable way to implement this feature on our end.

 

[toasterdude]

I don't write code, and can't program my VCR. . . wait. . I don't have a VCR. . . .lol. However I have been selling Broadcast and Video equipment for a LOOONG time and always seem to come up with some cool feature requests. Our dev team may or may not agree, but they have implemented a fair amount over the years.

Is there a limitation with mid, memory or hardware that doesn't allow having some buttons on a page not be global, but preset based?
How about pages? Is there a hard limit at 16? May be whacky but having each preset trigger it's own page, may be a hack that would work.

While thinking about scenes and borrowing from the broadcast world. I would love a "preview" mode on any foot controller. In Broadcast, one typically sets up the preview row of a switcher before sending it to program. I think doing similar on foot controllers would be cool.

Lets say I have two patches and I want to go to the second patch, but not in it's default state. If we had a preview mode, we would be able to click on a preset button but the pr4set doesn't kick in yet. Instead once we are on the new preset, we can choose a scene on the Axe, turn IAs on or off etc, maybe even tap in a new tempo. Then, we have to hit "take" or switch or whataver we call it to make that "previewed" preset "live". So now when going to a clean patch after a solo, we could kick on a phaser and kick off the delay. . .before switching to the preset instead of after.

 

[rjmmusic]

The page and button limits are in place due to memory constraints. We don't have enough memory to store 384*26 = 9984 buttons' worth of data, and there could be some speed issues as well - every button press requires a scan of all other buttons to see if they need to change state.

The preview idea is interesting. I'll think about that.

Thanks for the input - I like hearing from people with different backgrounds, it's good to get ideas from other industries. The guitar world tends to be a little set in its ways.