Now that I'm controlling scenes using preset buttons...

[greiswig]

Now that I have a page that has preset buttons controlling scenes, and working well within an AxeFX3 preset, I'm trying to understand how I can switch between presets. If I understand right, you're supposed to map songs to a patch/preset on the AxeFX?

If I want to set up a preset on the AxeFX for each of my 4 primary guitars, for example, how do I get a menu to let me change presets?

I tried putting a song button on the page, and it calls up a menu of the songs. But then when I select one of the other songs, it goes to a page of buttons I don't recognize. And I don't see where in the editor I can tell the GT16 what patch change to send to the AxeFX, what page for the GT16 to use, etc.

 

[Alexander]

Presets on the GT usually are linked 1-to-1 to presets on the Axe-Fx. You've chosen a different route, where you use presets on the GT to select scenes within a specific Axe-Fx preset. IIRC, you do this to be able to use "2nd Press" to jump back to the previous scene.

In this approach, switching to a different preset on the Axe-Fx and then control it the same way, takes quite some steps:

1. Assign a button (or buttons) on a page to switch presets.
   Various "select preset" approaches are explained here: http://wiki.fractalaudio.com/axefx2/index.php?title=RJM_Mastermind#Preset_buttons
2. Then assign a range of GT preset buttons on a page to select scenes within that specific Axe-Fx preset. You have to do this for EACH Axe-Fx preset.

If you ask me (and I know you don't, haha), that's a LOT of work.

IMHO, it would be much easier to forgo on the "previous scene" approach, and just have one or two rows of scene buttons. Saves you a lot of programming and switching. And put in a request for a dedicated "PREVIOUS SCENE" feature. EDIT: already did this for you.

My 0,02...

 

[greiswig]

Alexander, I think this is a great idea, having a “previous scene” option. Particularly if it is part of the button menu’s dropdown, where you could select it instead of none, 0, 1 and so forth. That would also be great for the preset button, instead of a global setting. You can already use the off state to return to any of the other scenes, but not previous. I may go back to that approach, and just try to choose a default scene.

The reasons I was trying to use songs are these:
1. I kind of had an impression of the information architecture that it is like a Russian doll, where in the GT songs contain presets, presets have scenes. But the names are somewhat arbitrary and don’t necessarily map to the like containers on the device being controlled. So when Ron came up with the architecture, you’d have to do some remapping or container names anyway. And I’m not really sure how banks fit into the information architecture...
2. What else are songs used for, then, if not stuff like this? And if there is no way to say “this song uses this page,” I guess I’m a little lost on what the purpose of songs is.

 

[iaresee]

2. What else are songs used for, then, if not stuff like this? And if there is no way to say “this song uses this page,” I guess I’m a little lost on what the purpose of songs is.

They let you organize presets into logical groupings that don't demand presets be contiguous. Consider it an application of the Don't Repeat Yourself (DRY) principle: you can have one preset, that's used in many songs, but not always in the same order across every song. Songs let you maximize the reuse of presets without having to worry about their logical ordering within the hardware. You can re-order them for every song.

Setlists order songs. Same DRY principle applies here.

 

[greiswig]

They let you organize presets into logical groupings that don't demand presets be contiguous. Consider it an application of the Don't Repeat Yourself (DRY) principle: you can have one preset, that's used in many songs, but not always in the same order across every song. Songs let you maximize the reuse of presets without having to worry about their logical ordering within the hardware. You can re-order them for every song.

Setlists order songs. Same DRY principle applies here.

Aha! That's a concept I hadn't latched onto. Okay, then I may be barking up the wrong tree.

 

[rjmmusic]

Songs don't specify pages, but the presets within the songs do. So, let's say you have 4 GT presets that select the scenes of Axe-Fx preset 1. (Actually, I know you do because I've looked at your file a bunch of times). In those 4 GT presets, set the Show Page parameter to the page you'd like to use for those presets (and therefore the song they belong to) Set Show Page to a different page for the presets in the second and subsequent songs.

For what you're trying to do, using songs and presets is a good way to go - in my opinion. I don't see anything that you've asked for that wouldn't fit within that paradigm.

Each GT song maps to an Axe-Fx preset
Each GT preset maps to an Axe-Fx scene
This mapping is controlled by two things: the assignment of presets to songs, and the "PC Messages" setting in each preset. If you want to use four scenes per Axe-Fx preset, you would set it up like this:

Edit Song 1, and add Preset 1, Preset 2, Preset 3 and Preset 4 to it.
Now, edit the above presets using the Presets tab. Set Show Page to the desired page (do this on each preset). In the PC Messages section, set as follows:
Preset 1: PC 0, Scene 1
Preset 2: PC 0, Scene 2
Preset 3: PC 0, Scene 3
Preset 4: PC 0, Scene 4

For Song 2, do the same, but this time use Presets 5-8. Set Show Page to a different page number. In PC Messages, set as follows:
Preset 1: PC 1, Scene 1
Preset 2: PC 1, Scene 2
Preset 3: PC 1, Scene 3
Preset 4: PC 1, Scene 4

You can keep building songs like this, just set the PC number to select a different Axe-Fx preset.

 

[greiswig]

I think this makes sense, Ron, but I don't understand a few things:

• How do I map a song to an AFX preset, other than just choosing only presets that have the right PC# associated with them?
• How do presets on the GT get mapped to a page? There are a confusing array of page options on the Presets tab: Local Page checkbox, Show Page dropdown, and at the bottom another dropdown where you can pick a page, or select “Preset Specified,” but I don’t know which parameter affects that.
• I assume that if I only pick two presets for a song, that it will only allow choosing between two scenes in this mode?

Thanks, and sorry for needing help with the fundamentals.

 

[rjmmusic]

• How do I map a song to an AFX preset, other than just choosing only presets that have the right PC# associated with them?

There isn't another way, you just edit the presets in the song and make sure they all select the desired Axe-Fx preset.

• How do presets on the GT get mapped to a page? There are a confusing array of page options on the Presets tab: Local Page checkbox, Show Page dropdown, and at the bottom another dropdown where you can pick a page, or select “Preset Specified,” but I don’t know which parameter affects that.

The Show Page parameter is the one that actually controls which page the preset displays. Local Page enables a local page for the preset - a page that belongs only to the current preset. (In addition to the 16 global pages, each preset can have its own local page). The controls at the bottom of the screen only select which page you're viewing in the editor, they don't affect the GT at all.

• I assume that if I only pick two presets for a song, that it will only allow choosing between two scenes in this mode?

Using this method of preset and scene selection, correct, each scene needs a preset associated with it.