Trying to figure out a way to mimic the Songs and Setlists feature on Axe FX 3

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Neill00

Well-Known Member
I don't think it will ever be possible to actually access the Songs and Setlists on the Axe FX via midi commands on my MMGT10 but I like the idea of trying to mimic the feature in which you can choose to use a number of different preset/scene combinations within a single song. I'm using the Bandhelper app for setlists and songs as opposed to using the MMGT setlists and songs so it just sends a midi message to select the starting preset and scene. I've been thinking and playing around with the idea of using macros to then access different presets and scenes within the song. There are limitations in the number of macros available given that I have used a bunch for another device but I don't think I'd need that many. I don't need more than 3 sections plus solo for a song so 4 total sections and I could probably get most of the tones I need from within 3 or 4 presets so 32 macros might do it. Each macro would be PC to choose the preset, a 100ms Wait and then the Scene selection. I haven't figured out how many pages I'll have to set up for this I guess that would depend on how many variations pop up as I set up each song. I don't think there is a way to have turning off the Solo to go back to the previous preset scene other than to have the off go to another macro and that may require more pages.

Is there a more elegant way to try to achieve what I am going for here? I don't want to do all this tedious work only to discover that there are other feature within the MMGT that make this easier.
 
We have songs and setlists in the GT (and had them way before the Axe-Fx did) - you could just use those. Each GT preset within a song can call up a specific preset and scene on the Axe-Fx.
 
I’ve seen that, and messed around with it but within songs I’ve only seen presets used with in songs. Is there a detailed, section in the manual or does one of your instructional videos cover it? I’ll need to have a deeper look either way.

***edit***
I think I found the section in the manual which has video link. I’m checking it out now… thanks.
 
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OK I followed the suggestions in the , I just adapted to 4 presets per song. I’m not finished setting it all up but I’ve gotten started and it works. Also I just have to map the PCs from my ipad to the Intro preset for each song to be able to use the setlists in Bandhelper which makes it really flexible. I dont think I could do that with the Axe FX version of Songs and Setlists. I should have known the solution was already there, it’s an RJM after all. I just wasn’t smart enough to work it out on my own… Many Thanks!
 
I am a bit confused by Songs at the moment too...

I am trying to use one preset per song, and utilise the scenes in that preset. The problem is if I have three Songs that call up the same Axe FX preset, the current Song can jump to one of the other Songs when I hit a certain scene button. I am trying to work out why this is happening...

In my current case I have Song 53, 54, & 55 and I need to use Axe FX 3 preset 408, starting on scene 5, 3, 5 respectively, all using a Local Page. Normally I would have the GT presets in sync with the Axe FX 3 presets and just call up GT preset 408... but I want to choose a scene to start on. So I created GT presets 53->55 to match the Songs, specify Axe FX 3 preset 408 for each with the scenes I want, and it works apart from the second or third Song changing to the first Song of the group on certain scenes. Could it be Poll State?

Wouldn't it be easier if we could just specify a Song to call up an Axe FX preset and scene, instead of calling up the GT preset which then calls up the Axe FX preset/scene?

Also if I name my GT Presets, the names get wiped when I do Get Preset Names to update my scene names. Am I doing something wrong or is there something I can do to just update the scene names? Would this be the Sync Names option to Off?
 
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Actually yeah I tried turning off Poll State and the changing Song issue stopped... the new problem is I want Poll State on :)
 
I just finished the tedious task of renaming all my presets in the MMGT. So now none of them match the presets on the axe fx3. Which is fine really, the idea is to use songs and setlists for live performance. I’m not concerned with the scene names matching since when I’m in songs mode whatever I named the preset is what shows in in the display not the scene name. That said, if most of your scene names are correct in the MMGT and you make a change on the axe FX that you want to be reflected in the MMGT you could do it manually. There’s a tab in the MMGT editor presets menu for scenes. You can just type in the new scene name as opposed to doing a full “get preset names” function.

If you watch the video Ron did on this, the best way to it is to plan ahead and decide how many song sections you want per song. I’m using 2 buttons on the bottom row to control my vocal processor so it leaves me 4 buttons for song sections.

So I went through all the presets on the MMGT and named them as follows but instead of Song 1 and Song 2 I put the actual name of the song just to identify it. The “|” in between just makes it so that the song name doesn’t show up in the display but you still need it in the preset name to identify which intro, verse, chorus and solo it is.

Intro|Song 1
Verse|Song 1
Chorus|Song 1
Solo||Song 1
Intro|Song 2
Verse|Song 2
Chorus|Song 2
Solo||Song 2
Etc for each song

Next you go to the Songs tab in the editor and assign the first 4 presets for song 1 the next 4 for song 2 the next 4 for song 3. Then on the presets page. You can have it pull up whatever preset and scene you want in the axe FX. The intro, verse, chorus, solo was just an example you can name the sections however you like. If you have 6 buttons available you could add bridge and outro or whatever then you’d reserve 6 presets per song.

Also keep in mind that when you do a “save as” on the MMGT you can save a file as above for songs and setlists and then do a get preset names and save it differently in the event you want to use the MMGT differently like you’re just going to a jam or something.

With my above setup I’m likely not going to use more than 10 or 12 presets on the axe FX as I use a lot of the same rhythm and solo sounds in many of the songs. I have a clean rhythm preset with 8 scenes of variations an overdrive rhythm preset with 8 scenes end two solo presets with 8 scenes each. One of the solo presets is a copy of the other just the solo levels are a little quieter. I also have a preset for my acoustic and some presets that are song specific where I need more than just generic sounds. It’s a fair bit of work but it allows for a lot of flexibility and control for live performance.

Also, I set the “second press” in the general tab to “previous” so that I can hit the solo button and the hit it again to go back to the previous song section. It’s also good if you want to hit chorus and then just hit it again to go back to the verse.
 
Pagzy said:
I am a bit confused by Songs at the moment too...

I am trying to use one preset per song, and utilise the scenes in that preset. The problem is if I have three Songs that call up the same Axe FX preset, the current Song can jump to one of the other Songs when I hit a certain scene button. I am trying to work out why this is happening...

In my current case I have Song 53, 54, & 55 and I need to use Axe FX 3 preset 408, starting on scene 5, 3, 5 respectively, all using a Local Page. Normally I would have the GT presets in sync with the Axe FX 3 presets and just call up GT preset 408... but I want to choose a scene to start on. So I created GT presets 53->55 to match the Songs, specify Axe FX 3 preset 408 for each with the scenes I want, and it works apart from the second or third Song changing to the first Song of the group on certain scenes. Could it be Poll State?

Wouldn't it be easier if we could just specify a Song to call up an Axe FX preset and scene, instead of calling up the GT preset which then calls up the Axe FX preset/scene?

Also if I name my GT Presets, the names get wiped when I do Get Preset Names to update my scene names. Am I doing something wrong or is there something I can do to just update the scene names? Would this be the Sync Names option to Off?
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Poll State is kinda tricky because all the Axe-Fx reports to the GT is which preset it's on. The GT then has to look through its presets and try to figure out which GT preset is associated with the Axe-Fx preset. If more than one GT preset is mapped to the same Axe-Fx preset, it's not always clear which one GT preset you should be on. It tries to be smart about it, but it looks like there's at least one case it can't handle. I recommend leaving Poll State off for now, and I'll try to find some time to look at it.

Currently Get Preset Names doesn't have an option to get only scene names. I'll look at that as well.
 
rjmmusic said:
Poll State is kinda tricky because all the Axe-Fx reports to the GT is which preset it's on. The GT then has to look through its presets and try to figure out which GT preset is associated with the Axe-Fx preset. If more than one GT preset is mapped to the same Axe-Fx preset, it's not always clear which one GT preset you should be on. It tries to be smart about it, but it looks like there's at least one case it can't handle. I recommend leaving Poll State off for now, and I'll try to find some time to look at it.

Currently Get Preset Names doesn't have an option to get only scene names. I'll look at that as well.
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@rjmmusic Thanks as always Ron! Poll State fixed Songs jumping around for me, I'll just toggle that for now.

@Neill00 Thanks heaps for the big write up mate. I did watch the video for this but I was trying to do it "my way" and avoid the tedious setup part :D

Neill00 said:
Also keep in mind that when you do a “save as” on the MMGT you can save a file as above for songs and setlists and then do a get preset names and save it differently in the event you want to use the MMGT differently like you’re just going to a jam or something.
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^^ Very very good point, amazingly this is something I do keep forgetting tbh and it's great to be reminded!
I am starting a second tribute band, in the first one I managed to use one Axe FX 3 Preset for all GT Songs. With this new band that isn't possible so my head is stuck in the one preset and scenes mentality...

Neill00 said:
Also, I set the “second press” in the general tab to “previous” so that I can hit the solo button and the hit it again to go back to the previous song section. It’s also good if you want to hit chorus and then just hit it again to go back to the verse.
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I do like the 2nd Press option this will give you, I have been wanting that for "scenes" and this would solve it.

Neill00 said:
That said, if most of your scene names are correct in the MMGT and you make a change on the axe FX that you want to be reflected in the MMGT you could do it manually. There’s a tab in the MMGT editor presets menu for scenes. You can just type in the new scene name as opposed to doing a full “get preset names” function.
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I haven't done this before so cheers for pointing this out as well.

My new band has a rehearsal on Sunday and not sure I'll have time to try this way before then so I'll turn off Poll State. Our first gig is on the 17th of May so I'll give the official way a go before then.

Cheers guys!
 
Ya the work ahead of time is a bit daunting but I think once it’s done it’s worth it for the ease of use at the show. I think the point I’m at now I can get things show ready in fairly short order and then build on that with more creative use as time goes on. I haven’t got it all mapped out in my head how I can use this for every song but the songs that inspired me to want to do this as a solution will get sorted out right away. I was almost thinking of spending time just making up a generic file for this that others could load in and then they’d just have to adjust the song names in the presets and song names in the Songs section I would already map out the presets to the songs. Ie:

Intro|Song 1
Verse|Song 1
Chorus|Song 1
Bridge|Song 1
Variation|Song 1
SOLO|Song1
Intro|Song 2
Verse|Song 2
Chorus|Song 2
Bridge|Song 2
Variation|Song 2
SOLO|Song 2

You could replace “Song 1” and “Song 2” in the presets with the actual song names or just leave them as is since if you do up your setlist, the songs are all numbered there. It would be easy you‘re looking at the Songs list and see 1. Don’t Stop Believing to add all the Intro|Song 1, Verse|Song1 etc as the presets for that song. IF I hadn’t just thought of this right now, it’s how I would have done it LOL.
 
Neill00 said:
Ya the work ahead of time is a bit daunting but I think once it’s done it’s worth it for the ease of use at the show. I think the point I’m at now I can get things show ready in fairly short order and then build on that with more creative use as time goes on. I haven’t got it all mapped out in my head how I can use this for every song but the songs that inspired me to want to do this as a solution will get sorted out right away. I was almost thinking of spending time just making up a generic file for this that others could load in and then they’d just have to adjust the song names in the presets and song names in the Songs section I would already map out the presets to the songs. Ie:

Intro|Song 1
Verse|Song 1
Chorus|Song 1
Bridge|Song 1
Variation|Song 1
SOLO|Song1
Intro|Song 2
Verse|Song 2
Chorus|Song 2
Bridge|Song 2
Variation|Song 2
SOLO|Song 2

You could replace “Song 1” and “Song 2” in the presets with the actual song names or just leave them as is since if you do up your setlist, the songs are all numbered there. It would be easy you‘re looking at the Songs list and see 1. Don’t Stop Believing to add all the Intro|Song 1, Verse|Song1 etc as the presets for that song. IF I hadn’t just thought of this right now, it’s how I would have done it LOL.
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Yeah man I was thinking the same would be great to have a starting Song template. I actually typed out a message but had the thought you'd have put all your songs on there and a heap of other settings...
 
I'm going to start another thread I created a template for songs and setlists set up for 6 song sections. I'm going to attach it along with an accompanying spreadsheet in the other thread
 
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