I also have a FM9 and I love this feature. Would be awesome if NDSP could do something similar!!!
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Just as a follow up, I’m sure it’s been mentioned elsewhere-- but a huge part of making this feature functional at all would be the ability to create and order gigging set lists in the app and have the device sync to the list.
I guess there are a few factors to this, but as a guitar tech, this is what I would need to make this functional, especially if I have multiple band members using their own QC:
- ability to connect app to device via Bluetooth or hot spot from phone. Bluetooth would be best-- i work tons of festivals where WiFi is unavailable and cell service can be bad
- Ability to connect one phone\app to multiple devices individually (not necessarily at the same time, but easily switch between them.)–again I’d like to be able to connect to edit devices for 3 band members with their own QCs
- Ability to quickly tell the QC to sync to the set list I’ve made for that gig, or have an option on the QC to have the device automatically sync to the latest set list on my app. Again, in a festival setting, with a 30 minute changeover, where I may not have the set list until 5 minutes before changeover, and may not have power for stage until 15 minutes before set start, being able to sync set lists quickly is crucial (unit boot time is a big issue here as well…)
- Ability to use app to set mode\state of device and edit mode settings, tying them to the set list. E.g. make sure all the presets in order in the set list start in the preferred mode, which would most likely be scene or scene\stomp hybrid for me, but there might be some songs where the artist would prefer just stomp mode, etc. Maybe it already does this, I’m just learning. Definitely have more thoughts on tweaks to the modes but that’s another thread.
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Fractal’s setlist implementation is already a step in the right direction, but unfortunately not thought through to the end. The limitation to 6 song parts doesn’t make sense to me here. This means that you only have a sound ↔ button connection at the end and still have to remember which part comes next in the song by yourself. And if a song has more than 6 different parts…bad luck. Without this limitation you could build the whole song in exactly the order you want to switch the sounds and then you would only need to press one only single button that always jumps to the next part. You no longer have to worry about which part comes next and where to find the button for the next part.
It would be so easy, but somehow usability doesn’t seem to play a big role with the developers of guitar effects devices.
I will never understand why people prefer to look for the right button among many, with the risk of hitting the wrong one in the middle of a song, instead of enjoying playing and the show on stage by pressing one and the same button to switch without thinking.
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I agree 100%! I have several tunes where I need to jump back and forth between parts as I cycle through the song parts - intro, verses, chorus, leads, outro, etc… It is all too easy to hit the wrong scene when a quick transition is required. That forces me to pay more attention to the footswitch label on the modeler than would be ideal. Especially when you use your modeler in hybrid mode.
Usually, I try to limit my scenes to four total so that I can have stomps on my bottom row. This means that if for example I have the verse on footswitch 1, the chorus on footswitch 2, and lead on footswitch 3, I have to jump back and forth between them as the song parts change and come back around.
Just wanted to add that if you have a switch to move forward through the scenes, make sure there is one to go back as well. Inadvertant double-clicks happen: grin: This brings up another interesting capability that could be added that would be awesome if you could progress through scenes sequentially with up and down switches.
With sequential footswitched scene cycling you could have virtual scenes. Virtual scenes would mean that you could still for example have eight scenes easily available while you were in hybrid mode. The virtual scenes would not require a foot switch assignment for each scene. The sequential movement through them would only require two of your footswitches (up & down) for all eight scenes, leaving the rest or your footswitches available for stomps, presets, one-off scenes, or whatever.
Yes, you need a back, of course. And on the other hand, as far away as possible a “Next Song” and “Previous Song”. It would always be good if the next patch or snapshot is anteased, so that you also know what comes with the next button press. I had built something like this with a Teensy and it worked perfectly. Only the programming of the SOngs and song structures was so complex that I no longer use it.
How something like this could look on the QC, I had built a year ago with Photoshop.
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Sorry, but the song parts make things a lot more complicated than they need to be.
When you are in Scene Mode, you are only ONE click away from each song part, no unnecessary switching back and forth. Why do you need song parts in the setlist?
First of all, it is much more important that you can create a song list, with each song referring to a preset. Of course, several songs can refer to the same preset. These songs can then be used in one or more setlists. It is also important that the set lists can be easily sorted using drag and drop.
Then we’ll see.
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The idea is that you don’t have to think about which of the 8 possible buttons to press next. As soon as you have to think about where to press next, your attention is taken away from the actual performance. And the danger of pressing the wrong button is simply quite high.
In the end, everyone has to decide for themselves which method suits them best. However, the method that is safest for a performance and where you have to think the least would be if the necessary sounds are called up sequentially in the correct order via exactly one button (of course, you must not forget the back button, because you can also click one button too many by mistake) -< the less you have to think, the less is the chance to make errors.
As already written above. I had built myself exactly that once with a teeny and it was live simply a dream, no longer have to worry about which button I had to press when. But maybe you have to try it yourself before you realize how simple and easy it can be.
The point, after all, is to make things easier and avoid sources of error.
+1 for this essential feature. Current implementation makes no sense at all. It should be as easy as creating a playlist in iTunes: I don’t want to make a copy of my presets, I just want to make an ordered list that links to a library of presets.
(My trusty GT 100 with Boss Tone Studio had this functionality years ago)
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I have a Fractal FM9 and the song/setlist feature is very handy when doing live gigs. It does have some limitations, but it works and prevents me from having to hunt for presets during a live show. It uses the “Pointer method” referred to above so you can leave the “Master” presets right where they are and just point to them. You can also “Point to” a specific scene in each preset. 6 “Scene Pointers” is enough for me for each song.
Their system has some limitations, but I would love to see Neural implement something like this. Preset (and capture) management is an issue on the QC with a lot of users and a feature like this would make that sooooo much easier. No need for making multiple multiple copies of the same presets in multiple setlists and trying to remember where they all are and which “Copies” have been updated or not.
This is the way…
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Good question… For starters, vote for this feature request at the top of this page. Beyond that, I don’t know. I assume by the number of votes for this (76 as I write), that there’s enough support for this idea that the Neural staff would be considering it or actively working on it. I am also assuming they are monitoring all these feature requests and at least occasionally reading these posts so maybe by expressing our opinions here we can help push things in the direction we want them to go…
Thanks. I don’t think I need to vote for it, I created it. I just want to know how we get them to implement it. 
Many thanks,
- Robert
| 12tone
September 29 |
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Good question… For starters, vote for this feature request at the top of this page. Beyond that, I don’t know. I assume by the number of votes for this (76 as I write), that there’s enough support for this idea that the Neural staff would be considering it or actively working on it. I am also assuming they are monitoring all these feature requests and at least occasionally reading these posts so maybe by expressing our opinions here we can help push things in the direction we want them to go…
Ah… Sorry - I didn’t realize you were the author of this feature request! It does have a lot of votes - mine included. I hope it gets some attention from Neural!!!
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Here’s my view again on how this should work.
A setlist is actually a very simple thing. All you need is 2 additional folders, each with an associated data table:
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Songs. The Songs is a simple list that should be sorted alphabetically by default. Songs with song titles are created here. Each song is linked to a preset; of course, several songs can have the same preset. In addition, song-specific data such as tempo (BPM), which scene on start and something else should be saved here, which will temporarily overwrite the values in the preset on load.
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Set lists. Each set list is a subfolder with a title; the songs are simply added here in the desired order, preferably using drag & drop and can also be moved up and down later. Since the set list and the song list hardly need any memory, as many set lists as desired can be created. Presets remain untouched when deleting both set lists and songs.
It’s a mystery to me why it wasn’t designed that way from the start, because it’s a very important feature for gigging musicians. Let’s hope it comes soon.
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Well said! Similar to what’s currently in the Fractal FM9, but a few more bells and whistles, like the song specific BPM - great idea. I’m not sure what you envisioned with the “Something Else”, but maybe a small text field where you could put some notes about the song. I wish MFX manufacturers would put this in Presets but no one does that. I’m sure it consumes some memory but computer memory is cheap enough, you would think that would be very doable.
Realize this is not the same as what is being requested…however a workaround would be to use an external device that does provide setlist capabilities (like say the OnSong app), that provides the capability to embed midi control parameters in the setlist songs. Using an app like OnSong this way, you can select any song in your setlist and it will trigger the QC to load that designated preset.
That is a great idea for sure.
But how frustrating to add more complexity to compensate for something that should be built in.
| ndallago
October 13 |
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Realize this is not the same as what is being requested…however a workaround would be to use an external device that does provide setlist capabilities (like say the OnSong app), that provides the capability to embed midi control parameters in the setlist songs. Using an app like OnSong this way, you can select any song in your setlist and it will trigger the QC to load that designated preset.
PLEASE! The “setlist” folders have been so clunky since the beginning. This really hinders the user experience if you use a preset per song like many people do. We’re begging for this to be addressed.
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it’s been acknowledged that 3.0 will enable ‘links’ to caps and IRs, so they don’t have to physically reside in each sub-folder as duplicates. Hopefully they could approach setlists the same way.
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I use the QC, like many others, with a preset per song. This helps keep my workflow simple during a gig, to focus on playing the show rather than constantly pushing buttons. Simply arrow up for next song and you’re ready to go. Currently we have about 80+ songs that we play 25 or so of per night, but each night the setlist is different. Having the ability to simply create setlists with song titles that “link” to a specific preset would be so great. The current organization of presets is not intuitive and makes it difficult to use the QC this way.
Another counterintuitive organizational feature, to me, is the bank, preset, and scene labeling. An option to turn off banks would be nice I think. The number/letter/letter system is very confusing. (Bank 1, Preset A, Scene A for example) If we didn’t have the banks, the presets could each have individual numbers, leaving the letters for the scenes.
I’ve also seen a suggestion floating around that would really help searching for a specific preset in gig view. As it stands, when you’re in gig view and preset mode, when you bank up or down, it takes you out of gig view and puts you in rig view, where you can no longer see the other preset titles in that bank. This is super frustrating, and I don’t necessarily see the point in why it functions this way. It would stand to reason that if I’m in gig view, I NEED to be in gig view. Nothing should take me out of gig view unless I intentionally, specifically want to be out of gig view. This would allow for easy, simple searching through the banks to find a specific preset quickly with minimal switch pressing. This might be an issue for a separate feature suggestion, but it speaks to the overall organization and accessing of presets within the “setlist” folders.
This thing sounds great, but it has to be fool proof in a live setting, or me being the fool I am, will find a way to screw up.
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