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Using multi effects units on live gig-Whats your organisation tips?

mdsbass

mdsbass

Aug 21, 2011
7
0
Cranbourne Australia
#1
Hi Tbers,
Ok its a newbie question but Iv only just adopted an ME unit in the form of a B3 so bare with me.

My thinking at the moment is to set up a "playlist' of effects in sequence for the songs in the gig.
I figured 10 of my favourite effects or ones that suit the various songs would be way more than enough for me seeing as I tend to run clean anyway.

So with B3 in mind I have cleared Bank J and proceeded to fill it with the effects I will use on the night. I didnt want to be fumbling thru banks or trying to recall what patch went with what on stage.

Is this the way you would do it? am I missing a trick?

Then I just reload bank J for the next gig/different songs. Bank J will always be my "gig bag"
while the others are general messing around.

What say ye?
 
#3
For me organising things according to a set list wouldn't work - what happens if you change the order during the gig, and do you create duplicate patches if several songs use the same settings? And, I wouldn't want to program the effects differently for each gig, too much work.

I prefer thinking about effects more in terms of sounds - I have a few, maybe four or five distinct sounds or settings that I then choose from for each song. I make a note in my set list or on a score sheet that for this song I want to use "Patch 5" or some other name I've given that particular effect combination.
 
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#4
This thread could be retitled "What drove JimmyM to quit using a multi."

:D

Organization is not easy. I would always alternate every effected sound with a clean sound so I could be only one step away from a clean sound. But what if I wanted to alternate between an overdrive and overdrive with octaver, for example? Then I'd have to skip the clean sound, not to mention that I couldn't choose any effects on the fly. Pedals are more costly and take up more space, but they have clear advantages for me. YMMV, but organization with multis was always too difficult, so I gave up.
 
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#5
JimmyM said:
This thread could be retitled "What drove JimmyM to quit using a multi."

:D

Organization is not easy. I would always alternate every effected sound with a clean sound so I could be only one step away from a clean sound. But what if I wanted to alternate between an overdrive and overdrive with octaver, for example? Then I'd have to skip the clean sound, not to mention that I couldn't choose any effects on the fly. Pedals are more costly and take up more space, but they have clear advantages for me. YMMV, but organization with multis was always too difficult, so I gave up.
Click to expand...

You could insert "Mosfed" in there are you would have my answer as well.
 
#6
Midi. Zoom completely missed the mark by not implementing midi on their units imo. The b1on and ms-60b are excellent sounding multi units, but the clunky interface makes live use a real pain in the ass. You can work around this by buying a Diaster Area gHOST which coverts usb into midi commands but by then one of the main advantages of the Zoom units (price point) goes out the window. I use a Line 6 M9 and an Eventide H9 specifically because I can arrange/access presets in whatever way that I want with midi.
 
#7
Yeah, the blessing of nearly limitless possibilities on a multi becomes a curse with a quickness if you don't reign it in tight. I limit myself to 10 patches, which is about my limit for being able to quickly scroll through the list in time for a song. Instead of putting them in order of the set list, I put them in a logical order by type of effect so that it makes sense to my brain when quickly calling up a patch based on the tune. I group them by tone-enhancers, dirt, modulation, and synths. I only do a specific order if there is a specific sequence I have to cycle through in a single tune.
 
#8
Setting up as a playlist sounds logical, but it is not practical unless you play the same songs in the same sequence everytime. That probably never happens, and would be boring.

For me I just find those four to six settings that cover everything for a typical gig and find a way to best toggle between those.

For example, with the MS60-B I have it rotating between 6 settings.
A. Clean - Bassman
B. OD - Bassman
C. FuzzSynth - MarkBass
D. Clean - SVT
E. SynthWah - MarkBass
F. ZSynth - Zoom Synth

I typically use A and D the most, A for classic rock and country and D for modern or dance. The idea being that I can have a giggable clean within two stomps when coming out of a one of the other specialized settings. Anymore than six settings rotating like that would be almost unmanageable for me.


Now having said that, If I had a B3, I would probably figure out a way to get 2-4 banks of settings and toggle through those.

My real setup is multiple multi-effects

I have Source Audio BEF Pro (3 settings) -> Source Audio MWB Distortion Pro (3 settings) -> Zoom MS 60-B (4 settings - clean, compressor, limiter, zsynth)
I use the Zoom primarily as a limiter and tuner, but all of those settings (a-f) above are ready if I need to use them, but I also carry another MS60-B with A-F settings already set.
 
#10
I am not using my B3 in patch mode at all. I have hated that whole patch thinking since my first multi unit in the nineties or so. To me the B3 is 3 separate stomp boxes, that I can change relatively easy. So I've got two patches that represents Fuzz/Flanger/Chorus or Fuzz/Synth pedal/Filter. I am aiming at doing minimum of changing patches. I do stomp those individual effects on and off quite a lot. :) Same with the MS-60B. Two patches is all I can use in it, but for me its enough. I have an Ashdown NM2 for dirt, to make things easier. To me the ability to use B3 as it was a row of separate pedals was the reason I bought it.
 
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#11
Thanks guys, its coming together and making sense. Im still playing thru all the various effects but I can already see a pattern forming and I think that id probably end up with as others have said 5 or so favourites that would just about do 90% of our songs. I use the effects mainly to find some "tonal space" in the mix. The band (church) often has a different makeup of instruments on the day so while I can pre set a nice effect for the song ahead of time, Im not always sure who or what instruments will be apart of the mix.We could end up with piano, clarinet, trumpet, flute, violin, bass or a more rock heavy guitar, bass, drums. Two very different feels to the same song. Even ukulele. A tweak on the day is imminent.
 

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