how to listen to effect patches

[christmasboss]

Got my Christmas present and am feeling quite stupid. How do I just listen to the effects before doing anything with them? I can't figure out how to play them to myself to learn what they each sound like. Please help this Boss newbie. Thanks.

[Bro]

well, you need to flick the effect on. so what you do is: You go in to the effects by pressing the effects bottom. Then you should se a little sign over track 1 that says "on" or "off", you can flick between these two options by pressing the track 1 bottom. Its as simple as that 

[christmasboss]

Well, by Jiminy, I did all of that, and when I press play I hear either the demo card music or, if I take the card out, I hear nothing at all. Still feeling stupid here. I'm sure I'm missing something too basic, but just can't figure it out....

[64Guitars]

when I press play I hear either the demo card music or,

Why press Play?  Just play your guitar and the effects will be applied to your guitar's signal. Press the [EFFECTS] button, then press the VALUE [-]/[+] buttons to try different effect patches. See page 30 of the Micro BR manual.

if I take the card out, I hear nothing at all.

Don't do that. The BR needs the memory card and will not function correctly without it.

[Ronniejm]

best way I have found to compare different effects is to record something (usually a guitar in my case) DRY, ie with no effects, and then listen to the various effects on playback, till I find what I like, this way I can concentrate on the different effect sound rather than concentrating on playing.

To do this you need to change the LOCATION of where the effects are applied.

Press EFFECTS

Cursor Right, you should see LOC

press TR1, this will show you the default for where the effects will be applied LOCATION INPUT(NORMAL),
Press the plus button, this will change the LOCATION to INPUT(REC DRY)

Exit your way back to the first screen, and then record a track in the usual way, lets assume you record a guitar on track 1V1.
It will record on that track with no effects applied.

Now you have to change the LOCATION of the effects to that track.

repeat the above process but instead of selecting INPUT(REC DRY), change it to TRACK 1.

Exit out again rewind and play back your song, select EFFECTS. switch them on, if they arent already, you can then toggle through all the different effects using the plus and minus buttons and listen to the changes in your head phones, rewinding and replaying as neccessary. you can also edit any effect while you are playing back,

one thing to remeber doing it this way is the effects are only being applied to the playback side of the track, to actually record the track with the effects applied you need to bounce that track to another track, the effects will then be "recorded" with it.

Doing it this way, has the advantage that if at a later date you decide you want to change the effect, you will always have the DRY (no effects applied) recording safe on Track 1V1.

Hope this helps

[christmasboss]

I really do appreciate these replies - it's a helpful world out there. I gather then that the effects do not "stand alone" (I'm old enough to remember the Hammond organ rhythm section, which I think has been my problem all along). Rather, one inputs material and then applies the effects to the input (yes, yes, I really am a newbie). I'll give that a whirl and report back. Thanks all.

[64Guitars]

I gather then that the effects do not "stand alone" (I'm old enough to remember the Hammond organ rhythm section, which I think has been my problem all along). Rather, one inputs material and then applies the effects to the input (yes, yes, I really am a newbie).

Correct. They aren't sound effects like you might find on certain keyboard instruments (door slam, foot steps, heartbeat, ringing phone, applause, etc.). Rather, they are guitar effects like you'd get in a guitar stomp box (phase shifter, chorus, flanger, etc.). They alter the basic sound of the guitar, mic, or whatever is plugged into the BR's input. The effects patches also include amp and speaker models to simulate popular guitar amps such as Marshall, Fender, VOX, etc.

[Ronniejm]

It's seems like a very steep learning curve dosen't it, but well worth it. I too had little idea about the whole effects thing when I first got my BR, but soon found people on here who are only to happy to share their knowledge.

Basically you have two options, to do want you want to do, ie, compare different effects. either, switch the effects on play your instrument, the effect selected will be applied and you will hear the result, then change the effect and repeat the process. or record your instrument as decribed above, and apply the effects on playback, I would advise trying this method, it helped me a lot, and the big advantage is after recording once, you can put your guitar (or whatever) down sit back and just play with all the effects.

worth bearing in mind that each effect has an EDIT button, so you can change several things (almost endlessly it seems) within each effect.

And dont worry about messing settings up, they all go back to default when you switch the BR off.

64Guitars is the guru when it comes to the effects and he wrote a very helpful post recently about how to save the changes you make to an effect if you wanted to, but rest assured the original effect will always be there at default settings regardless of what buttons you press, it can't be over written.

[christmasboss]

Once again, thank you all for the input (no pun intended). Of course, once the light dawns, one realizes what a profoundly duuhhh moment one was having. I'm sure I'll have more, so it's good to know where to turn for help. This has been most helpful.

[3guitarsEddy]

Ronniejm

I have played with the effects with guitar plugged in and gone thru countless buttons to hear the effects but now, I will follow your method which seems a lot easier, cheers

Keep on strumming

Eddy