Effects preset patches

[64Guitars]

I just read an interesting blog at SonicState.com about preset patches versus rolling your own. It's by Greg Cole, a Scottish-born New Zealander and musician. The article is about synthesizers, but he makes a lot of great points that apply just the same to the effects patches in a BR or other recorder.

http://www.sonicstate.com/news/2013/07/23/why-presets-are-evil-/

To me, getting a BR or similar multitrack recorder and only ever using the preset patches is like buying a fancy pedalboard full of effects and being afraid to turn any of the knobs. That would be silly. The knobs are there for you to experiment with so you can create a sound that you like.



Of course, the BRs don't have knobs like that to experiment with because they'd take up too much room and raise the cost of the recorder. So instead, all of the same controls that would be on an effects pedal are available as parameters within the effect's settings. You merely have to learn how to navigate through the effect settings to find the parameters for a particular effect. Then you can adjust those parameters to your heart's content, just as you'd turn the knobs on an actual effects pedal. When you find a sound that you like, you can save it as a Song or User patch so that you can return to it instantly later (which is something you can't do with most pedalboards).

So don't be afraid to experiment with your effects and create your own custom patches. It will help make your songs stand out from all the songs made using only preset patches. And you'll open the doors to a whole new world of sound possibilities. Better to spend some time learning the recorder you already have than to spend money upgrading to a new recorder just because you're bored of the preset patches in your current recorder.

Anyway, check out the article. It's full of good advice.

[henwrench]

To me, getting a BR or similar multitrack recorder and only ever using the preset patches is like buying a fancy pedalboard full of effects and being afraid to turn any of the knobs. That would be silly. The knobs are there for you to experiment with so you can create a sound that you like.

 Then you can adjust those parameters to your heart's content, just as you'd turn the knobs on an actual effects pedal. When you find a sound that you like, you can save it as a Song or User patch so that you can return to it instantly later (which is something you can't do with most pedalboards).

        Oh yes, indeed. When I got my MBR, the first thing I did was to figure out how to program my own patches, and in my minds eye, view the FX as a bunch of amp simulators. The only 'effect' I use as such is compression (which is more of a signal process, rather than effect). I don't know why people get so freaked out by the whole thing. If you can operate an old fashioned mobile phone (which, I'm sure, most people can), then messing about with the patches on something like an MBR is a doddle. Just use your ears rather than get bothered by all the silly terminology. You are also creating your own sounds. To me, the presets are nothing but an illustration of what may be possible.

[Geir]

Amen !

And I'd just like to say AGAIN, that the vocal/mic presets on both the BR800 and the BR80 MUST be tweaked to get a good vocal recording.

[IanR]

I agree.

To me the presets are all too over the top and exaggerated.  They seem to be there to provide some wow factor.

All the patches I have used recently have been modified to be a lot more subtle.

Ian

[na_th_an]

I reckon I use presets quite a lot, specially in my MBR. Some of them were exactly what I wanted out of the box - bar the delay, which I always manually adjust to my bpm.

Lately, though, I've been tweaking every preset I use. I have yet to create my own from scratch, though... Maybe I'm too easy to please :-D Anyways, I almost always end up using the very same presets, I think 4 or 5 of them. Drv Comp all the way, for example. That gives my cheap stratocaster replica a nice, overdriven, dirty sound which I love. Also for bass. My Harley Benton incredibly cheap ($60) telecaster replica also sounds great with this preset using the neck bridge. If you know me you know I love lo-fi, garage sound, and that cheap, overdriven, beaten up small amp sound is incredibly sweet for my tastes :-)

On the other side, I use the BR80 as an audio interface or to record live performances (or multitracked live performances), so I usually record dry on it.

But I agree. Presets are usually evil. I have a Korg (whatever)-30 multieffects processor (sorry, I can't remember the exact model number, not at home right now) and I haven't used any of the presets included. Ever. And I've stomped over this good ol' box quite a lot.

[T.C. Elliott]

I need to read that article, I bet I find a lot of value in it. A couple of things I've found about presets both on the BR900 (and now the 1600) and my old Line6 AXII212 is that most of the presets are there to show you what it can do. They aren't gonna make an understated effect be the preset, they are gonna make the smack in your face, obvious sound the preset. So generally speaking (very generally) if you turn down whatever effect they are using on the preset you'll get closer to a more usable sound. So the very first preset for your guitar has that cool sound but with a delay that is pretty up in the mix. Fade back the delay or get it in sync with your tempo and it becomes usable right out of the box. Of course tweaking cabinets and types of distortions and levels and EQ can all really dial in your tones. But sometimes it's a lot to go after for a quick demo. Start with the obvious effects and then work your way into fine tuning.  Actually, it just occurred to me that I could be stealing from the article or clashing with it. I'd better go read it.