option 3 for me

Hi Craig - nice idea. Option 3 here too
 
thanks

I vote for 3 also.

Ability to save presets is a must ...
 
I'm thinking out loud here, but ... does the world really need more sims & effects for guitar?
 
IMO, more of this stuff will need some creative thinking to be lasting - more than a toy to play with for a while then never used again.
 
Such as ... SIMPLE, UNIQUE ways to automate parameters.  Without having a degree in ACT or MIDI.  Abstract away the niggly stuff and make it QUICK and EASY.  If MIDI is the driver, HIDE the MIDI behind your interface.
 
You know, something like that.
 
I'm with the guy that doesn't want Yet More Drum Kits.  I already have real amps, hardware modeling boxes and modeling software.
 
Throw something out there for members that is really UNIQUE.  That will guarantee MY renewal. 
 
More drum kits and amp sims?  meh.
 
Sorry for the downer, I'm sincerely trying to be helpful.

I like option #3. It's more efficient for my time to be able to open a preset that's "in the ballpark" of what I'm looking for, and then tweak to particular taste.

I'm for number 3 as well. If you want to throw in a bit of documentation about what's in the box and how you went about tweaking the basic template to make the various presets, so much the better - that would combine drag and drop with a headstart for tweakers. I'm an inveterate preset tweaker.
 
Funny story: I never really dug into the FX chain presets before (I assume there were always a few in there) but I had to throw together a rough cut of a trailer for an audiobook project I'm working on today, and it called for a kind of creepy voice effect on a couple of sections. Being in a hurry, I grabbed a literally random FX chain preset - I think it was called Metal Hydrogen or something like that - and out of the box it was 80% of what I wanted. Took me 5 minutes to get it the rest of the way. OK, I got lucky with the first draw but even if it had taken me 5 minutes to find one that was close, that was SO MUCH MORE EFFICIENT than trying to construct something from scratch.
 
So yeah, presets and maybe a bit of documentation for the set...

jkleban
No offense but I think if this is a new TOOL from the bakers, it is not finished cooking yet if one can't save custom presets.

 
First of all, thanks to all for chiming in. How cool is it to have an instant focus group?!?
 
Just to be clear, it works the same way the amp sims do now - you can tweak as you wish to create a custom preset, then save as an FX chain. Or if you tweak within a project, saving the project saves the tweaks. What you can't do is have a drop-down menu inside the sim where you can load different presets into that single sim.
 
The intention of these is drag, drop, play...with maybe a couple tweaks between "drop" and "play." People apparently "get" that about the sims, so it makes sense the majority opinion here seems to like having preset points of departure which you can tweak.
 
However, this is also giving me ideas about ways to further this concept. Instead of creating one "universal" pedalboard and tweaking it to create presets, maybe different pedalboards for different applications would be cool...for example, different pedalboards for metal, country, leads, etc. So these would be something you could use with my amp sims, or the amps and cabs from plug-ins like Guitar Rig, AmpliTube, etc.
 
Back to the lab...thanks again.

Hello Craig, I like option 3 also.

Muziekschuur at home
If I can't trigger with a foot midi pedal..... I won't use it.

It's not intended for live performance, but the parameters are automatable.

I'm going to be different and go with #2. 
 
If you can keep the controls down to a manageable number (not a zillion knobs), I'd rather dial my own in maybe with a nice one page "cheatsheet" of settings.  This seems like how a lot of real pedals show you what to set for certain sounds.  I don't have a problem just saving the project with the knob settings vs putting them in a preset to use elsewhere:  I can't make "presets" out of my guitar knobs either.   BTW - if someone would come up with a visual way to remind them of where the guitar knobs were set - that would be pretty cool.  I always forget.   I know there are "text notes"....
 
I also agree with make it simple to use to get good sounds, etc.   I know you can make it sound good!  The proof is in the CA amps.  Now make it easy to use!