Need Your Opinion about an Upcoming Processor for the Membership Program

I've come up with a variation on the amp sims, it's more like a virtual set of 500-series modules that makes a nice little "pedalboard" for guitar. However, the way these sims are set up, they're not capable of storing presets. What you can do is save the DSP block like an FX chain if you tweak the controls the way you like.
 
My original idea behind the amp sims was a simple, plug-and-play block you could bring into a project, make a few tweaks, and be on your way. The "pedalboard" can give a whole lot of different sounds, and the controls interact so it takes some tweaking to get the various sounds of which it's capable. For example there's a high-frequency boost that sounds great with dry guitar, but will rip your ears off if you engage the overdrive. The Sustainer is cool for jazz type sounds if you use the MorphTone control tilted toward bass, but you'll probably want to pull it back with overdrive sounds or goose it up all the way for leads. It's pretty versatile.
 
So here's my question. Which would you prefer:
 
1. The single pedalboard with a read me about what the controls do, and do your own tweaking.
2. The single pedalboard with patch sheets (images of the control settings) you can browse that show different suggested preset sounds.
3. A  half dozen or so of the FX Chains already preset for specific applications so you can just drag-and-drop the one you want for a point of departure, and do a few tweaks (like the amp sims).
 
Thanks for any thoughts you have on this. "Give the people what they want," and all that 
 
 
 
? For example one might be super-clean, another with rock distortion for leads, another one that's more of an overdrive, etc. They'd all look the same and have the same controls, only the control settings would be different.

I'm all for presets, so I have somewhere to begin. It's the way I use quite a few plugins, and almost always the way I use synths. I don't think I would use an amp sim much if I had to start from scratch. I'd probably just experiment for a while, find a couple of sounds I like, and only use those. If there were a few dozen presets I'd be more tempted to experiment with them.

Anderton
So here's my question. Which would you prefer:
3. A  half dozen or so of the FX Chains already preset for specific applications so you can just drag-and-drop the one you want for a point of departure, and do a few tweaks (like the amp sims).

This would be my preference, but I'm pedal-spastic. I never got the hang of the real ones, either, even after nine years on-stage.
 
Maybe there's a way to rewrite this whole thing as a pedal-board plugin, something that would allow the loading/saving of settings. I know it would be a lot of work on top of what you've already done. Just saying.
 
If they're all going to look the same, would it be possible to add text somewhere--maybe as an overlay, somehow--so it's apparent which one is which visually?

You cant go wrong with expertly set up clean, crunch, lead, ambient templates
Being able to update the template to the current tweak at the very minimum would be ideal but would prefer a save as function to make fully saved presets.
 
Essentially a simple ready to go approach easy to see with the option to delve deeper while still painless.
Be so handy and use big icons and rather than text, real or virtual knobs for editing using foot switches or pedals to change values of essential editable parameters

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

option 3 for me

I vote for 3 also.

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.

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.

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.

BobF
Ability to save presets is a must ...

 
As mentioned, you can save presets within a project or save as for future recall. You just can't save multiple presets within a single sim.
 

I'm thinking out loud here, but ... does the world really need more sims & effects for guitar?

 
YES!!! The reason why I came up with these sims originally was not for Cakewalk or for the membership program. They were for my own use because I was not satisfied with other amp sims, and I have ALL of them. So at least I certainly felt I needed more sims. I haven't used any of the other ones since creating my own.
 
Also, remember that the purpose of these sims is not to provide the 4,228th emulation of a Marshall stack or Fender Twin. The object is to create what I call "idealized" amps that are the amp sounds I hear in my head, not the ones that come out of speakers. A lot of the comments on my sims have noticed the "sweet" sound and that's what I was trying to achieve. I've taken liberties with reality, for example, a couple of the amps emulate how the sound changes if you're playing in a room and moving around. I don't know of any existing amp sims that do that.
 
Give 'em a try 
 
As to effects, here the object is not so much to create entirely new effects although there are some of those (the Anderton Collection has a synched Vibrato + Tremolo where you can change the depth of each independently, which I haven't seen before). The object to speed up workflow, especially for songwriters, so you can drag something in and have it just work. Sure, you can take the time to assemble your own custom combination of effects, and I'd encourage that. But if you're in the heat of creation, being able to drag and drop something that's optimized for a particular application is very useful. 
 
As one example, think of what you'd put together for a lead guitar sound...maybe a noise gate, compressor, distortion, and delay...maybe a chorus, too. So if all of these are put together in a pedalboard for an instant lead sound, it will take you less time to tweak that than create the thing from scratch.
 
 

I like the idea of the different pedal boards that are pre set for a certain style,, that's a cool idea that I'm sure has not been done before so you'd get the bragging rights :) 
Guitar rig with it's Rack is not what I'm used to. Most of us are smart enough to edit the sounds on a pedal so that's my pick. 
 
I can see the graphics already, complete with beer caps and spare picks. 
Oh , can you include a Boss TU 3 Tuner? 

Of the  choices.....option 3 for me!  Thanks for asking!  No complaints either as beggars can't be choosers!  Let it rip and we'll see what we can do with it!

Keep it simple. I'm not absolutely sure what all the options listed will offer but for me... a simple plug and play with the ability to tweak everything (well, most everything) but not the necessity to tweak anything. So, "plug and play", easy to do minor tweaks, ability to do deeper tweaks if someone wants to.
 
J

# 3.  Just like a synth or any other preset, load it up and start tweaking.  Then save when it is salted and personalized to taste.  great idea and you have some wicked ideas.  I still use your WAve/Loop files - Adrenalin guitar etc. Good and useful stuff.
 
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