FRACTAL AUDIO SYSTEMS Setlists and Songs Mini Musical System Instruction Manual
- June 5, 2024
- FRACTAL AUDIO SYSTEMS
Table of Contents
FRACTAL AUDIO SYSTEMS Setlists and Songs Mini Musical System
SETLISTS & SONGS MINI MANUAL
INTRODUCTION
In the world of musical performance, a “Setlist” is a list of songs to be
performed in order. A setlist creates the structure for a show, letting you
plan ahead how to start strong, avoid lulls, and finish memorably. A setlist
also helps band members (and crew/techs) to be ready instead of asking
questions or struggling with settings on the fly. A short “singer/songwriter”
Setlist might contain 4 songs. A typical modern rock/pop concert setlist might
have from 12-25 entries. A working cover band might play four different sets
covering a total of 100+ songs.
The Fractal Audio Setlist/Song feature provides a way to prepare an ordered
Setlist of named Songs. FC footswitches can then change songs in order and
present the various sounds needed for their named Song Sections (intro, verse,
solo, etc.). Song footswitches allow you to select songs. Section footswitches
load sections from the current song. Setlist footswitches allow you to change
the “Active Setlist”.
Like FC Layouts, Setlists and Songs can be edited through the front panel of
your product, or in its editor software, which also includes convenient
utilities for import, export, and more.
The Setlists/Songs feature requires an Axe-Fx III with FC Foot Controller
running firmware 19.06 or newer, or an FM9 with firmware 3.0 or newer. (An FM3
version is in development).
CREATING SONGS & SETLISTS
The Setlists/Songs feature can be accessed through a new area of the global
SETUP menu called FC Setlists/Songs. To use this feature, you must first
create one or more Songs, then add them to a Setlist in the desired order.
Assign FC Switches to any FC layout to access the various Sections of the
current Song.
NOTE: Setlists, Songs and Sections are like other areas of “Setup” in
that all changes take effect immediately and they do not need to be stored.
They are also included in a Fractal-Bot “System” backup.
SONGS & SECTIONS
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Each song has a number, a name (10 chars) and contains six numbered Sections.
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Each section has a number, a name (10 chars), and a designation of one Preset and one Scene (1-8 or DEFAULT).
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Up to 128 songs can be created in total.
For Example, imagine Song 1, named “I Want”- Section 1: named “Intro” loads Preset 1, Scene 1
- Section 2: named “Verse” loads Preset 1, Scene 2
- Section 3: named “B-Section” loads Preset 3, Scene 1
- Section 4: named “Chorus” loads Preset 510, “Default Scene”
- Section 5: named “Solo” loads Preset 1022, Scene 6
- Section 6: is not used in this song. Its “Preset” is “NONE”, which disables the section.
TO CREATE A SONG:
Creating a song is easy: enter a name and define up to six sections:
- Open SETUP: FC Setlists/Songs and page right to “Songs”.
- Navigate to any Song and press NAME SONG (push knob C). Enter a name using controls that work identically to those for presets and scenes.
- Next, press Enter or EDIT SONG (push knob B). Define each of up to six Sections by using the controls to enter a PRESET number, a SCENE number, and a section NAME.
- Press Exit when finished to return to the master Songs list.
Fig 1: The Songs page of
the Setlists/Songs menu, aka the “Master Songs List”
Fig 2: The Edit Song
page of the Setlists/Songs menu, where Song Sections are created.
ABOUT SETLISTS
Each of the four Setlists contains up to 32 songs in numbered positions. A particular song can appear more than once in the list. Empty slots are permitted only at the end.
- Each Setlist has a number and a name (10 chars).
- The “ACTIVE!” Designation makes any one setlist “active,” determining which list of songs will be used to populate FC footswitches. Most people will only ever use one Setlist. Others might use different Setlists for different bands/gigs. Others might play epic shows and need to activate different set lists as the show proceeds.
- To change the active Setlist, open SETUP/FC Setlists/Songs, and turn Knob C
to move the “ACTIVE!” marker, or use FC “Setlist” footswitches.
Fig 3: The Setlists page of the Setlists/Songs menu, where you can access
setlists for editing or change the Active Setlist.
Fig 4: The Edit Setlist page of the Setlists/Songs menu allows
you to easily insert, remove, or re-order the songs in a Setlist.
FC FUNCTIONS
The Setlist/Song feature uses three new categories of FC footswitch functions: SETLIST, SONG, and SECTION. Each function has one or more self-explanatory parameters, plus various options for the FC footswitch “Mini-Display”. Detailed documentation will be found in the Fractal Audio Footswitch Functions Guide.
SETLIST FUNCTIONS
Three “SETLIST” functions change the Active Setlist:
- SETLIST: SELECT : This makes the designated Setlist “Active” by its number, 1–4.
- SETLIST: TOGGLE : This toggles between two setlists, making them “Active”.
- SETLIST: INC/DEC. : This incrementally steps through the Setlists to select one as Active.
- You can also change the Active Setlist on the Setlists page of SETUP: FC Setlists/Songs, or in Axe-/FM9-Edit.
SONG FUNCTIONS
Three “SONG” functions load Songs based on their numbered positions within the Active Setlist.
- SONG: SELECT IN SET : This loads a song by its numbered position (1–32) in the Active Setlist.
- SONG: TOGGLE IN SET : This toggles between two songs by their numbered positions in the Active Setlist.
- SONG: INC/DEC IN SET : This incrementally steps forward or backward through all of the
non-empty songs in the Active Setlist. (Empty songs are skipped automatically, and any empty songs at the beginning or end of the list are skipped when the list “wraps.”)
SECTION FUNCTIONS
Three “SECTION” functions load sections from the current song. Whenever a Song Section is loaded, the main display of the FC changes to show the name of the current song, and the name of the current section. Three functions select songs from within the current Active Setlist.
- SONG SECTION: SELECT : This loads a Section by its number in the current Song.
- SONG SECTION: TOGGLE : This toggles between two Sections of the current Song.
- SONG SECTION: INC/DEC : This incrementally steps forward or backward through all of the Sections in the current Song. (Empty Sections are skipped automatically, and any empty Sections at the beginning or end of the list are skipped when the list “wraps.”)
SAMPLE LAYOUTS
In addition to this manual, a set of sample layouts for the
Setlist/Song/Section feature is available:
https://www.fractalaudio.com/downloads/manuals/fas-guides/SSS-Sample-FC-
Layouts.zip
The zip file includes layouts for Axe-Fx III FC-12, Axe-Fx III FC-6, and FM9.
Layouts from one device are potentially compatible with other devices if the
required number of footswitches is available, and as long as minimum firmware
requirements are met:
Axe-Fx III: 19.06 or newer FM9: 3.0 or newer FM3 version is in development.
AXE-FX III/FC-12/FC-6 LAYOUTS
Two sample layouts are provided for use with the Axe-Fx III—one for FC-12 and
the other for FC-6.
Each of these is intended to replace Layout 7 (“PERFORM 1”) in the factory
default layouts. Layout 7 works in tandem with layout 8 as detailed in the FC
owner’s manual. If you’ve extensively modified the factory layouts, you can
still try this layout, but you may wish to create or modify your own layouts
instead using the functions detailed on the previous pages.
Importing a layout file is easy with Axe-Edit:
- Open the FC-Edit area of the editor.
- Click the number for the layout you wish to replace (#7 in this case)
- In the Layouts panel of FC-Edit, click the “Edit” dropdown menu and select “Import Layout”. Browse to the desired file and the process will complete automatically.
LAYOUT DETAILS
The following diagrams show the functions assigned to tap and hold in the sample layouts.
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PERFORM SET 1 (FC-12)
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PERFORM SET 1 (FC-6)
FM9 SAMPLE LAYOUT
A new layout is provided for instant implementation of the Setlists/Songs
feature on the FM9.
There are two ways to try this new layout. First, it appears as factory
default layout #8 on an FM9 running firmware 3.0 or newer. You can use the
following option to set all layouts back to factory defaults:
SETUP: FC CONTROLLERS: Reset: Load Factory Defalut Layouts and Settings
–OR– if you don’t want to reset layouts, you can install the individual FM9
layout from the downloaded samples. Importing a layout file is easy with
FM9-Edit:
- Open the FC-Edit area of FM9-Edit.
- Click the number for the layout you wish to replace (Layout 8, for example, which is empty in the default layouts).
- In the Layouts panel of FC-Edit, click the “Edit” dropdown menu and select “Import
Layout”. Browse to the desired file and the process will complete automatically.
LAYOUT DETAILS
The following diagram show the functions assigned to tap and hold in this layout.
- SETLIST-SONG (FM9)
Note that this layout does not include a way to change the active Setlist. You can do this easily from the front panel or you could assign Setlist Increment (+1, Wrap) to the Hold function of any switch, allowing you to cycle through Setlists.
GETTING HELP
Our forum is a source of great help ranging from product Q&A to tutorials and
more. Fractal Audio staff participate in the conversations, and response times
can be very fast.
Find it at https://forum.fractalaudio.com
A wiki maintained by members of the Fractal Audio community, is also an
excellent resource:
https://wiki.fractalaudio.com
You can get support directly from Fractal Audio Systems at:
https://support.fractalaudio.com
or internationally via our dealers listed at https://www.fractalaudio.com
/international-ordering
References
- Fractal Audio Systems Forum
- Fractal Audio Systems
- Fractal Audio Wiki
- International Ordering – Fractal Audio Systems
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