New preset order 3x8 mode

Because of the Mustangraider/Raspberry project i changed the way i ordered my preset in the mustang I.

Previously i used to store preset in a modeler type basis:

Bassman in the G sloth, DeLuxe in the # slot, Metal2K in the A slot and so on...

Worked good for some year, very useful to understand how i am using the modelers.

Since i plan to use a single footswitch in the first test i come up with this idea:

the footswitch will cycle between green, red and orange on the same line (example: the 3 preset stored in the C/American 90)

when i change the "line" via the knob the footswitch will eventually cycle the preset in the new line

so i have 3 preset per every song/genere and 8 blocks/song/generes

Consideration:

first thing first it sorta opened my mind on the preset usage and switching. Packing together similar preset really gives another feeling.

the number of clean presets needed to be raised, so i created some new and i had to drop some preset i use rarely.

I made a bank for my Satriani Tones: the lead, a clean with chorus and the wah
A prog bank with my new wonderful Prog Solo preset (will talk later about it!) a piezo and my trusty erotomania tone
A trash bank with the classic Trash tone, my clean fot metal song (very clean, very acustic) and my Deluxe classic very fender and very stratty that i use for blues, funk but also for the first One (Metallica) solo.
One bank of bassman tones for that bluesy mood
A marshall bank with my Slash tone, the new Paradise City clean and, as a guest, my Megadeth rust in peace preset that i want to rename "Mega Classic" and move to another bank to make some room for the Slash wah version (that will be fun!)
A gain and a solo bank where i group presets that dows not belog to everything else and finally the Mega Bank with the soon to be renamed Mega Modern preset, the Stomper preset (neutral clean to be used with my Zoom Multistomp MG50) and one of the two Mesa RAW Boomer (one for the SZ and one for the RGD) that i am start feeling redoundand with the Prog Solo preset.

Here is a schema:

How to clone a tone: Paradise City Clean by guns'n'roses

My First step is alway gather some good information: what was used in the studio?

Everyone is ok with the fact that there is Chorus and Reverb (obviously included in every preset mentioned here!), and that it is a clean channel pushed to the limit of the volume.

The model?

Either the famous Marshall JMP 1959T Super Lead or some unnamed Fender "tweed".

My starting point was testing the various British. There is a problem. Fender did not put a Britsh Clean channel in the mustang. I used what i have: very low gain but with all the volumes cranked. I dont like this very much, but that's all you can do without a british clean tone. I tried the different 4x12 cab model and i found that the greenback have the right degree of frequence separation for the clean suff.

To my taste the better solution was to tweak my trusty Fender 57 De luxe model, emulating the maxed volume with that bit of gain to compress the sound. I keep the default cab that was just so good to me. Maybe the British 70 was the best matching tone, but using the F57DL allowed me to have a more versatile tone, that works better with the neck pickup and allow me a cleaner sound with the volume pot. Overall a preset that really deserve his slot on the amp.

I will update later with link to the 3 presets i made!

Two words of amp EQ

Ok, you have 3 knobs. Looks easy. TREBLE, MID, BASS. It is a no brainer. Or not?

I was reading an article on the web. The writer suggested to start with a setting. 3 numbers. No mention what amp or channel was used.

As you may know, reading about amps is a passion of mine.

Reading the above article i decided that there was some information that need to be shared with you reader. If you have a fender mustang you have up to 17 amp models (v2 numbers). So you need to know that  every amp model may use its EQ in a different way.

Let me explain.

EQ can act in 3 different way.

1) 100% (all cranked) is the standard volume and 0% is (almost) no volume: the knob act as cutter
2) 50% (mid position) is the standard volume and you can either cut or boost the frequencies
3) 0% (opposite of cranked) is the standard volume and you can only boost frequencies (usually you can boos A LOT)

This 3 way are often mixed, so you can have an amp with BASS and TREBLE that act as a cutter and MID that can either cut or boost. So you can get totally different sounds in different amp with the same "numbers". You can understand the issue in the above article...

 A concrete  example:

my Champ 12 has no MID knob, only a boost switch, so you have only 2 MID settings, TREBLE and BASS are cutter, you can handle this but not every combination is possible. You cannot scoop mids!

Another one:

American 90 model (like the good old mesa) higly boost Basses so you need to set the BASS know as much as it can but without became muddy.

Last tip: the tonal variaton of the guitar pickup conbination (Fender Stratocaster vs Gibson Les Paul) is about a +10%/-10%. Do your math!

Raspberry Mustang Raider: it works!!!

Big news (for me).

After solving some problem the basics seems to work fine!

In the screenshot you can see the deamon mode outputting the preset change i was doing with the amp knob.

Actually, via command line, it output a lot of staff i sorta-of-need to understand, see this sample:

root@raspberrypi:~/mustangr/mustang-raider-master# ./mustangr c 13
ENGL amb v2
Current preset: 0
Mk2c Insane V2
Current preset: 1
Mesa Raw RGD v4
Current preset: 2
Megadeth TS v3
Current preset: 3
Mesa Raw Boomer V3
Current preset: 4
Piezo 7 v2
Current preset: 5
Liquid Solo V3
Current preset: 6
Metal Clean v2
Current preset: 7
Satch Lead Delay v2
Current preset: 8
Satch Wah M2K v4
Current preset: 9
Drive Solo V4
Current preset: 10
Slash
Current preset: 11
Mesa Mk2c Rob V3
Current preset: 12
Piezo Chorus v2
Current preset: 13
Bassman Screamer
Current preset: 14
Bassman SRV2
Current preset: 15
Thrash Metal v4
Current preset: 16
Prog Solo
Current preset: 17
Erotomania SZ v4
Current preset: 18
Megadeth Rip V2
Current preset: 19
zdream
Current preset: 20
Stomper
Current preset: 21
Bassman Screamer Ch
Current preset: 22
Deluxe Reverb Class
Current preset: 23
Bassman Screamer Ch
Current preset: 22
Tri Chorus Light
Current preset: 0
Chorus Deep
Current preset: 1
Flanger
Current preset: 2
Bias/Sine Tremolo
Current preset: 3
Vintage Tremolo
Current preset: 4
Vintage Tremolo Fas
Current preset: 5
Vibratone Slow
Current preset: 6
Vibratone Fast
Current preset: 7
Track DoublePitch S
Current preset: 8
Phaser Slow Deep
Current preset: 9
Phaser Medium
Current preset: 10
Step Filter
Current preset: 11
Double Small
Current preset: 0
Stereo Tape Delay
Current preset: 1
Mono Delay Long
Current preset: 2
Small Room Reverb
Current preset: 3
Plate Reverb
Current preset: 4
Large Hall Reverb
Current preset: 5
Fender '65 Spring
Current preset: 6
Fender '63 Spring
Current preset: 7
Tape Delay/Room
Current preset: 8
Tape Delay/Lg Hall
Current preset: 9
Ducking Delay/Sm Hall
Current preset: 10
Close DL + Arena
Current preset: 11
Mustang Raider 0.2
t for tuner ON
PATCH 13 -
OK
No argoument!
Usage: mustangr tuneron
       mustangr <virtual_port> <midi_channel#>

       port = 0..n,  channel = 1..16

As you can see it output the whole preset list i sdumped actually.

Some outing for my new project

https://github.com/mordor74/mustang-raider

Here you can read what i am doing right now.

Hope to post a proof of concept soon!

Notes for my new project!

My new project involves a Raspberry PI and my Fender Mustang.

I have some testing script, and i am collecting here some preliminar information.

You can guess what my project is...

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 1234:0123 Brain Actuated Technologies
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 1ed8:0004
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp. SMSC9512/9514 Fast Ethernet Adapter
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9514 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

So 1ed8:0004 is my mustang I v1.

Some more information:

root@raspberrypi:~# lsusb -s 6 -v

Bus 001 Device 006: ID 1ed8:0004

Device Descriptor:

  bLength                18

  bDescriptorType         1

  bcdUSB               1.10

  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)

  bDeviceSubClass         0

  bDeviceProtocol         0

  bMaxPacketSize0        64

  idVendor           0x1ed8

  idProduct          0x0004

  bcdDevice            1.00

  iManufacturer           1 FMIC

  iProduct                2 Mustang Amplifier

  iSerial                 3 96A1FF323230573057086026

  bNumConfigurations      1

  Configuration Descriptor:

    bLength                 9

    bDescriptorType         2

    wTotalLength          132

    bNumInterfaces          3

    bConfigurationValue     1

    iConfiguration          0

    bmAttributes         0xc0

      Self Powered

    MaxPower              100mA

    Interface Descriptor:

      bLength                 9

      bDescriptorType         4

      bInterfaceNumber        0

      bAlternateSetting       0

      bNumEndpoints           2

      bInterfaceClass         3 Human Interface Device

      bInterfaceSubClass      0 No Subclass

      bInterfaceProtocol      0 None

      iInterface              0

        HID Device Descriptor:

          bLength                 9

          bDescriptorType        33

          bcdHID               1.10

          bCountryCode            0 Not supported

          bNumDescriptors         1

          bDescriptorType        34 Report

          wDescriptorLength      32

         Report Descriptors:

           ** UNAVAILABLE **

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN

        bmAttributes            3

          Transfer Type            Interrupt

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes

        bInterval               1

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x01  EP 1 OUT

        bmAttributes            3

          Transfer Type            Interrupt

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes

        bInterval               1

    Interface Descriptor:

      bLength                 9

      bDescriptorType         4

      bInterfaceNumber        2

      bAlternateSetting       0

      bNumEndpoints           0

      bInterfaceClass         1 Audio

      bInterfaceSubClass      1 Control Device

      bInterfaceProtocol      0

      iInterface              0

      AudioControl Interface Descriptor:

        bLength                 9

        bDescriptorType        36

        bDescriptorSubtype      1 (HEADER)

        bcdADC               1.00

        wTotalLength           30

        bInCollection           1

        baInterfaceNr( 0)       1

      AudioControl Interface Descriptor:

        bLength                12

        bDescriptorType        36

        bDescriptorSubtype      2 (INPUT_TERMINAL)

        bTerminalID             1

        wTerminalType      0x0200 Input Undefined

        bAssocTerminal          0

        bNrChannels             2

        wChannelConfig     0x0003

          Left Front (L)

          Right Front (R)

        iChannelNames           0

        iTerminal               0

      AudioControl Interface Descriptor:

        bLength                 9

        bDescriptorType        36

        bDescriptorSubtype      3 (OUTPUT_TERMINAL)

        bTerminalID             2

        wTerminalType      0x0101 USB Streaming

        bAssocTerminal          0

        bSourceID               1

        iTerminal               0

    Interface Descriptor:

      bLength                 9

      bDescriptorType         4

      bInterfaceNumber        1

      bAlternateSetting       0

      bNumEndpoints           0

      bInterfaceClass         1 Audio

      bInterfaceSubClass      2 Streaming

      bInterfaceProtocol      0

      iInterface              0

    Interface Descriptor:

      bLength                 9

      bDescriptorType         4

      bInterfaceNumber        1

      bAlternateSetting       1

      bNumEndpoints           1

      bInterfaceClass         1 Audio

      bInterfaceSubClass      2 Streaming

      bInterfaceProtocol      0

      iInterface              0

      AudioStreaming Interface Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType        36

        bDescriptorSubtype      1 (AS_GENERAL)

        bTerminalLink           2

        bDelay                  1 frames

        wFormatTag              1 PCM

      AudioStreaming Interface Descriptor:

        bLength                11

        bDescriptorType        36

        bDescriptorSubtype      2 (FORMAT_TYPE)

        bFormatType             1 (FORMAT_TYPE_I)

        bNrChannels             2

        bSubframeSize           2

        bBitResolution         16

        bSamFreqType            1 Discrete

        tSamFreq[ 0]        44100

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 9

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN

        bmAttributes            5

          Transfer Type            Isochronous

          Synch Type               Asynchronous

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x00c0  1x 192 bytes

        bInterval               1

        bRefresh                0

        bSynchAddress           0

        AudioControl Endpoint Descriptor:

          bLength                 7

          bDescriptorType        37

          bDescriptorSubtype      1 (EP_GENERAL)

          bmAttributes         0x00

          bLockDelayUnits         0 Undefined

          wLockDelay              0 Undefined

Device Status:     0x0000

  (Bus Powered)

Seems like now i need to understand endpoints!