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  #1  
Old 01-23-2018, 01:07 AM
Guitaurman Guitaurman is offline
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Default Turned off Global Guitar Effect on Play Acoustic

I bought a TC Helicon Play Acoustic Saturday to replace my ancient Alesis Quadraverb. I've been gigging a lot lately, after several years of "retirement" and have been trying to get my gear upgraded to much lighter stuff than what I had. Things have really changed since I was playing 15 years ago. The Quadraverb is in a rack case so it's more stuff to carry, although I love the sounds I've programmed into it.

I found a couple of pre programed settings that were useful for most songs in the Play Acoustic and really liked the sound of the vocals. I had one setting in the old Q verb set up for a heavily chorused guitar sound. I just use it for one song. I programmed one setting on the play Acoustic and got just what I wanted on the setting. When I switched to a more normal setting, the heavy chorus was still there. It changed all of the guitar sounds on all the settings! This would never do. I just wanted to foot switch to that sound for one song and foot switch away from it when I was done. I considered getting a chorus pedal to go with the Play Acoustic or maybe return the thing.

I searched the net and found that if the was firmware upgraded to the latest version, I could change the setting for global guitar effects and just have that chorused sound on just the one setting. I downloaded the program from TC Helicon and upgraded my Play Acoustic's firmware. Now it is so much more usable for me. It's a really cool piece and small and light.
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  #2  
Old 01-23-2018, 09:04 PM
takatsukimike takatsukimike is offline
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I'm glad you like it. It is the next thing on my 'to-buy' list...
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  #3  
Old 01-24-2018, 09:27 AM
Guitaurman Guitaurman is offline
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I'm not a high tech guy, so I've barely scratched the surface of what this thing can do. I play a solo act now. I had programmed a lot of subtle guitar sounds into the old Q verb. While the Play Acoustic seems to have far less effects the ones I like are there. Chorus, delay, and many types of reverb in addition to the Body Rez give me everything I want. My issue was I wanted to program vocals and a specific guitar sound on a pre set and be able to just footswitch to another completely different sound on another preset. The unit was brand new, but didn't have the latest firmware downloaded. The latest firmware allows me to change the guitar effects on one specific preset without "globally" changing them all. I had changed some of the vocal parameters and that never affected the other presets. As it is now I can gig with it! I'm sure I'll learn a lot more about this thing as I play with it. It really does enhance my vocals and the guitar sounds so much more natural, except on the heavily chorused effect I intentionally programmed.
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Old 01-24-2018, 06:30 PM
takatsukimike takatsukimike is offline
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My needs are fairly simple.

For guitar, I want a few different (mostly plate) reverbs depending on the room, song and whether it's played fingerstyle, strummed with fingers, thumb or pick, etc, plus delay with a few different settings, mostly as an effect.

For vocals, I want hall reverb, then some doubling and the odd not-too-loud harmony.

Finally, I want a looper.

I feel the Play Acoustic with the Switch-6 is going to give me what I need.
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  #5  
Old 01-25-2018, 01:13 PM
Chickee Chickee is offline
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I wish I had more time to really dig into all the things Play Acoustic can do. It's hard enough finding time to play.
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  #6  
Old 01-25-2018, 02:01 PM
JakeStone JakeStone is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by takatsukimike View Post
My needs are fairly simple.

For guitar, I want a few different (mostly plate) reverbs depending on the room, song and whether it's played fingerstyle, strummed with fingers, thumb or pick, etc, plus delay with a few different settings, mostly as an effect.

For vocals, I want hall reverb, then some doubling and the odd not-too-loud harmony.

Finally, I want a looper.

I feel the Play Acoustic with the Switch-6 is going to give me what I need.
The switch-6 really opens up the functionality ... Especially the looper. Since you can use 1-3 of the switches just for looper.

This is my typical 6 switches:
1 - Start Looper
2 - Stop/Erase Looper
3 - Undo or sometimes Harmony
4 - Chorus
5 - Delay
6 - Boost
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  #7  
Old 01-25-2018, 07:55 PM
Guitaurman Guitaurman is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JakeStone View Post
The switch-6 really opens up the functionality ... Especially the looper. Since you can use 1-3 of the switches just for looper.

This is my typical 6 switches:
1 - Start Looper
2 - Stop/Erase Looper
3 - Undo or sometimes Harmony
4 - Chorus
5 - Delay
6 - Boost
I imagine I will eventually find the need for the switch 6. Right now I'm still exploring the device and don't use the looper. I gig with the thing, a solo act, and I'm happy with one guitar sound and one reverb throughout a song. I've tweeked a couple of the presets to give me the sounds I like. Most of the presets are pretty heavy on the reverb. I love the Body Rez. the chorus, and the vocal processes in many of the presets. I don't see a need for swithching mid song now but that may well change.
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  #8  
Old 01-28-2018, 04:24 PM
takatsukimike takatsukimike is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Guitaurman View Post
I imagine I will eventually find the need for the switch 6. Right now I'm still exploring the device and don't use the looper. I gig with the thing, a solo act, and I'm happy with one guitar sound and one reverb throughout a song. I've tweeked a couple of the presets to give me the sounds I like. Most of the presets are pretty heavy on the reverb. I love the Body Rez. the chorus, and the vocal processes in many of the presets. I don't see a need for swithching mid song now but that may well change.
Thanks Jake for your advice on the Switch 6. I think that, EVENTUALLY, I'm going to use it in a very similar way to what you've described.

At the same time, I think I'm more like Guitarman in that I really need to get used to the device as it comes out of the box first, before I worry too much about that. The thing seems packed with features and possibilities and from what I've heard there's a bit of a learning curve, so it will be one step at a time for me, first the unit as it comes, and then expand to the switch 6 once I feel comfortable with it.

I've just seen a secondhand Play Acoustic at a decent price from a private seller down on the Gold Coast, it's a bit over hour from here so I can't make it until the weekend, fingers crossed it's still available and I can finally get one of my own.
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  #9  
Old 07-09-2020, 04:42 PM
Doranged Doranged is offline
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I like that set up but have mine set without looper as I use a dr for percussion. I have mine set as
1 up on presets
2 down on presets
3 harmony
4 delay guit
5 hit
6 doubling
Using favs on presets helps. Downloading full manual helps. Still just learning what this can do. Had this for a while but never had the time impressed!
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