Presets 2.0/Cliff Notes
Notes on Version 2.0 ToneMatch Presets: L1 Classic and L1 Model I
These originally appeared in Presets 2.0 Anyone Listening by Cliff-at-Bose. Related notes: Presets Version 2.0 & 3.0 with T1 ToneMatch Audio Engine Equivalents
Presets 2.0 (L1 Classic and L1 Model I):
Contents
An informal discussion
Listening to our customers and noting our own reactions to using this system, we have upgraded the current presets loaded onto later builds of the L1 Classic and L1 Model I and added some new ones too. I basically did the work of developing these, simply by listening and tweaking the sound to be “right”. I think we have a really improved set here. This is an overview of these from what was, for me, a really fascinating experience. I hope these make your artistic lives better and better.
Here’s a complete list of the V2 presets for reference:
Presets 2.0
No Instrument Category
00 "Flat (for pre-recorded music, most instruments and mics, Line6 Pod XT, Line6 Variax Acoustic 700)" General
01 Handheld Microphones Vocal Microphones
02 Headworn Microphones Vocal Microphones
03 "Vocal Mic High Gain, Bright" Vocal Microphones
04 "Vocal Mic High Gain, Normal" Vocal Microphones
05 Audix OM-5 Vocal Microphones
06 Audix OM-6 Vocal Microphones
07 Beyer M88 Vocal Microphones
08 Crown CM-310 / CM-311 Vocal Microphones
09 EV N/D357 Vocal Microphones
10 EV N/D767 Vocal Microphones
11 EV N/D967 w/ highpass Vocal Microphones
12 Neumann KMS 105 Vocal Microphones
13 Shure SM57 Vocal Microphones
14 Shure SM58 Vocal Microphones
15 Shure Beta 57A Vocal Microphones
16 Shure Beta 58A Vocal Microphones
17 Shure Beta 87A Vocal Microphones
18 Sennheiser e855 Vocal Microphones
19 Sennheiser MD431-II Vocal Microphones
20 Sennheiser MD441 Vocal Microphones
21
22
23
24
25 Electric Guitar Direct Electric Guitars
26 "Miked Guitar Amp w/ SM57, ""Rumbly"" " Electric Guitars
27 "Miked Guitar Amp w/ SM57, ""Normal"" " Electric Guitars
28 Fender Stratocaster Electric Guitars
29 Fender Telecaster Electric Guitars
30 Gibson ES-335 / ES-345 Electric Guitars
31 Gibson ES-335 / ES-345 w/ split neck pickup Electric Guitars
32 Gibson Les Paul Classic gold-top Electric Guitars
33 Gretsch Country Gentleman Electric Guitars
34 Ibanez Artist Electric Guitars
35 Paul Reed Smith Custom 22 Electric Guitars
36
37
38
39
40 Acoustic guit w/ piezo Acoustic Guitars
41 Acoustic guit w/ dynamic mic Acoustic Guitars
42 Acoustic guit w/ condenser mic Acoustic Guitars
43 Guild D25 w/ Fishman Piezo Acoustic Guitars
44 Guild D25 w/ Fishman Piezo and sound hole notch Acoustic Guitars
45 Martin Backpack w/ pickup Acoustic Guitars
46 "Martin DC16, pickup only (no mic)" Acoustic Guitars
47 Martin D28 w/ piezo pickup Acoustic Guitars
48 Martin D45 w/ condenser mic Acoustic Guitars
49 Taylor 810 w/ Expression System pickup Acoustic Guitars
50 Electronic (keyboard/synth/digi piano/module/EWI) Keyboard
51 Fender-Rhodes 73 Keyboard
52 Hohner Clavinet D6 Keyboard
53 Wurlitzer 200 Keyboard
54
55 Accordion w/ LIMEX Micro Pro Special
56 AP 35 Pro Clip on for trumpet Special
57 Low Volume Pre-Recorded Music EQ Special
58
59
60 Upright 3/4 Bass w/ Fishman pickup Basses
61 Active Bass 1 Basses
62 Active Bass 2 Basses
63 Active Bass 3 Basses
64 Fender Active Jazz Bass Basses
65 Fender '66 Passive P Bass Basses
66 Fender '69 Passive J Bass Basses
67
68
69
70 Kick Drum Drums
71 "Kick drum, Audix D6" Drums
72 "Kick drum, AKG D112" Drums
73 "Kick drum, Sennheiser 601" Drums
74 "Kick drum, Shure Beta 52a" Drums
75 Generic Area/Overhead Drums
76 "Drum overhead, Differential SM57*" Drums
77 "Drum overhead, Differential Electret*" Drums
78
79
80 50 Hz High Pass Filter Utility
81 80 Hz High Pass Filter Utility
82 5 KHz Low Pass Filter Utility
83 50 Hz / 5 KHz Band Pass Utility
84 80 Hz / 5 KHz Band Pass Utility
85 "200 Hz, 1 oct, -6dB Notch" Utility
86 "500 Hz, 1 oct, -6dB Notch" Utility
87 "500 Hz, 1 oct, +6dB Boost" Utility
88 "Flat, -70dB Gate" Utility
89 "Flat, -80dB Gate" Utility
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97 1kHz Bandpass (debug) Utility
98
99 Flat Utility
Mic Presets
1. Mic presets: We (and you) all love the basic sound of the Shure 87a/Preset2 combination, so I started here as a reference. Of course, every microphone has its own character. These include how the mic responds to proximity, how its sound changes with close-vocal sound pressure, how its polar response integrates vocal sound, how high and low it goes spectrally and how it integrates feedback into its total sound. And so, you can turn the knobs all you want, but these qualities (and others) will still be there. That’s why you like that mic you’re using.
To start, preset 17 is the same as old preset 02. We added a lot of popular mics as you can see. The Crowns (“Differoid” mics) include the 310 handheld and the 311 “drummer’s mic”. Both sound great with their preset. The 310 has very high gain before feedback. About the only downside here is that you really have to be on the mic hard, more so than, say, the 87a. Try the new SM57 and Beta57. The 57 in particular is considered by some a “cheap mic” ($89 at Musican’s Friend), but give the SM57/Preset 13 a try. I’m really happy with this one, a very attractive vocal presentation. Also, many are happy with the new high-gain and high-gain bright presets (Hilmar’s work). He worked in some aggressive high-end filters for control of that little high squeak you might get playing loud, especially in close proximity to the system (like when the club owner backs your band up into the corner). This will help singers who are playing loud with the unusual HF extension of such mics as the Neumann 105. Developing these presets, I made sure a female singer sounded good on all these too.
Electric Guitar
2. New electric guitar stuff galore-a-rama here. Preset 25 is an averaged spectral response of 12” guitar speakers and is useful in many ways other than guitar. (Use your ears). Basically it bumps up around 2KHz and rolls off about 5KHz on the high end, 100 on the low end. 26 and 27 are very useful and Tony Sarno and I worked on this together, for use with amplifying a small amp with an sm57 pickup. Tube-and-cone freaks; rejoice!! Both presets have a slight “honk” (500 Hz octave) and the “rumbly” one is bumped in the deep bass, for anyone wanting that “stack” sound on full distortion. Tony said “yeah” when we were done. Erik Gustafson of the Brothers Groove liked 26 instantly, playing a Tele and miking his amp. Be careful of 27 because it will do a good job of reamplifying bass guitar and kick drum on a loud stage. The rest are standard from the first batch of presets.
Acoustic Guitar
3. We added new acoustic guitar presets, especially some nice Martins sent here for preset work from Nazareth PA. I personally love the pickup-fitted Backpack/Preset 45 combo. Small, inexpensive but big lovely sound. It’s like the sm57; listen with your ears, not with list price.
Prerecorded Music
4. #57 is for prerecorded music at low level, for DJ’s and for break music at the gig. Sort of like the Fletcher-Munson (Tony Sarno calls it the “Herman Munster”) curve; bass and treble boost, just the right amount if you’re playing a 85 dB or so.
Basses
5. New basses! My fave is 66, developed with Bass Monster Wolf Ginandes. Wolf brought in the antique collection, his SVT head and a 2x10 bottom he has used as a standard for years. We used this as a reference on our big stage. You don’t want to lift the head, by the way. I think we got just the right amount of “unh” in and “quack” out for classic Fender basses. The hi-z preamp in our system does not load down the pickup. 65 is also very cool but many love 66. 60 for acoustic basses with Fishman on the bridge is still a fave, read “classic”.
Drums
6. For drums, we added the new D6 Audix, very nice, punchy. 76 and 77 are for a pair of 57’s and a pair of wideband electrets connected out of phase. These are placed on either side of the snare, below the cymbals but above the upper drum heads. This gives us a very good signal because of proximity and cancels long bass wavelengths like bass guitar, so they aren’t re-broadcast by the drum “overheads”. Want more hihat?; Move the mic towards the hihat (and so on). Like all good mic technique, the fewer, the better. This also allows a drummer to have a quick setup. It does require a Y-jack as follows: Male xlr into a pair of female xlr’s, one of which has pins 2 and 3 reversed. Try it out. Beats all the complication of 12 mics, submixer, ect. (ewwww). We have been using this setup in our Linemen shows since they started and havn’t wanted to change it.
Utility
7. We added some nice “utility” stuff. Preset 85 (-6dB at 200 Hz) is very useful for miking grand piano. When the gain goes up, so does 200 Hz. This makes a fine place to start with any mic setup. I used both a wideband condenser and some 57’s. Both profited from this. The main mic should go over the bass strings, which is where most of the instrument’s tone seems to come from. A second mic over the upper 2 octaves and near the keys can be used to bring up the definition of the upper register. Turn the bass off. The highpasses are always useful and we added a 50 Hz the old 80 Hz. The 50/5K and 80/5K bandpasses are also very useful, like for a noisy guitar amp. We included a few gates. Anyone use these?
8. Preset 97 (1KHz bandpass) is just for us. We get one, you get 98. You come first. On the other hand, this might be a good bongo drum preset, you never know.