There are a couple schools of thought on the set up and format of the OP songs. Where to put the song parts…?
My personal preference is to put the entire song, (intro, (count in) THE WHOLE ENCHILADA. into the intro slot.
I then put a loop that does not make any sound, I call it a Null, into the main loop. To start the song, there is one press. When the song ends it switches to the main (quiet) loop. the song is done. I have the twin foot switch set with the right side, #2 to play the outro. (nothing is assigned into the outro slot so it while it is looping on the silent main loop, I press the right foot switch to stop it.) Now I press the right footswitch again and it advances to the next son and I am ready to One Press again to start my next tune.
A couple of other advantages are that I can save the entire song as a single midi file without keeping the intro paired up with it. Another is if there is a song where I activate the main foot switch after an intro. I don’t have to
double click or set up the silent loop on the main loop.
I don’t know which is the best set up. Probably a matter of familiarity and personal taste.
Thoughts?
I have downloaded many songs from others and like your idea the best with the entire song as an intro with the Null to end the song. I was never able to master the outra and find that I typically pause to end the song when it feels right but your method works great and I have been moving more songs to this structure.
I agree with your approach and unifying how its done is essential to adoption. I’ve gotten used to hitting the left footswitch to pause/unpause which we do alot. The right switch is used for outros on occasion but mostly to advance when stopped. I don’t need to change habits since I have so much to do already in the trio and my brain hurts.
So far though, since we are a trio and allow songs to open up when warranted, OP won’t come into play except for a few fillers maybe with bass parts (although again we all play bass too at some point) but so far we haven’t been successful with such tightly scripted approaches. I’m sure this is a benefit for solo acts though.
The #2 switch doesn’t need to be assigned to play the outro, thus ending the song. You can still double click the main pedal while it is looping on the null. I think that is the name of my next band, “LOOPING ON THE NULL.” Or at least that should be what I call my preferred format.
I have done it different ways… I kinda like putting it in the outro instead, and having the main be a short tsh tsh tsh so that you can get the tempo in your head before you start.
With the upcoming release, it will be much more flexible. You will be able to specify how many times each main loop repeats, before it moves on to to the next section. You can also make it repeat forever, so you could have a song that plays to a solo part, which plays forever until you are done soloing. transition out of that, and on with the song.
This is also my preferred approach. It helps everyone get into the beat (if you have others playing also) and ends the song so no more presses once the song is done. I’ve actually modified all the one press songs along that format i.e. no intro, count-in for main loop then song in Outro.