The 2112: Getting Started
The Digitech 2112 Guitar Processor ----- GOLLEEEEE! Where Do I START?
The 2112 can be very frustrating and intimidating. DON'T LET IT GET YOU! We will walk through some concepts that are important for you to understand how the 2112 organizes settings and how you can listen to the factory presets and build on those or start from scratch to build new presets (also called PATCHES). Some of this stuff may sound like a foreign language, but once you become familiar with it you can use it to your advantage.
THE S-DISC DSP CHIPS (See MP 10 and MP 23)
The 2112 comes with two signal processing chips that can be used in many different ways.
There are several choices for each type of effect, based on how much of the processor chips are required. Stereo effects take more processing power than mono effects, but if you want stereo output you will have to be sure that you have enough processor assigned to that effect to accommodate it. There are four module sizes, as shown in the manual:
* Quarter (4th) is the smallest 'hunk of processor' that is available. It uses 1/4 of one of the chips, so you could have 8 of these quarter chip effects chained together if you like. The list of available effects for this module size is relatively small (about 24 choices)
* Half (HLF) uses one half of one of the chips
* Three quarter (3-4) uses 3/4 of one of the chips
* Full (FUL) uses an entire chip but has ALL available effects.
You can use both chips if you wish to provide a bunch of options (what do you mean you don't need to use 8 or more effects sumultaneously?), OR you can use a feature called "SEAMLESS" which will only allow you to use one chip at a time. What the 'SEAMLESS' feature provides is the ability to switch smoothly from one patch to another. You may or may not find this important. It is most important when you need to change patches while you are playing. I tend to use the SEAMLESS model whenever possible, but some 'wild 'n' crazy effects' may require a different model. We'll look more deeply into how to use these features later.
Most steel players use very few effects, so I will assume that a little delay, chorus, and possibly an octave up or down is about as complex as you will really need. Also, if you are using an outboard reverb unit (not using the 2112 reverb) you will probably have plenty of processor to spare.
===>IMPORTANT CONCEPTS
* You have TWO CHIPS that can be divided into 1, 2, 3, or 4 quarters
* They may be used together to provide eight quarters ( or four halves, or two halves and a whole or two wholes . . . etc.)
* They may be used separately to provide seamless patch switching
* Some effects take more processor power than others. (MP 23) gives you an idea of what takes how much
HOW DO I SELECT A PROCESSOR CONFIGURATION? (See MP 65)
Every patch or preset on the 2112 is built from one of the 24 configurations shown on page 65 of the manual. 1 thru 9 and 17 thru 21 are SEAMLESS models that only use one S-DISC chip at a time. These models can be found by pressing the [PROGRAM] button on the front panel which switches between the USER and FACTORY presets. An indicator appears below the Patch number on the left side of the display which tells you whether you are on the USER or FACTORY bank of presets. Once you see the FACTORY indicator, turn the large Program/Effect wheel in the middle of the front panel until you see Patch 101. This corresponds to configuration 1 on page 65. As you click through Patches 101-124 you will see all the various configurations. You may use this as a starting point for creating a patch from scratch. We will go into more depth when we create some patches. The USER presets come from the factory with copies of the FACTORY presets stored there, but you may overwrite them with your own patches. The FACTORY presets may NOT be overwritten, so you have a total of 100 custom patches that you can store.
===>IMPORTANT CONCEPTS
* Pushing the [PROGRAM] button switches between FACTORY presets and USER settings that you may use to save your own favorites.
* You must choose one of the 24 processor configurations that are located on FACTORY preset 101-124
WHAT FACTORY PRESETS SOUND GOOD WITH STEEL GUITAR?
In a word: NONE of them. You may want to try
* #2 - Clean Comp Delay (Compressor + Delay)
* #33 - Twin Combo
* #41 - Country Pickin
* #45 - Stereo Country
Don't expect miracles. These are NOT STEEL GUITAR PATCHES. A little tweaking will help a lot and we'll look at how to do that soon. For now, get used to using the Wheel to select these patches and play around with some of the others. I think you'll find most of them as revolting as I do. :-)
Next, we will look at The Anatomy of a Patch on the 2112 to understand the logic we will need to modify existing presets and start from scratch to create new patches.
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