Remuda Guide


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Starting Remuda

Remuda will start automatically when it is connected to a compatible Mustang amplifier. Simply connect your Android device to your amplifier using an OTG adapter and your original USB cable. An Android window will pop up asking you whether you want to “Open Remuda” whenever you connect your Amplifier. Say OK. You may also be asked if you want to ALWAYS use Remuda for this device. You may answer this as you see fit.

If you follow the above instructions and you DO NOT see any messages then you are most likely using a device that DOES NOT support USB Host mode OR you have a bad OTG adapter.
Note: OTG adaptors range in price from a few dollars to twenty dollars or more. We recommend getting the OTG adaptor sold by the manufacturer of your device but others have reported no problems using the generic adaptors. Defective OTG adaptors are the most common problem that users report with Remuda. Sometimes it is better to spend a bit more money to get a more reliable adaptor.

If everything is working then after a few seconds you will be taken to the Direct Mode screen.
Note: Remuda offers three different ways of interacting with your amplifier: Direct, Preset, and Performance. You switch between them using the menu buttons at the top of the screen.(back to top)

Remuda Remote

For those owners with a spare Android device, the connection to the Amplifier can be made using a Bluetooth connection to a second device that is connected to the Amplifier. The second device will be connected to the Amp using the normal OTG Adapter and USB cable. This device will run the Remuda Remote server and will communicate via Bluetooth with Remuda and via USB with the Amplifier. Your main device will be running Remuda and will connect using the built-in Remuda Remote client. Both the Server and the Client are accessed from the action menu. The actions are as follows:

Start Remuda Remote server…

Use this action to start the Remuda Remote server on the device connected to the Amplifier. The server screen offers you the option of setting Remuda to always start the server at App startup. You must have Bluetooth enabled on the device and this device must be paired with any devices that will attempt to connect to the server. Tap on Stop Remuda Remote Server to close the screen and go back to normal operation.

Connect to Remuda Remote server…

Use this command to connect to a device with a running Remuda Remote server. The screen will offer you a list of paired Bluetooth devices to which you can connect. Select the appropriate device and tap on Connect to attempt the connection. If the selected device is too far away OR if it is not running the server you will not be able to connect. You can also configure Remuda to always start up in Client Mode by selecting it from this screen. If a connection is established, you will see a pop up message informing you of that. You can now use Remuda as if it was connected to the Amplifier directly. When you are connected the action menu will change to say, Disconnect from server, and selecting this will return you to normal operation.

Note: Remuda uses Bluetooth at the application level and will drop the connection if a phone call is received OR if the Remuda App is suspended for any reason. Options are provided to automatically restart the Server or Reconnect the client if the connection is lost. A future version of the App may address this behavior.


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Amplifier Control Buttons

These are the six buttons located at the top of the Remuda screen directly below the title bar/action menu. These buttons appear in Direct, Preset, and Performance modes.

Activate the On-board Tuner

Press the Tuner button at the top left of the screen. The tuner display will open and your Mustang amp will be placed in tuner mode. The background of the tuner display will turn red when a note is out of tune and green when it is close to in tune. Press the tuner button again to deactivate the on-board tuner.

Effect Buttons

The four buttons in the center correspond to the four effect categories available in the Mustang. These buttons are only active if the selected preset has the appropriate effect defined. Pressing an active effect buton will toggle the current bypass state of the effect. In Direct Mode, pressing and holding an effect button will allow you to edit the Effect even if it is not currently assigned to the Preset.

Edit Lock

The “lock” symbol to the right of the Effect buttons will allow you to lock the interface so that you don’t make inadvertent changes to any of the data in the current mode. The Editing Lock is provided in Remuda to prevent acidental changes to data that may occur during a live performance. Setting the lock also removes unneccessary elements from the Remuda screen to give you a less cluttered screen also suitable for live performances.
Note: Be sure that the Lock button is showing an open lock whenever you want to edit in either Direct or Performance Mode. Preset mode does not have a Lock button. All controls in Preset mode are always active.
Caution: The memory lock function of the amplifier (accessed from the Mustang Util menu) is ignored by Remuda and it is possible to save preset definitions even when the on-board memory lock is in effect.


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Direct Mode

The Direct Mode screen shows you all of your presets in a scrollable list. The currently selected preset is marked with a Green indicator. At the bottom of the list is a set of radio buttons that allow you to view all of the presets or only those presets that you have marked as “favorites”. For now leave this set to “All”.

Select a preset

Tap on any of the presets to select it. The green indicator lights up and the Preset is selected on the amplifier. You can also turn the Selection wheel on the amp to change presets and the green indicator will light up in the App to show the current preset.

Change the Order of the presets

You can drag and drop any preset to a new position to change the order of the presets on the amplifier. Press and hold a preset selector until it starts to drag. Drag the preset to the position you’d like it to be and release. The preset you dragged will swap places with the preset on which it was dropped. When we get to the Settings screen you’ll see how you can modify this behavior.

Edit a Preset

To edit a preset you will first select it and then tap it again to edit it from the Edit Preset… screen. This screen allows you to assign a new name to the preset, select a different amplifier, add or remove effects, set an effect to be on by default, or change the order of the signal chain. It also allows you to mark a preset as a “Favorite”. You can also load a preset definition that has been previously saved to the android device in the music/remuda/presets folder. Remuda will only load .FUSE formatted preset defintions.

Making a Preset a Favorite

Tap the Favorite checkbox to add this preset to favorites. Tap it again to remove it. You do not need to “save” the preset for your preference to be remembered. Favorite presets can be displayed on the main screen when the Favorites filter radio button is selected.

Import preset settings

Tap on this button to import a preset settings file from the device’s external storage. Remuda can load presets that have been downloaded from the Fender FUSE community site and stored on your device. The settings in the preset file will completely overwrite the settings for the current preset, including the name.
Note: You will also find that your own presets have been saved in this folder as well. See more information below at Saving the Preset.

Changing the preset name

Tap in the name field and enter in the new name. The name can be up to 32 characters but only 17 characters will be displayed on the LCD display where it is available.

Changing the order of the signal chain

You can drag and drop any of the four effects and the amplifier to set the order of your signal processing. Press and hold any of the effects or the “amplifier” untill the drag starts. The element that you drag will be placed just in front of the element on which it is dropped. In general stomp and mod are placed before the amplifier and reverb and delay are placed after but the choice is yours.

Setting default effect bypass

The green pushbutton indicator to the right of each effect button is used to indicate the bypass state of the effect. If the green indicator is off then the effect will be in its bypassed state until you manually select it. If you want an effect to be on by default when a preset is selected then tap the indicator.

Editing the amplifier parameters

From the Edit Preset screen, tap on the “Amplifier” button. This will bring up another screen that allows you to edit any of the parameters for the selected amplifier. The value shown to the right of each parameter represents the current value of the amp’s parameter. If you edit any value it will change the color of the displayed parameter to red and it will also light up the Save button to remind you that the Amplifier has been modified.

Selecting a different amplifier

While you are in this screen you can select a different amplifier by tapping on the current amplifier and selecting a new amplifier from the list of available amp models. Once again, this action will cause the Save button to be lit up in red.

Saving or Cancelling

Although you can hear the changes as you make them, they will NOT be saved to the amplifier unless you click on the Save button. Clicking on Save will close the window and return you to the Edit Preset screen. If you do NOT want to save your changes, then you can click on the Cancel button to restore the amplifier parameters to the state they were in when you started editing the preset.

Editing an Effect

Tap on any of the four effect category buttons to open up the Edit effect screen. The selector at the top of the window shows the currently selected effect for the category. The remaining items in the window correspond to the parameters that can be adjusted for the selected effect. The value shown to the right of each parameter represents the current value of the parameter. If you edit any value it will change the color of the displayed parameter to red and it will also light up the Save button to remind you that the Effect has been modified.

Selecting a different effect

While you are in this screen you can select a different effect from the category. Tap on the currently selected effect and selecting a new effect from the list of available effects in the current category. Once again, this action will cause the Save button to be lit up in red.

Saving or Cancelling

Although you can hear the changes to the effect as you make them, they will NOT be saved to the amplifier’s memory unless you click on the Save button. Clicking on Save will close the window and return you to the Edit Preset screen. If you do NOT want to save your changes, then you can click on the Cancel button to restore the effect and its parameters to the state they were in when you started editing the preset.

Saving the Preset

It is important to note that if you select Cancel to close the Edit Preset window, then you will discard ALL changes that have been made to the preset. If you are satisfied with the preset, be sure to click on the Save button to make sure the changes are saved to the Amplifier’s memory.
Note: Remuda can save presets even if the Amp’s save-mode lock is on.


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Preset Mode

In Preset mode you are editing one preset at a time. All of the parameters of the preset’s Amplifier and active Effects are available in one screen. All of the changes are applied to your amplifier for live previewing of the preset. When you are done editing the preset you can Save it to your amplifier. A separate menu of commands is provided for editing the signal chain and expression pedal (MIII/IV/V/Floor only), Saving the preset, or reverting to the last saved definition.

Parameter Controls

There are three types of control elements used to display and select parameter values in this screen. Each type is described below

Radio Buttons

This type of control is used whenever a small set of options is available. You cange the parameter by tapping on the desired value. The original value of the parameter is indicated by the use of all CAPITAL letters for the option value. All other choices are shown in lowercase.

Drop-Down List

This control is used when there is a larger selection of options to choose from. The original value for the parameter is shown with a “<“ next to the selection.

Sliders

The most common control is the slider. These are used to adjust the value of a parameter to a specific numerical value. The slider control incorporates two buttons to either side that will decrease or increase the value by one. Sliders also display a numeric value on the right. This value will turn red when the value is different from the original value.
Tip: You can reset a slider control to its original value by holding your finger on the numeric values display for a second or two.

Tap Tempo

Certain parameters are time based (either period in miliseconds or frequency in Hertz) and these parameters can be set by tapping the screen to match the tempo of a song. Those items that can be tapped will have a small button at the right showing the current value of the parameter. Simply tap on the button a minimum of three times to set the value.
Note: Tap Tempo is only available in Preset Mode. Direct Mode editing does not support Tap Tempo.

Presets

At the top of the screen, right below the effect buttons, is a selector showing the currently selected preset. Tap this selector to show the list of available presets and to select a different preset.
Caution: If you select a new preset prior to saving then all changes to the current preset will be discarded.

Favorites Button

Tap the “star” to the left of the Preset’s label to mark this preset as a Favorite. Tap again to remove it from favorites.

Preset Action Menu

The Preset Action Menu can be accessed by tapping the menu button located just to the right of the Preset Selector. The actions in this menu affect the currently selected preset only and are mostly self-explanatory.

  • Revert – This action will discard all changes since you last Saved the preset or since you started editing the preset.
  • Save Preset – This action lets you save the currently edited preset. You may select a new Name for the preset and/or a new Slot for the Preset.
    Caution: If you select a new slot for the preset, then the preset definition in that slot will be overwritten by the current preset definition.
  • Edit Signal Chain – Brings up the signal chain dialog allowing you to change the order in which your input signal is processed. Press and hold an element until it starts to drag. Drop it on any other element.
  • Import Preset – Select this action to import a preset settings file from the device’s external storage. Remuda can load presets that have been downloaded from the Fender FUSE community site and stored on your device. The settings in the preset file will completely overwrite the settings for the current preset. The Name of the preset will not be shown but it will be displayed as the default in the Save Preset screen.
    Note: You will also find that your own presets have been Exported to this folder as well. See more information below at Exporting the Preset.
  • Export Preset – Select this action to export a preset settings file to the device’s external storage. Exported presets can be shared and re-imported by Remuda.
  • Edit Expression Pedal (MIII/IV/V/Floor only) – Select this action to open up the Expression Pedal Settings screen.
    Note: This will only appear if you select the Setting to hide the Pedal Parameters block.

Preset Elements

Immediately below the Preset Selector are the selectors and parameters for the Amplifier model and the four effect types (Stomp, Mod, Delay, and Reverb). The available selections for each Amplifier model and Effect type is located at the top of each section. The parameters for the current selection are shown within each section. Each section of the Preset screen can be collapsed or expanded by tapping on the up/down caret located next to the Amp Model/Effect type selector.

Amplifier

The current amplifier is shown in a drop-down list. Tap this control to select a new amplifier model for this preset. The parameters in this section will update to show you the available parameters for this type of amplifier. You can collapse or expand the section by tapping on the open/close icon to the right of the selected amplifier model.
Note: In this section the value of the parameters will remain the same for each model of amplifier selected. This allows for an easy A-B comparison of amplifier types.

Pedal (MIII/IV/V/Floor only)

The current pedal parameters are shown in this section. At the top of the section is a drop-down list of all saved pedal setups. These setups can be applied to any preset and if a preset matches any of these setups it will show as the current setup. You can adjust the pedal parameters and the rest of the preset to your liking and then save that setup to apply to another preset. Two versions of a classic wah pedal are pre-saved for you. You may tweak these and save over them if you wish or you may create a setup of your own and save it to a name of your choice.
Note: Saving a setup does NOT save the preset but it does save the settings in the controlled effect or amplifier.
Note: The settings screen has a setting to allow you to hide this section.

  • Press and hold UTIL while powering on, UTIL LED should light up for 1 second.
  • Move the expression pedal between the desired heel and toe endpoints to set the range.
  • Turn the preset selector knob to the next Preset to complete the process.

Stomp/Mod/Delay/Reverb

The four different types of effects are located in their individual sections and are selected independently of each other. The parameters that are displayed in the section are those parameters that are available for the selected effect type. You can collapse or expand the section by tapping on the open/close icon to the right of the selected effect type in any category. If you select “empty” as the type for any effect then it will be disabled and no parameters will be displayed.
Note: When you change the type of effect, the initial parameter settings will be based on how you last set up the effect previously. This Parameter Memory makes it easy to try out favorite effect types with the preset.


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Performance Mode

In Performance mode you can define “sets” of Songs and each Song may have a backing track and a document and up to three associated presets. The performance mode only shares a slight similarity to the Direct Mode. The Tuner, four effect buttons, and the “lock” control are shown at the top of the screen but the remainder of the screen is devoted to Sets and Songs.

Sets/Songs Radio Buttons

At the top of the screen you will find two radio buttons labled Sets and Songs respectively. These radio buttons determine whether the scrolling list below shows all defined Sets or all defined Songs. Songs are independent of Sets so let’s start with them. Make sure that the Songs radio button is pressed.

Songs

In Remuda, a song is a collection of one or more presets that are selected by you to use when playing the song. A song can also have a “Backing” track that you select from all of the music files that are on your device and a single page PDF document (Android 5+ only) that you have selected from your download folder.

Add a song

Tap on the Add Song… button and the Add New Song… window will open. Give your song a Title and if you’d like to add a backing track, select one from the Track selector.  On Android 5+ you will also be allowed to add a single page PDF document to the Song. The PDF document must be in your download folder. Tap on OK to complete the process. The song that you just created will be added to the sorted list of Songs and it will be selected. You may have to scroll the list to locate it.
Tip: Select the backing track BEFORE you enter a Title and the Title will automatically be set to the Track name.
Note: If you restart your device you will possibly scramble the backing tracks assigned to your Songs. This is a bug in Remuda and I am working on fixing it.

Select a song

You select a song by tapping on its Title. When a song is selected you will see the screen change to show that the selected song can be edited or deleted. The first preset (if any are selected for this song) will be selected on the connected amplifier. If you have defined a backing track for the song, then a small play arrow shows just to the right of the song title. You can tap this arrow to play or pause the backing track. Press and hold this icon to stop playing and rewind the tack back to the beginning. If you have added a document (Android 5+ only) then you will see a small document icon also. This icon will show or hide the document.
Tip: You can have the document open automatically when the Song is selected. Go to the Settings screen and look in teh Performance Mode section for the Song Document setting.

Edit a song

Tap on the Edit (a small pencil icon) button next to the selected song to open up the Edit Song… window. You can change the Title, Bbacking Track, and/or the Document.. Tap on OK to accept your changes.

Delete a song

To remove the selected Song completely from the App, tap on the Delete song button to open the Delete Song… window. Confirm that you want to delete the song by tapping on OK. Tap on cancel if you have changed your mind.
Note:If you delete a Song that is included in a set then the set will not have that song as part of it anymore. If you re-use the Song Title then the new song may show up in those sets.

Song Presets

You can add up to three of your presets to each song. The presets can be dragged into any order. The first preset associated with a song is selected on the amplifier when the song is selected. The selected preset can be changed by tapping on it. These three presets can also be automatically moved to three contiguous slots in the amplifier. This allows you to use the Mustang footswitch to select the appropriate preset thereby freeing up your hands to keep playing. This feature is discussed in depth in the Settings section of this help document.

Adding/Editing/Deleting presets

This is accomplished using the Presets buttons that are located right under the currently selected song.
Note: Deleting a preset from a song DOES NOT delete the preset from the amplifier.

Sets

Sets are Remuda’s way of letting you group together Songs in the order in which you usually play them. There is no strict limit to the number of songs that you can add to any one set. In order to work with sets, be sure that the Sets radio button is selected.

Select a Set

Sets are selected from the drop down list at the top of the screen. Sets are shown in this list in alphabetical order. Once selected the list of Songs will be updated to show the contents of the set.

Add a Set

Tap on the Add Set button to open up the Add Set… window. Enter a short descriptive name for the set and set the checkmark for those Songs you want to be in the set in the order you want them to appear. If you are just getting started with Remuda then you’ll need to Create a few songs first. Tap on Create a New Song… to open up the Add Song window (see above). Your newly created song will be added to the end of the Set, and you may have to scroll down to see it. When your set is complete (you can add more songs later) tap on Add to close the window. The name of the set you have just created is added to the Set selector and is made the currently selected set.

Edit the set

You can edit the name of the currently selected set and the selection of Songs included in the Set by tapping on the Edit button to the right of the set selector. Change the name and/or chack/uncheck the Songs you wish to have in the Set. When you are done editing you can tap on OK to save the new name or tap on Cancel to leave the name unchanged.

Deleting a set

You can delete the currently selected set by tapping on the Remove set button to the right of the set selector. A popup window asks you to confirm that you want to delete the set.  Deleting a set DOES NOT delete the songs included in the the set. Tap on OK to delete the set or tap on Cancel.

Changing the order of songs in a set

You can drag and drop songs to change the order. Press and hold a song title until the song jumps to your finger position. Drag it on top of another song. The dropped song is moved to that location in the set and all other songs are moved up or down accordingly.


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Settings

Remuda provides a Settings screen to set several optional behaviors for Direct and Performance modes. It also provides options to backup and restore the Preset and Performance mode data. Each section is discussed in detail below.

Direct Mode Settings

Start-up Preset

This setting will allow you to set the initial preset on your amplifier anytime that Remuda starts up. Enter the number of the desired preset from 0-99. Mustang I/II users should enter the number from 0-7 for the Amber bank, 8-15 for the Green bank, and 16-23 for the Red bank. Set this value to blank to let your amp determine the intial preset.
Note: The preset will only be selected if your device is connected to the amp when Remuda is started.

Preset Sorting

This option allows you to tell Remuda to sort the Presets by name in the Direct Mode preset list. It does NOT change the actual order of the presets on the amplifier. Select this option to display the Presets in alphabetical order.

Preset Drag and Drop

Presets can be dragged in the Preset list to change the order in which they are stored in the amplifier’s memory. The default method of this operation swaps the two presets. Tap on this option to select the alternate behavior which inserts the dragged preset in front of the preset on which it is dropped. This option is far slower than swapping the presets but you may prefer this behavior.
Note: This option is NOT available when you have selected alphabetical preset sorting.

Performance Mode Settings

Quick Access Presets (MIII/IV/V Only)

Remuda can be instructed to move up to three presets per song to three contiguous slots on the amplifier. This happens when a song is activated. By default no presets are modified in Performance mode. Select this option to turn this behavior on or off.

Quick Access Slots (MIII/IV/V Only)

When Quick Access Preset mapping is enabled, this option will let you select the three preset slots to use for the mapping. You can select either 0,1,2 or 97,98,99. To take full advantage of this you will need to set up your amp to map the Quick Access presets to the same slots as you select in Remuda. This will let you use your footswitch to select the presets. Please see your Mustang manual for instructions on how to accomplish this.
Note: Quick Access Slots are disabled unless the Quick Access Presets option is enabled.

WARNING: Remuda will overwrite the contents of the selected presets when this option is enabled. Remuda attempts to preserve and restore the original contents of these three slots but there are cases where the original content is not restored.

Song Documents (Android 5+ only)

This setting allows you to automatically show an associated document whenever the Song is selected. The document may subsequently be hidden or shown using the normal interface regardless of this setting.

Backup and Restore

Backup

You can back up your preset and performance data to the Android file system using the Backup option. The backup will be stored in the Music folder in a folder called remuda/backup. You can give the backup a name of your own choosing. The process reads Preset data directly from the amp and it can take up to a minute to complete the backup. Please be patient. Preset data will NOT be backed up if Remuda is not connected to an amplifier.
Note: You can back up Remuda data on one device and move the file to another Android device and restore it. This will effectively clone the data. You will need to have Remuda installed on both devices.

Restore

This option lets you restore a previously saved backup from the Android file system. All backup files must be in the Music folder in a subfolder called remuda/backup. The process reads in the data file and writes it directly to the amplifier. This process can take up to a minute to complete so be patient. Preset data will not be restored if you are not connected to an amplifier.

Application Info

Version

Shows the current version of the Remuda Application. Also indicates if this is the Full or Lite version.

Build

Shows the build number of the application.

Amp firmware version

This item shows the firmware date reported by the amp to which Remuda is currently connected. If no amp is connected then this information will be blank.(back to top)