General Cyber Systems Cyber Commander SE

My background and gear: I've played guitar since 1966, and cycled through tons of gear over the years. Currently I'm using an array of Rics (a 370/6 MG, and 360/12 MB, a 620/6 FG, a 650D and 4003 JG), a '72 Martin D-28, some Gibsons (a Lifeson 355, '57 LP Goldtop reissue, an SG standard) and some Fenders (a '66 Tele, a new American Standard Strat and a Robert Cray Strat). All of these instruments are run through a Fender Cyber Twin SE (with the Fender Cyber Foot Controller) for recording purposes. The recording setup is Pro Tools version 8, run on a Mac PowerBook G4 with a Digi 002. I'm using version 1.02 of the Cyber Commander SE software.

When I first discovered the Cyber Twin, I was psyched about its power and versatility. The abundance of presets was impressive, but your first inclination is to modify existing presets or to create your own. It was immediately apparent that this great potential was dampened by the awkward interface. An array of dials and buttons allows you to cycle through the various effects and parameters, but it's an impossibly cumbersome process to modify an existing preset or create a new one.

Enter General Cyber Systems' Cyber Commander. When I first heard about this software, it sounded too good to be true. In reality, it turns out to be even better than it seemed on paper. To cut to the chase, it allows you equal access to all effects and parameters at the same time, without having to laboriously scroll through a series of options with respect to various different levels and values. Accessing effects and modifying or creating new presets is vastly simplified. The huge potential of the Cyber Twin is now easily accessible. And it does so much more than simply give greater control over the amps many features. It allows you to back up to your hard drive or data disc your Midi Map and all existing presets, as well as any new presets you may have come up with.

Installation of the software was a total breeze. It does a require the entry of an activiation key immediately after purchase and download, but the whole thing went off without a hitch. I was up and running virtually instantly. Hooking everything up between the PC, the amp and the foot controller requires a midi interface or two and some cables, depending on your circumstances. This, too, was really easy. The product's documentation is clear and comprehensive. Aside from the that, the personalized support I received from General Cyber Systems was phenomenal. One caveat: once you complete the setup, before you do anything else, it's important that you back up your midi map and existing presets. Once that's all done and you start to experiment with it, you will find that it's totally intuitive and easy to use.

The software doesn't generate sounds per se, but manages the Cyber Twin's impressive array of effects. The sounds themselves are great. Fender did a great thing by bringing the Cyber Twin into existence, the Cyber Commander software takes it to a much higher level of utility.

The Cyber Commander software is a superb value. It has never crashed, or functioned anything but perfectly for me. After a couple months' of use, I am still blown away by its excellence.

One possible downside: it does not function in a purely Mac environment. I believe it works on a Mac only with some sort of PC emulation software, but in my own case, I was so impressed by the software's potential and the passion and commitment of General Cyber Systems, I purchased a cheap PC laptop to dedicate to running the Cyber Commander.

One more note: there's a cool page on the General Cyber Systems site where users can share presets that they designed with the Cyber Commander. Very cool.

If you own a Cyber Twin, you owe it to yourself to get the best the amp has to offer by picking up the Cyber Commander software.

This is my review of The Cyber Commander SE software from General Cyber Systems.

If you don???t like reading, the short answer is, it???s great!
If you want more, read on.

My goal here is to give a fair and accurate review of my experience with this software. That is a bit difficult because I like it so well. But here goes.

The Cyber Commander SE is the software that is made by General Cyber Systems to control a Fender Cyber-Twin SE. If you have the original Cyber-Twin, they have another software package for it.

This is my opinion, and impressions, of the Cyber Commander SE after a couple of days of learning, and getting acquainted with the software interface and using it.

Dealing with the company was painless. They were quick to get my registration and authorization codes to me. Installation on my computer went without a hitch of any kind. There was a warning about pasting in the codes to NOT have any leading or trailing spaces when you do the copy. I just followed the instructions and all went well.

After installing the Cyber Commander SE, or CC, the next step was to get my midi interface going. The problems I had with it and the operating system on my computer had nothing to do with the CC. The problems I had, related to getting ANY midi device to operate with Windows xp Media Center Edition, and to getting the latest driver for my old original M-Audio Midiman UNO 1X1 interface.

I won???t go into all that right now. The only reason I mentioned it was because it hindered getting the software to connect with the CT SE. For any one that has the Media Center Edition, or has the midiman UNO, just be aware that there are cures and remedies for the situation already.

Now, on to the software, and what I found.

One of the first things to do is a loop back test for the midi interface. A good solution that I found for the double female connection needed, is a 5-pin coupler from Radio Shack. It was only $3.99 and was available at our local store, so there was no waiting for an order to get here. If you???re curious like me, and decide to do a continuity check on the coupler, keep in mind to check pin 1 to pin 1, etc ??? and not the pin holes straight across from each other.

After getting a stable midi connection, I found that I had a LOT of information there on one screen. The designers of this software were able to get all the different settings for the preset on that one screen, and without being cluttered.

One thing I noticed right off, that I thought was pretty neat was - The preset that came up was the one I assigned to button "1" of the 4 "Quick Access" buttons on the amp, which happened to be preset # 7 in the players lounge, instead of just the first preset in the players lounge or the custom shop.

You can access ALL the other presets by going to the ???Amplifier Presets??? box that is just under the section that looks like the amp control knobs, with the preset name and the blue jewel light. They have even managed to include a section for the Fender Cyber Foot Controller too, if you have one of those.

A plus with CC is that you can go to ANY preset, or ANY amp, in your CT SE with only two or three clicks of the mouse. Which in my way of thinking is a very real improvement over reaching down to the big knob and turning, and turning, and turning, until you finally get to the place you want.

Whether it???s two or three clicks is depending on if you change from the section of presets you are currently in to another. Example: Say your working with a preset in the players lounge and want to pull up another preset in the players lounge, that???s a two click operation. Or say you are working with that same preset in the players lounge, and you want to pull up a new amp to build a new preset from, that???s a three click operation because your first click is to change to the amp section. And the change to the next preset you select is really fast, at least on my setup now, after doing the ?

As said above - it's pretty intuitive

N/A
it controls the amp

Also as above,
If I had it to do over again - I'd buy it again!