Gassing for an axe fx for no reason :/

Drew_TNBD

Clarky said:

Drew - you do know that with the Axe you can run scenes and IA's simultaneously???

I do it myself..

irrespective of the preset, the IA's work the same because the IA is assigned to a specific fx block

scenes can be what ever you like and so can switch on / off a bunch of things simultaneously and be different or the same [if you wish] on a per preset basis..

example: I currently run 2 presets for a funky rocky popy band called Civilians

on both presets

scene1 = riff

scene2 = solo

scene3 = clean

scene4 = soft solo [quieter / more delay for ballads and ambient moments]

scene5 = misc [which is different in each preset and therefore has something to address the tonal need of a moment in a specific song]

the misc scene in preset 1 is an almost clean JCM800 with a phaser

the misc scene in preset 2 is a crunchy JCM800

I have an IA assigned to the phaser [which therefore applies to all 384 presets]

the cool thing is that on all Civvies presets, the phaser is.. erm.. a phaser.. 

but in the soloing scene the phaser flips to the Y side and now becomes a univibe

and of course, in the misc scene that has the phaser, I can use the IA to switch it off if I wish..

from a config standpoint it's highly flexible..

from a live performance standpoint, it's wonderful...

Yes. I was aware of all that.

Clarky

I figured that a config like that may be not too far from what you were describing

Danny1969

I'm confused about why you need the special controller thing, can't you just save your patchs as clean, crunch, filthy or whatever and then just switch patchs using midi like normal ...... that's how I work at the mo what am I missing ?

octatonic

Danny1969 said:

I'm confused about why you need the special controller thing, can't you just save your patchs as clean, crunch, filthy or whatever and then just switch patchs using midi like normal ...... that's how I work at the mo what am I missing ?

Because patch switching is slow and limiting in terms of what the Axe FX can do.

With scene control and 'pedalboard style' FX switching you have so much more flexibility.

It is going to be difficult to explain it in a few sentences. 

digitalscream

Danny1969 said:

I'm confused about why you need the special controller thing, can't you just save your patchs as clean, crunch, filthy or whatever and then just switch patchs using midi like normal ...... that's how I work at the mo what am I missing ?

Because there's a shit-ton of extra functionality in the AxeFX that's not covered by the normal MIDI spec. Yes, you can change patches and send CCs...however, there's also scenes and the looper to consider. It can also read the state of the AxeFX itself (which you can't do with MIDI).

Clarky

also, if you go to a higher level of control, the MFC-101 can transmit 2 MIDI CC commands per switch [most controllers cannot]

this is a mega powerful feature.. because you can blend scenes with regular CC control..

this opens up a whole new level of control

Danny1969

Ah I see but in short it sounds like something like my GT10 could switch it via midi, i just wouldn't have the controller messages to vary other stuff which is fine.....  as for my work I only need to jump from clean \ compressed patch to dirty with a hint of delay patch etc. 

I must admit these things do pique my interest, I wonder if a software only version would be on the cards. That should be a lot cheaper

octatonic

Danny1969 said:

I must admit these things do pique my interest, I wonder if a software only version would be on the cards. That should be a lot cheaper

It will never happen.

Cliff has said this many times- the main issue is piracy.

Roland

The second issue is that the software runs on a pair of SHARC processors, ie not a standard pc platform

Drew_TNBD

octatonic said:

Danny1969 said:

I must admit these things do pique my interest, I wonder if a software only version would be on the cards. That should be a lot cheaper

It will never happen.

Cliff has said this many times- the main issue is piracy.

The other main issue is convincing people to pay £2000 for software!

ToneControl

yeah, because many think writing software requires no effort or investment

Whereas in fact, it pays for all my gear

Danny1969

Well if they sold it as a TDM plugin for £600 or so I would buy it, and I expect a lot of others would to. I would just prefer it in plugin form rather than the physical hardware. 

Drew_TNBD

You'll never see it as a TDM plugin. Avid are discontinuing that plugin format.

Clarky

I think FAS are just trying to protect themselves.. can't blame them for that..

Drew_TNBD

I think there is more to it than that. There are some very good protection methods around; not 100% perfect, no. But good enough to warrant their existence.

I think the overall business case for a AF2 as software isn't that good. The unified hardware and the total experience is what is good about it. The fact you don't need extra peripherals and the fact you're not subject to other companies hardware from being shit... the whole experience is as smooth as it can be.

You will most likely lose that if you have just the software portion.

Clarky

and there's enough stuff outside of the Axe-II to mess things up as it is.. the amps and monitors / cabs..

some folk get into trouble in this area and then blame the Axe-II for 'sounding digital'.. which is just not true.. they use only factory presets or those downloaded from other users, but fail to dial these presets into their own monitoring / backline / playing style.. making tones is such a personal thing..

AndyJP

Clarky said:

Drew - you do know that with the Axe you can run scenes and IA's simultaneously???

I do it myself..

irrespective of the preset, the IA's work the same because the IA is assigned to a specific fx block

scenes can be what ever you like and so can switch on / off a bunch of things simultaneously and be different or the same [if you wish] on a per preset basis..

example: I currently run 2 presets for a funky rocky popy band called Civilians

on both presets

scene1 = riff

scene2 = solo

scene3 = clean

scene4 = soft solo [quieter / more delay for ballads and ambient moments]

scene5 = misc [which is different in each preset and therefore has something to address the tonal need of a moment in a specific song]

the misc scene in preset 1 is an almost clean JCM800 with a phaser

the misc scene in preset 2 is a crunchy JCM800

I have an IA assigned to the phaser [which therefore applies to all 384 presets]

the cool thing is that on all Civvies presets, the phaser is.. erm.. a phaser.. 

but in the soloing scene the phaser flips to the Y side and now becomes a univibe

and of course, in the misc scene that has the phaser, I can use the IA to switch it off if I wish..

from a config standpoint it's highly flexible..

from a live performance standpoint, it's wonderful...

@clarky nice post.

Just wondered what midi controller you are using for this band? I like idea of the 5 scenes for a song. Unsure if the mfc 101 would be overkill in this situation...

Clarky

I'm using the MFC-101

pretty much any MIDI controller can assign IA switches to MIDI CC numbers and therefore they can trigger scenes

not many though can assigned two MIDI CC's simultaneously to an IA, and this is what I do..

scenes will switch FX blocks on/off, switch X-Y

my config does quite a bit more than that

so in conjunction with scenes I trigger other 'modifiers' via MIDI to make changes to parameters that scenes cannot touch

for example…

my riff tone uses two amp blocks panned wide and my soloing tone uses one amp block panned centre

when I switch from scene1 'riff' to scene2 'solo'

the scene change will mute amp2 [the Deizel Herbert] and leave amp1 [the 5153 mkIII] active

at the same time, a modifier will pan amp1 from hard left to centre

digitalscream

Drew_fx said:

I think there is more to it than that. There are some very good protection methods around; not 100% perfect, no. But good enough to warrant their existence.

I think the overall business case for a AF2 as software isn't that good. The unified hardware and the total experience is what is good about it. The fact you don't need extra peripherals and the fact you're not subject to other companies hardware from being shit... the whole experience is as smooth as it can be.

You will most likely lose that if you have just the software portion.

Another thing that it would lose is exclusivity - at the moment, the AxeFX II is the pinnacle of high-end non-valve gear. It's reasonably likely that a software version would quite happily run on a low-to-mid-range PC (a quad-core i5 would probably run it quite easily) with something like a Focusrite Saffire. When this amazing bit of kit can be replaced with a £400 PC and a £100 interface, it gets a bit harder to justify the price.

Based on that, how would you price it? £600 would mean you could get the whole kit and caboodle for under a grand; that screws the hardware version's pricing. Put the price up to £1600 to fix that problem, and you're begging for the world and his dog to crack it.

Nope...no software version for us

Drew_TNBD

It's debateable how much better it is over some options out there anyway. I've heard Octatonic A/B it with Amplitube, and on the face of it the Axe did win out. But it wasn't using the same cabinet impulses in both tests. So you could say that the Axe and it's internal options sounds better than Amplitube and it's internal sounds. But once you start diving into impulse responses, I reckon the vast majority of people wouldn't know the difference.

There are guys out there who legitimately prefer the Pod HD. Others prefer the Boss GT-100, and we all know about the Gear Page and it's daily wars between Fractal and Kemper people.

Saying that, I've heard the Axe FX through a real guitar cab, and it sounded phenomenal. I've heard Guitar Rig through a PA setup, and it sounded utterly dreadful. It's difficult to compare the various offerings when you don't match up the various factors involved.

None of them are any easier to use than a amp head and cab though. This much is certain.