Axe FX III - the Blog

FarleyUK

mrkb said:

FarleyUK said:

So I had a rehearsal last night with a new band (see the post in 'Need to vent'.....) and tried my two new Laney LFR112 cabs with the AFX3 for the first time.

They sounded awesome at high volumes; no harshness or shrillness, just a lovely smooth tone. Easily the best speakers I've tried so far with the AFX3! Also great that they have their own hi-cut filters available on each of them as well.

So you found the Laneys better than the Redsound RS-LG12S? That’s interesting.

Yep - but bear in mind it might be 'new gear bias'. However, I found I no longer needed the drastic EQ cut around 1400hz to tame the barkiness.

Roland

Roland said:

.. I decided that my 450mm 4U rack sleeve is too big and heavy. It isn’t stable on my amp stand. Instead I’ve ordered a 4U case with a 300mm sleeve. The measurements say that everything will fit.

The AxeFX IIII and its cables do fit. The wireless receiver didn’t at first. The aerials stuck out too far for the lid to close. So I mounted the wireless from the back which gives an extra half centimetre clearance, the depth of the rack nuts. 

The SubZero midi merger and the 4-way mains block now hang from the top of the box, held by Velcro. I had been thinking of getting a proper rack power strip, but am glad I didn’t because it wouldn’t have left enough space for the SubZero.

Roland

When I started this thread it was with the expectation that I would be using the AFX3 to configure effects that I couldn’t achieve with the AFX2 because of processing capacity limits. So far most of my effort has gone into replicating what I previously had. At last I’m branching out into new territory.

Superstition has been in our Set List for as long as I can remember. I use a Wah to provide the narrow bandpass filter that’s characteristic of Stevie Wonder’s clavinet. It’s a Crybaby Wah model with a high Q, and a bottom end that’s matched to the low Eb in the riff. As I play I track the note with the Wah treadle. I’m not trying to simulate the Mutron effect which Wonder used on songs like Higher Group, just move the bandpass filter frequency.

With the AFX3 I want to make the sound more like that of a clavinet. This could mean working with lower gain to reduce sustain, or using a Compressor to cut the volume of each note after several 100ms. It could mean introducing synth voices for more of a non-guitar sound.

There’s something else I need to do. With the wrong shoes on, or if I get tired towards the end of a gig, my foot tracking goes awry. Not so much timing as moving the treadle too much, or not enough. Last weekend we auditioned a couple of drummers. I found it difficult to turn and look at the drummer whilst working the treadle correctly.

Enter pitch tracking. In the past I’ve used envelope tracking and ADSRs, but pitch tracking is new to me. Surprisingly it worked first time. With AxeEdit open I was able to dial in the exact start setting I need for the low Eb, and set the slope and range to track the higher notes. 

Now on to the Clavinet. I’ve done the obligatory Google searches to find what other people have tried. None seem particularly close. I’m open to ideas. Suggestions on a postcard please.

Roland

Back to square one. Pitch tracking worked flawlessly. I just realised that it didn’t give the vocal quality that I’m after. After the first verse I switched back to manual control. 

Incidently, I see that firmware 17.1 has just been released. I’ll give it a couple of weeks before upgrading in case anything crawls out of the woodwork.

WiresDreamDisasters

Well....


I have one now.


I just went straight to 17.1 and started playing with delays.

Honeymoon Hog Heaven is what I shall call it.

Roland

There didn’t seem a lot of anguish on the Fractal forum, so I went to 17.1 over the weekend. Since then I’ve been listening to the new extra long IRs when combined with the cabinet IRs I already know. Yes, the IR rabbit hole. I still don’t think I’ll use long IRs live, but they remind me of how unnatural the algorithmic reverbs sound in isolation.

There’s so much that can be done with the new delays that I’ll leave that box closed for a while. 

Roland

Here are some of the things that delay can do (not my video)

https://youtu.be/yOkAAw6QCis

WiresDreamDisasters

I'm gonna post more at some point, but this thing is frickin' amazing.

Jonathanthomas83

In very eager to hear your thoughts on this. I had a feeling you'd like it. It's come on so much since you last had one.

Roland

I’m waiting for @WiresDreamDisasters to tell us that it’s better than Strymon.

WiresDreamDisasters

You'll have a job @Roland - I don't own any Strymon stuff anymore. Actually, tell a lie. I own the Volante, but that's it.

Heartfeltdawn

Jonathanthomas83 said:

In very eager to hear your thoughts on this. I had a feeling you'd like it. It's come on so much since you last had one.

Having bought an Ultra, ZFXII, and FM3 in the last three months, being able to hear the development of these things at first hand is pretty remarkable. 

WiresDreamDisasters

I'm posting my thoughts on the Axe III on Discord at the moment. I'll start my own thread in a few days to week rather than piggy back on this one.

octatonic

WiresDreamDisasters said:

I'm posting my thoughts on the Axe III on Discord at the moment. I'll start my own thread in a few days to week rather than piggy back on this one.

What is the Discord thing?

Jonathanthomas83

Indeed. Where the cool kids hang out, no doubt!

exocet

octatonic said:

WiresDreamDisasters said:

I'm posting my thoughts on the Axe III on Discord at the moment. I'll start my own thread in a few days to week rather than piggy back on this one.

What is the Discord thing?

I connected (is that the correct term) to Leon Todds Discord because he had posted a link to some of his Axe FX patches and IRs. It felt like another universe to me, I realised I'm too old so quietly grabbed the downloads and left, closing the door quietly behind me.

Roland

Roland said:

There didn’t seem a lot of anguish on the Fractal forum, so I went to 17.1 over the weekend... 

Seems I was wrong, and moved too early. There’s now a 17.02, with 17.03 due tomorrow. I’ll continue playing around with reverbs and long IRs whilst the dust settles.

Roland

Experimenting with long IRs has lead to me changing my use of reverb, particularly on my acoustic simulation. 

The simulation is based on an IR which matches the neck pickup of my partscaster (Oil City Californian) with a Taylor GS acoustic guitar. Both guitars were recorded through the same mic to eliminate mic EQ. 

First off the signal goes through a Studio Pre Amp. This provides volume. To save CPU I might swap this for a filter, or just increase the output volume of the Vol/Pan block for the Acoustic scene. Next is the Multi-band compressor. This is vital because it reduces the sustain of the electric guitar, making it react more like an acoustic. I’ve played with the settings over time. These are my current favourites.

To fit with the rest of the band there’s an EQ block. Every mic’d acoustic needs EQing. 

Then there’s the CAB block. Channels are one of the advantages of the AxeFX III, meaning that I don’t need a second CAB block as I did with the AxeFX II. One channels is for electric, and one for acoustic. I’m trying two IRs in each channel, one near, one far. For the acoustic channel it’s my own near field IR, with smoothing set around 40%. For the long IR I’ve chosen a 2x10 from York Audio. Its brightness complements the acoustic sound whereas 4x12s add mud. The long IR adds depth to the sound, and allows me to reduce Reverb settings, bring the guitar forward in the mix. The long IR level is set around -15dB for the simulation. Used with an electric guitar I prefer it nearer -9dB.

The Reverb which I copied across from the AxeFX II is a medium room set at 14% mix. It’s original purpose was to add depth to the sound. Here I’ve increased early reflections, and then dropped the mix to around 9%. Together with the long IR it adds depth without making the guitar too distant. It also makes Reverb sound more natural, and less like an added effect.

mrkb

Would love to hear a quick recording of the acoustic sim straight into a DAW. Alot of the Acoustic Sim presets Ive heard dont sound that good - think the way you have done it should be the best way to do it.

Roland

@mrkb I don’t think many acoustic simulations sound particularly like acoustic guitars. The first big hurdle is getting an IR which matches the magnetic pickup. The other problem is that most recorded acoustics are heavily EQd so that they fit into a space on a song. They often tinkle along like a tambourine. It’s a similar case here: the PEQ is designed for what my band needs coming out of our Mackie SRM450s. A rehearsal recording might be more useful.

Recording into Reaper would be interesting, particularly for some of the other changes I want to make.