Axe FX III - the Blog

firepaulmusic

firepaulmusic said:

susbemol said:

Maybe you could post a sound or video clip with the audio properly recorded.

.....or even post your patches on Axe Exchange for us to try?

How are you monitoring on stage as this seems to be very important?

Nerine

firepaulmusic said:

How are you monitoring on stage as this seems to be very important?

I am using a Yamaha DXR10 MkII

FarleyUK

While I was at the G4 in Vegas, we had a couple of guys from QSC demo'ing the CP8 8" FRFR speaker. It sounded bloody good, with loads of power and punch. Sounded great with the AX8.

I've asked for a discount if I buy two, as lugging my 2 Laney 112 FR cabs round is proving tiring...

Has anyone got one?

GuyBoden

If I were to get an Axe-Fx III, could I simply plug it into my stereo 1000watt power amp and speakers, or do I need to use my preamp too?

Roland

Straight in. Check the manuals of both for voltages and impedances. I’ve used mine into monitors, powered PA speakers, and amp loop returns. https://www.fractalaudio.com/axe-fx-iii-downloads/

FarleyUK

Had a mild panic at the gig last night - the top right switch on the FC12 kept engaging randomly. Managed to get through the gig by using the individual patches instead of set list mode, but was pretty concerning and frustrating.

Think I've fixed it today by tightening the nut and washer on the switch. A few others were loose too - so check those FC12 switch nuts, chaps!

GuyBoden

GuyBoden said:

If I were to get an Axe-Fx III, could I simply plug it into my stereo 1000watt power amp and speakers, or do I need to use my preamp too?

I've done some research, and I found that my laptop has more processing power than an Axe-Fx III.

So, my laptop with plugins will be ok for my needs at the moment. Not great for live work, but hey ho.

FarleyUK

Posted this on the AFX forums, but interested in thoughts / experiences here as well:

I've recently purchased a DigiTech Whammy DT, as I'm not fully happy with the capo and drop tune abilities in the AFX; plus, having played with Eric Gales recently, and played through his setup, I was GAS'ing for one 

I'm just curious about the suggested way to configure it all; we play in E standard tuning, but a few tunes will be dropped to Eb tuning, so I'll use the Whammy for it. We also play a couple of tunes where a whammy bar is needed - and playing a Les Paul, I don't have one - so I've normally been using a pitch block mapped to a spring loaded expression pedal, which works well. However, I'm wondering if it's easier to just use the Whammy for these, and if so, is MIDI or a manual approach better.

I've got out 4 L going to the Whammy DT input, and the out of the Whammy coming back to In 4 L via TRS cables. I'm using wireless, so I'd still need long cables if I were to go direct to the whammy first (although could mount it in my rack unit and use MIDI for switching).

I've also connected Midi.... but not sure if that's overcomplicating things, as every preset would need the MIDI block in it, with the PC set to turn everything off in the whammy, unless needed (to help ensure it isn't 'stuck' in a detune mode for example). I know I could also use a dedicated footswitch on the FC12 to just disable Input 4 to cancel out the whammy.

I'm curious how others have it configured.... do you have MIDI in use, or do you just engage it direct on the Whammy as needed...? Is there any major advantage to one over the other? I'd also be using it with the FM9 in the same manner.

Roland

My overriding thought is to keep things simple, primarily for ease of use when playing, and secondly for ease of maintenance. Keeping things simple for playing often means complicating the setup, but such complications can usually be kept under the bonnet. A prime example is the alternative to auto on/off which Matt Piccone developed for Devin Townsend’s Wah.

I think using Output4 and Input4 is a good solution for external boxes. I’d be switching the Whammy in and out of circuit using preset and/or scenes, and a filter or mixer block.

If I didn’t want the whammy bar effect then that would be it. If I did want to change Whammy settings then midi is the easy way to go, using a Scene Midi block. All my presets default to scene 8 where I do this type of setup for the preset. I’d activate the Scene Midi block there to send the Whammy configuration messages, and then ignore it for all other scenes so that time isn’t wasted sending redundant messages.

Roland

For the last twelve months I’ve been using one patch per song. This thread has been useful in helping me remember how long it’s been. One per song has been very successful. In the heat of battle it can be hard enough remembering the chords and picking patterns. When moving between verse/chorus/bridge etc I don’t need to think about which Amp, FX and lighting settings to change. 

I always knew that one per song would eventually lead me into mass updates. Right click whilst holding down the shift key works for individual parameters. However, with the arrival of Dyna Cab I now want to update whole blocks. Rather than copy and paste a block I’ve made the key blocks Global. Update the Global block once and it propagates. Unfortunately modifier settings don’t, and I’ve had to change those manually.

Jonathanthomas83

EDIT: Sorry Roland, mate, I posted in the wrong thread, apologies. Amended.