Axe-Fx Clean's & Sfx

[Stephen Brown]

One thing I have found with solid state gear is that sometimes the cleans suffer. Say like the tone sounds dead, flat or isn't loud enough. Now this unit has been kicking around for a while & to be honest I'm not really getting the reason why it's taking off. I get it now. Never seen a unit do this before.

Here.

O.k. Maybe I have seen synth filters with delay.

Mr Axe-Fx is impressing everyone. One min I see a company representative & the next it's gone global. 3/4 years.



Fractal Audio Official

+ Over the months I've been watching the magazine add & seeing the face list grow....& grow... Then there was this amazing demo which sounds so lush & warm. Dweezil has done some extensive program work to. Dave Weiner has checked one out also. This list goes on.....

500Mhz dual core cpu. Pray they put an i7 in it.

[lydian2000]

add devin Townsend to the list! it's one of the very few pieces of gear that actually make me sigh and wish I had the budget!

Devin's

[teokiatuan]

it's one of the very few pieces of gear that actually make me sigh and wish I had the budget!

Totally.

[j.arledge]

yep fractal audio is catching on . Everyone is using one these days John petrucci, tosin Abasi, jeff Loomis, and many more. The list is growing.

Tosin Abasi said he sold all his other gear and now only uses the fractal because he said it can do everything and more than his old gear could . He said he can play live and run through the PA and get an exact replication of his tone in the studio. I would by one and do the exact same thing he is doing if i was giging. Let the PA do the work, it produces a much higher fidelity sound and at any volume .

[Patill]

It´s not a bad unit from what you hear. Does anyone know how much this thing costs? I can´t find a price anywhere, is it a new unit that just hit the market?

Because if you guys don´t know, an Eventide can do all that, too. And a lot more actually.

[Hub]

http://store.fractalaudio.com/axulefpr.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

$1999

[Patill]

oh, they have a store themselves^^. I didn´t know about that, but usually they don´t list prices, so I didn´t even look.


Actually the price is just about the same as an Eventide Eclipse, so are there any "specials" that no other effect has? I don´t get the point right now why they make an effect that can do about the same as an Eventide, maybe even a litlte less. Anyone has some experiences yet?


I´m gonna search for some stuff about that unit, maybe I´ll find something. Still looks very nice.


Edit: I´ve been looking around for some stuff, and it seems (it only seems) that you maybe can create your own effects like with an Eventide DSP4000 up to an H8000FW. This means you start at zero with creating your effects, so you create a Delay playing a signal back delayed, for feedback you have to rout the signal back to the input and decreasing the level of it (which would be your "feedback" knob later in the unit. So you can propably program every effect with the certain knowledge of how it even works in its whole content on your PC and loading it to the unit. This would be a huge plus for that price, but as I said, I only read that on the wiki site of this instrument and I saw the schematics like you see them in an Eventide if you create your own effects. I didn´t see anything that said you can do that yourself. The product site doesn´t say anything about it.

[Patill]

ok, I´ve even watched some more videos about it. So you can NOT create your own effects with it. I think this unit is created more to be a preamp with some very nice effects than to be an effects unit that can take you out far into space. So I think an eventide would give you even more effects wise. So if you have a tube amp and don´t need anything else soundwise, I´d not buy the Axe-Fx.

But, with this unit effects seem to be programmable a little bit easier. With an Eventide eclipse you can put two effects in a row, with this unit you can put some more in a row and have a nice overview and delete them if you don´t want them anymore. BUT, an Eventide Eclipse doesn´t only carry one effect in each preset, but you´ll find presets like with a Delay, a Pitch shifter, a Phaser and Reverb. So you can put that and anoother preset into the signal chain (which will also contain multiple effects) and you may have everything you´ll ever need . With the Axe-FX you can customize it a little more because you can add and remove all these effects from a preset, with the Eventide you just have to turn them off (Mix 0%).

So I think if you want an effects unit, get the Eventide, if you want a preamp with it and not that crystal clear charming effects, get the Axe-Fx .

[lydian2000]

Correct me if I'm wrong because I can't afford any of these, but as fantastic as the H8000FW is, it doesn't have cab/amp/miking environment simulation, does it?

In other words the success of the axe-fx ultra would come from the fact that it's an all-in-one unit with rather extremely high standards, hence making my prediction of the end of the overpriced tube amps era come true(convenience/space/price), especially in a live context where everything ends up in a PA system anyway?

To have such respected artists raving about recreating their favourite tones says it all in my opinion, I don't think someone like Devin(Mesa endorsee) who describes himself as a nerd would even consider trying one of these if the distortion sounded anything "digital".

In those days of Volcano dust, oil spills, political and economical uncertainties I do think technology will enable many more people to express themselves better!

[Patill]

Correct me if I'm wrong because I can't afford any of these, but as fantastic as the H8000FW is, it doesn't have cab/amp/miking environment simulation, does it?

The H8000 is no modelling unit, neither is any Eventide. It´s an effects processor with capabilities and possibilities you can only dream of if you don´t have one. It does have guitar sounds in it that work fine with an amp, and you definately can create your own mic/speaker/cab simulator, since it can do everything. If they are already in there, i don´t know, because I´m not interested in anything that concerns speaker simulators. I´d rther have a speaker .


Apart from that, just because everything ends up in a PA does not mean you should plug your guitar directly into it with a Preamp. Usually playing a tube amp and miking it is the real deal if it comes to guitar - Amp - player interaction. Most people do so, even if it would be a lot easier just bringing let´s say a POD and a guitar to a 50.000 people gig. So remember, it´s just a "simulation" of the real thing.

[lydian2000]

Exactly, a simulation so good that the above mentioned tone freaks are rethinking their entire rack systems.

If I had the choice between an high-range all tube amp + the eventide or the axe-fx I would still favour the axe-fx just for the practicality, that doesn't say it's of course better in any way.

[Ugur Dariveren]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNOti4BDRA4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[lydian2000]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sob1u0Gb ... re=related" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Patill]

I think this is a good unit for that price! Question that stays is, how is the I/O quality.

[lydian2000]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMdXdG2NlE8&feature=fvw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;