About the Axe-Fx II XL

nicolasrivera said:
Cliff, what kind of chip could do this?
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The kind that's already in it: the TigerSharc. And a new motherboard that has a place for two more of them. And new software to tie it all together. And possibly some additional off-chip memory. :)
 
JazzMac251 said:
Yeah, I've heard that before, but I find it real, real hard to believe that Strymon and Line 6 and Eventide are all doubling the amount of processing power just for spillover. And it's extremely hard to believe that solution is the only way to solve the problem. It's just not being prioritized.
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See I wasn't lying...:)

FractalAudio said:
Real spillover requires exactly twice the horsepower to do properly. The basic technique is you are always running two presets, the current and previous. When you switch presets the current becomes the previous and the new becomes the current using a ping-pong approach. The previous preset runs across program changes and has it's input muted at the point of program change.

If a processor is only doing one or two things then this is simple if you have the horsepower. Otherwise it's a nightmare. A delay pedal or reverb pedal has the luxury of only doing one thing so it can run two instances and ping-pong between them.

I doubt anyone would be willing to pay for an Axe-Fx with four TigerSHARCs in it. You'd be looking at $4-5K. Pros that insist on true spillover simply use two units. When they switch to the new preset the input to the one unit is muted and the other unmuted. You can orchestrate all this with MIDI CCs.

The bottom line is that it costs money and to implement properly is not economically viable. For those who can afford it using two units is the simple solution. For those who can't an outboard reverb or delay may be adequate.

Scenes were developed to address this but obviously scenes are limited in their capabilities. For most users scenes and/or the current spillover paradigm is sufficient. If those do not meet your demands then you'll have to look at other solutions. Engineering is all about choices and compromise and we feel we've made the best choices and compromises in regard to cost and performance.
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FractalAudio said:
...I doubt anyone would be willing to pay for an Axe-Fx with four TigerSHARCs in it. You'd be looking at $4-5K...
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I'd be willing to pay for an Axe-Fx with 3. 1 dedicated for Amp blocks, 1 dedicated for effects, and a third dedicated for UltraRes Cab blocks/IRs.
 
Cliff,

If you had an extra processor for true spillover, like a G-Force for example, how would you connect it to the axe fx? Just currious.
 
I really don't get what the problem here is. I've been using delay spillover in all my live patches since the Ultra. I just dedicate one delay block for my tap tempo delay and place it in the proper grid position in all presets.

FractalAudio said:
Engineering is all about choices and compromise and we feel we've made the best choices and compromises in regard to cost and performance.
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Your choices seem to lean towards giving maximum flexibility to the users. Some of us really do appreciate that!
 
RichHowe said:
I'd be willing to pay for an Axe-Fx with 3. 1 dedicated for Amp blocks, 1 dedicated for effects, and a third dedicated for UltraRes Cab blocks/IRs.
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Why dedicate one to UltraRes if the current one can do it already?
I'd buy it if the 3rd one would do true spillover and stuff.
What the heck, I'd buy it anyway ... ;-) (although I'll be skipping the XL).
 
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Come to think about it - why can't the looper be used for true spillover? If a certain amount of looper capacity is used to continually record what's played (let's say in multiples of tap tempo amounts) and played back when switching scenes? Maybe this gives better results and could be done with far less investment? Could be the looper can't be used for anything else then so the user is to decide if they want spillover or looper functionality. Just a thought without knowing if this is feasible or complete nonsense.
 
yek said:
Why dedicate one to UltraRes if the current one can do it already?
I'd buy it if the 3rd one would do true spillover and stuff.
What the heck, I'd buy it anyway ... ;-) (although I'll be skipping the XL).
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I was really referring to Cab blocks in general which are getting more and more attention for fine tuning the overall sound. I wasn't trying to imply that the current Axe-Fx can't handle UltraRes but I also doubt Cliff will be stopping there so it would leave room for any additional Cab block epiphanies Cliff may have. But, the real reason is that I would love to use 2 high/ultra res blocks in my presets but I'm out of CPU now. Since those high/ultra res Cab blocks currently share a processor with the other effects and they seem to be taking up most of the CPU (much like the Amp blocks used to) I thought if he dedicated another processor to the Cab blocks it would free up more CPU so I could add additional Cab blocks and effects to my presets. :)
 
Chris@KatsuKuriMedia said:
i bet there is a market for a $4k axe. put spillover and 3 separate loopers in it and i'll sell a ton of stuff to get it :)
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LOL, that would be cool. Of course it will also allow 3 MFCs to be chained, so that you can have a switch for every block and modifier! That will add another $2k+, and then 12 pedals, that's another $1k+. Damn, this is getting expensive. I can make the cables and save a little there, but they are out of stock on everything!

I'm going back to just an amp and a guitar. Or maybe the XL. :)
 
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Rex said:
That's kind of how it works, though. Digitech sold add-on kits for some of their products that allowed delay and reverb spillover. The kit consisted of a set of instructions and a second processor. One way or another, you have to reserve space for the effect you're spilling over, robbing the next preset of memory and CPU horsepower.
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I remember this and put one in my GSP 2101 back in 1995-6. You had options to use the extra DSP for more effects or for same number of effects plus spillover, but not both.

Edit: I see Cliff addressed this issue.

I'll add that the Digitech co-processor ONLY gave you effects spillover, no additional amps, drives, cabs etc. Clearly the architecture of the Axe is different and provides much more flexibility.
 
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Rex said:
That's kind of how it works, though. Digitech sold add-on kits for some of their products that allowed delay and reverb spillover. The kit consisted of a set of instructions and a second processor. One way or another, you have to reserve space for the effect you're spilling over, robbing the next preset of memory and CPU horsepower.
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Am not sure but if I remember well the Digitech 2101 had spillover for single algorythms only (using only memory for one CPU) in it's double CPU version (with PPC 210 card). Seems effectively right they used a proc for that. But as other brands seem to manage this with one CPU, there might be an easier (but hardware) solution using a more simple chip for the spillover functions ? But those brands do not come close to Axe Fx soundquality.... Maybe in III, but for the time being I'm looking forward to hear the first XL features and soundclips.

Edit : Read the admin answer indicating use of 2 Axe FX playing with the input mute and over midi. That's it, over and out,and no use of a 4k investment or another hardware design.
 
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That spillover thing is the only thing I wish my AxeFxII was capable of. Unless I'm missing how/where to do it, it changes pretty fast...but whew, that Digitech had that part down. Is there any sort of add-on that would give us that capability Cliff?

lauke-lux: I'm curious, you mentioned "other brands" doing this, can you tell me which ones? I've never seen anything other than the 2101 with dual s-discs go gapless program changes with spillover. I still use one and have been using it since it came out. Nothing get's it down like that that I've tried. Rocktron has a few things that are close, but that 2101 is so gapless and tight, it's crazy. I can go from a synth patch into a dirty patch and that synth will decay for 5 seconds before it's gone while the patch change is just incredible. I really hope there might be an add-on for us that can do this. Scenes work well and change super fast...but I really rely on my spillover and am spoiled by the 2101.
 
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