Lemur - on the fence

jamn4jc

jamn4jc

Experienced
I am really on the fence about getting Lemur and Axe template. What is the learning curve? Is it fairly intuitive? I am an IT guy, so am comfortable with UI. I have gotten pretty good with the front panel and am patiently waiting for AE 3.0. Does Lemur lose its value/appeal once AE 3.0 is released (I have confidence that FAS will get it right this time)?

However, there are two challenges that I face that maybe Axe Lemur could solve. 1) if I don't use a preset for a few weeks, I often forget how it is configured (what XP1 does, how to boost, what scenes do what, etc...) and 2) when trying to edit a multi-scene preset quickly (usually when I need to tweak levels during rehearsal), I have to wonder if having a visual editor may help me to quickly look at a preset and be able to see the both the big picture and fine details.

I play worship nearly every week, have limited free time, and it's always a race to get presets for the upcoming week created and tweaked. I am slowly building a library of songs, so it's getting better. Anything that could help and not hinder the process would be worth the money.

I have an original iPad. Any issues with that?
 
Don't know how it works on Ipad 1. Learning curve is minimal. It's gotten much better over time and the sometimes flaky connection issues are mostly nonexistent now. For someone with a time crunch, there's really no faster way to see and edit your patches.
 
It works great for me. Even when AE is released I would still use the Lemur app. Let me explain.

I am very adept at using the front panel and encourage everyone to lean to use it regardless of convenience or not. I go back to when Lars created the first editor and I found it very helpful in learning the Ultra. I too found it convenient and skipped learning a lot of the front panel functionality. Then one day I had taken the Ultra over to a friend’s house and there were like 10 guys all clamoring to check it out. I showed them the basics and a few really experienced guys started asking how do you do this and how do you do that. I was so embarrassed that I didn't know how to do some functions because I had relied on the editor. I had a brain fart and it took me several minutes to create a friggen shunt between two blocks. I vowed then to learn the FP thoroughly and am so very glad I did. And that has nothing to do with AE's issues. It is inconceivable to me that anyone playing gigs would not know it thoroughly just for backup purposes minimally if you are using AE primarily.

With that said I was interested day one when David introduced his Lemur app. His development of it has been extraordinary and he's just a good guy to boot. I bought a GigEasy
(Complete Mounting Solutions for iPad - TheGigEasy) mount for it and have never looked back. I play sitting in a chair due to a disability and have my MFC on a stand next to me. Now with the Lemur app I have full functionality of the Axe at my fingertips while playing. I will definitely use AE while desktop editing but when playing it is too cumbersome to have at arm’s length and to use a mouse or the laptop touchpad. And I don't even gig! I am a bedroom guy that occasionally hooks up with friends at their place. I set my Axe II on a stand in the corner with the laptop on it and never touch them again unless I want to save something. I have the MFC on the stand and the iPad attached to a mic stand wherever my "spot" is.

It is so convenient to pull up for instance the amp block and have all the parameters right there at your fingertips on one page! I actually use the Lemur app to change the presets. I only use my MFC to quickly turn effects on/off. If I want to mod any effect then I use the Lemur app. The best of both worlds! I can't use pedals. No problem. I’ve got fingertip external controls on the Lemur. When I mod a patch while I am experimenting and want to keep it I just cruise over to the axe and hit store and save it to a blank location on bank B.

I cannot speak to iPad 1 issues since I have the new iPad Retina but I wholeheartedly endorse David’s Lemur app and encourage everyone to try it out. Being an IT guy you can actually make your own personal changes to it with the editor if you feel so inclined but also understanding it would interfere with his remarkable update path. Its 50 bucks well spent and that is just because you have to purchase the Lemur Daemon and Editor from Liine. If you decide to use it I also encourage you to send a donation to David as we all know how many hours these projects take.

You won’t be disappointed if you jump off that fence IMHO! :)
 
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Thanks, guys. The information is much appreciated. I will most likely take the plunge. I will definitely send a donation. That's another reason to get the template -- to support those that make this community awesome.
 
I didn't know the Lemur ap existed until I read the OP a couple of hours ago, as I'm also new to the AXE.

I was up and running with it in an hour. Almost zero learning curve.

I'm donating now.
 
jamn4jc said:
I am really on the fence about getting Lemur and Axe template. What is the learning curve? Is it fairly intuitive? I am an IT guy, so am comfortable with UI. I have gotten pretty good with the front panel and am patiently waiting for AE 3.0. Does Lemur lose its value/appeal once AE 3.0 is released (I have confidence that FAS will get it right this time)?
Click to expand...
I'd like to be able to use both Lemur and Axe Edit once AE 3.0 is released. I expect I'll be using AE for preset and bank management, and for AxeChange. I'm eager to see how AE 3.0 works, and eager to find ways to make the template and AE work together.

However, there are two challenges that I face that maybe Axe Lemur could solve. 1) if I don't use a preset for a few weeks, I often forget how it is configured (what XP1 does, how to boost, what scenes do what, etc...) and 2) when trying to edit a multi-scene preset quickly (usually when I need to tweak levels during rehearsal), I have to wonder if having a visual editor may help me to quickly look at a preset and be able to see the both the big picture and fine details.
Click to expand...
I still use the front panel to get an overview of which blocks contain modifiers (CONTROL -> MODS). Then when I go back to the template, it's easy to see which parameters are modified just by looking for red-colored text on the iPad screen.

Scenes can be changed from the Preset page and also from the Layout page. Volume INC/DEC buttons are on another page that also contains the 12 faders to control EXT1 thru EXT12.
I play worship nearly every week, have limited free time, and it's always a race to get presets for the upcoming week created and tweaked. I am slowly building a library of songs, so it's getting better. Anything that could help and not hinder the process would be worth the money.

I have an original iPad. Any issues with that?
Click to expand...
It should run fine on the iPad1. I expect the Lemur frame rate will be slower on the first gen iPads. The Lemur IOS app examines every object in the template once per frame to look for user input, run the scripts that need running, and update controls that need updating. Lemur's frame rate is supposed to be 30 frames a second, but is much slower when Axe for Lemur is running. As far as I know that is not a problem even for ipad1 users. The worst that might happens is it takes a little longer for the template to sync with the AxeII.
 
Thank you Scrutinizer for such a first class application. You should change your donation link to allow contributions of more than $20.00. It's worth more.

After my first afternoon using it, I'm confused regarding two issues:

1. When I change amps in an existing amp block, it seems the parameters I assigned to the previous amp in the block remain with the replacement amp, rather than the default parameters for the replacement amp.

2. I can't adjust the output level by scene?
 
jhbpa said:
Thank you Scrutinizer for such a first class application. You should change your donation link to allow contributions of more than $20.00. It's worth more.

After my first afternoon using it, I'm confused regarding two issues:

1. When I change amps in an existing amp block, it seems the parameters I assigned to the previous amp in the block remain with the replacement amp, rather than the default parameters for the replacement amp.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the kind words! And thanks so much to everyone who has donated. I'll try again to change the paypal link to accept other donation amounts, last time I tried it seemed like that option was only for charitable causes.

Regarding the amp type parameters: After changing amp type the template polls the amp parameters to resync with the AxeFX hardware. The template does not know which parameters might be changed when you change amp type using a sysex command, so it needs to query at least the ones that are showing the ipad screen.

I have noticed that the following groups of AMP block advanced controls revert to default values when changing amp type:
Master, Depth
Boost, Bright, Fat, Sat
Tonestack Type, Tube Type, Grid Modeling ON/OFF, MV Location, TS Location
All controls in the DYNAMICS group
All controls in the PREAMP group
All controls in the PWR/XFMR group, except Pweramp Hicut and Pwramp locut
All controls in the SPKR group
All controls in the SUPPLY/BIAS group except Trem Freq
All controls in the EQ group

Only a few controls are left alone, including these:
Input Drive
Bass, Mid, Treble, Presence
Level
Voicing

2. I can't adjust the output level by scene?
Click to expand...
I'll look at that. I use scenes to turn groups of effect blocks on and off, but have not adjusted scene output levels separately.
 
jamn4jc said:
I am really on the fence about getting Lemur and Axe template. What is the learning curve? Is it fairly intuitive?
Click to expand...
Very short, very intuitive

jamn4jc said:
I have to wonder if having a visual editor may help me to quickly look at a preset and be able to see the both the big picture and fine details.
Click to expand...
Yes - you can see more parameters in each screen than axe-edit, and you can see details as fast as your finger can press a button...which is faster than using a mouse.

jamn4jc said:
Anything that could help and not hinder the process would be worth the money.
Click to expand...
Lemur is as fast as it gets for viewing and editing presets and scenes.

There's a lucky handful on this forum with iPads who've actually tried it, and everyone who does is instantly hooked. Its the fastest most intuitive way to edit presets. With the addition of the layout page, it's also working well for building presets from scratch.


After you're up and running with it, post and let us know what you think. We'll try to answer any additional questions.
 
Thanks for the input everyone. Looking forward to trying this out. As suggested, I will definitely provide some feedback.
 
jhbpa said:
2. I can't adjust the output level by scene?
Click to expand...
That's a bug, and is fixed in the next version.

I've also added controls on the Layout and Preset pages to make 1dB adjustments in scene output level. These use sysex rather than CC messages to avoid overwriting the preset in AxeII memory.

If I want the preset-auto-save to occur when adjusting scene volume, I can use the buttons on the ExtControl tab in the template.
 
Scrutinizer said:
That's a bug, and is fixed in the next version.

I've also added controls on the Layout and Preset pages to make 1dB adjustments in scene output level. These use sysex rather than CC messages to avoid overwriting the preset in AxeII memory.

If I want the preset-auto-save to occur when adjusting scene volume, I can use the buttons on the ExtControl tab in the template.
Click to expand...

Awesome! 3.04? Or beyond.....

Axe for Lemur is indespensibe for anyone who owns an AXE and an iPad.
 
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