Pinkycramps
Experienced
You know, I have been here for a little while now, not as long as some guys, but a few years now, and I am a big fan of this forum, the Axe FX, and of Fractal Audio. Huge fan actually.
Over the years, I have had many questions, gotten many answers, and I myself have tried to help others along the way too. The AXE FX really is a very cool piece of equipment. I have developed my "AXE Program", tones, presets, and use of the rig continuously. It offers so many options and so much flexibility, which has been the major appeal for me.
That said, now, I could be approaching a crossroads. I don't think I am ready to sell my AXE FX, I'm not there yet, but I definitely am having a series of issues that are causing me to have a lot of thoughts. For me, it's not so much the sound, as it is for another guy who is posting about "moving on" but I have had reliability issues with my AXE FX for a long time. Since day 1 actually. Not daily... but here and there.
The thing is, and has always been...for me... a little bit glitchy. Last night, it betrayed me at a gig- 4 times in one night, and it about ruined the show for me. In fact, It's not the first, or the second time this has happened to me. It has happened way too many times in the last 2 years for me to be ok with it. I can think of 3 gigs and about 2 dozen practices that I have had crashes or problems at. I can also think of a blown audition last summer for a tribute band where i had some problems with the MFC 101/Axe combo.
Over the years, I have had issues like the dreaded NAME TIMEOUT, or Random preset changes to the middle of nowhere (like your on preset 20, and then suddenly your on 313... whaaaaat?), or loss of audio output, and other random things that go wrong. Some of those problems kind of went away once I realized the FASLink jack is very fussy - mine only likes Neutrik connectors (in my personal experience - The jack is kind of loose, and I need a fat, tight fitting XLR connector - if I have that... I'm ok). So .. ok... got that fixed, but now more recently, I get random issues where I just lose audio out, and my rig goes silent. I have to shut down and reboot my rig. That happened to me twice in the middle of a show last night.
I can't stand "excuse me" notes, or any sound before a song launches. So I don't do "checks" to see "is this thing on?" between songs. I figure I just played a song, so the next songs should be fine too, right? We end a song, and the lights go down as the last notes fade away... the stage is going silent and lit with dim moody light, and then BAM! Lights and music blow up the silent darkness. Except when I go to smash a chord and I get nothing out of the newly selected preset. Crap. Drums and bass going along - without me - looking at me like WTF? I shut down, - big pop in the PA, reboot, another big pop wait a few really long awkward seconds, and then join the song in the middle of the first verse.
Then, on two other songs, I lost audio again when I switched scenes in the middle of the song. I go from scene 1 to scene 4... and splat. No sound. Back to scene 1, no sound. Change preset up to next preset... all is good, switch back to the original preset for the song... and it works. Hit scene 4, and it works. BUT... now the solo is over and I missed it. The audience was treated to 10 seconds of very awkward guitar silence where a cool solo was supposed to be, and I look like a dumb ass. I just can't take that kind of thing. I have reinstalled firmware, and done all of that stuff. I know better than to ever be connected to a computer when playing live. But this thing is just a computer, and computers glitch. It's just a reality of things. I'm not sure I am comfortable with that anymore. We played 40 songs last night, and on 4 of them I was left looking just stupid.
What I don't understand is, guys who are on here for years who are big time users and supporters of the AXE... I've never seen them mention things like this. I have seen plenty of other guys talk about issue like this, but you never see it with the well known guys. Guys like Mikko (Clark Kent), Yek, Chris, Scott P, Tyler Grund, Cooper, I could go on...but you know the names. These are guys we all know and respect for their AXE knowledge. My curiosity is...(and I'm asking you guys directly) does this ever happen to any of you guys?
Or are you just so vested in this gear, and protective of your Fractal credibility that you just don't speak about it here on the forum? Hey, I get that.. some of you have actual business that revolve around your expertise of this gear, so I can see why you would never go public with an issue you had. Makes total sense to me.
But I wonder if you have ever had these issues? Is this more common than we here about, or am I living with an issue that should not be happening?
(What I mean is, we all use laptops, and we all know from time to time they glitch or crash. Hopefully rarely. But, my AXE crashes from time to time. Is that normal like it is with a laptop? - because it is for me.)
I ask because I want this system to work for me long term. Right now, it's not working. I can't have these issues on stage anymore. The issues are intermittent, and somewhat rare, but not rare enough. They are nearly impossible to troubleshoot, and completely unpredictable. Could I have a bad unit? I would (should) contact support (and now I think I will) but it's hard to ask to fix an issue I can't reproduce on command. I might go 2 hours without a glitch. I might go a whole night... but every so often it happens. It's making a 100% analog rig more appealing to me again.
I also wonder ( a little) that if this has anything to do with why the big Fractal artists (J.P, Satch, Vai, on and on...) use these for effects, but still go with real amps. It's not like the tone can't be had, and it's not like they need stage volume or "amp in the room" . These guys run on IEMs, and direct would make sense. But a glitch at a Dream Theater show (or pick another band) would be unacceptable. I know Metallica and some metal bands use them without amps though.. so maybe this point is not valid.
So.... am I on an island, or has everyone had at least SOME trouble from time to time?
Over the years, I have had many questions, gotten many answers, and I myself have tried to help others along the way too. The AXE FX really is a very cool piece of equipment. I have developed my "AXE Program", tones, presets, and use of the rig continuously. It offers so many options and so much flexibility, which has been the major appeal for me.
That said, now, I could be approaching a crossroads. I don't think I am ready to sell my AXE FX, I'm not there yet, but I definitely am having a series of issues that are causing me to have a lot of thoughts. For me, it's not so much the sound, as it is for another guy who is posting about "moving on" but I have had reliability issues with my AXE FX for a long time. Since day 1 actually. Not daily... but here and there.
The thing is, and has always been...for me... a little bit glitchy. Last night, it betrayed me at a gig- 4 times in one night, and it about ruined the show for me. In fact, It's not the first, or the second time this has happened to me. It has happened way too many times in the last 2 years for me to be ok with it. I can think of 3 gigs and about 2 dozen practices that I have had crashes or problems at. I can also think of a blown audition last summer for a tribute band where i had some problems with the MFC 101/Axe combo.
Over the years, I have had issues like the dreaded NAME TIMEOUT, or Random preset changes to the middle of nowhere (like your on preset 20, and then suddenly your on 313... whaaaaat?), or loss of audio output, and other random things that go wrong. Some of those problems kind of went away once I realized the FASLink jack is very fussy - mine only likes Neutrik connectors (in my personal experience - The jack is kind of loose, and I need a fat, tight fitting XLR connector - if I have that... I'm ok). So .. ok... got that fixed, but now more recently, I get random issues where I just lose audio out, and my rig goes silent. I have to shut down and reboot my rig. That happened to me twice in the middle of a show last night.
I can't stand "excuse me" notes, or any sound before a song launches. So I don't do "checks" to see "is this thing on?" between songs. I figure I just played a song, so the next songs should be fine too, right? We end a song, and the lights go down as the last notes fade away... the stage is going silent and lit with dim moody light, and then BAM! Lights and music blow up the silent darkness. Except when I go to smash a chord and I get nothing out of the newly selected preset. Crap. Drums and bass going along - without me - looking at me like WTF? I shut down, - big pop in the PA, reboot, another big pop wait a few really long awkward seconds, and then join the song in the middle of the first verse.
Then, on two other songs, I lost audio again when I switched scenes in the middle of the song. I go from scene 1 to scene 4... and splat. No sound. Back to scene 1, no sound. Change preset up to next preset... all is good, switch back to the original preset for the song... and it works. Hit scene 4, and it works. BUT... now the solo is over and I missed it. The audience was treated to 10 seconds of very awkward guitar silence where a cool solo was supposed to be, and I look like a dumb ass. I just can't take that kind of thing. I have reinstalled firmware, and done all of that stuff. I know better than to ever be connected to a computer when playing live. But this thing is just a computer, and computers glitch. It's just a reality of things. I'm not sure I am comfortable with that anymore. We played 40 songs last night, and on 4 of them I was left looking just stupid.
What I don't understand is, guys who are on here for years who are big time users and supporters of the AXE... I've never seen them mention things like this. I have seen plenty of other guys talk about issue like this, but you never see it with the well known guys. Guys like Mikko (Clark Kent), Yek, Chris, Scott P, Tyler Grund, Cooper, I could go on...but you know the names. These are guys we all know and respect for their AXE knowledge. My curiosity is...(and I'm asking you guys directly) does this ever happen to any of you guys?
Or are you just so vested in this gear, and protective of your Fractal credibility that you just don't speak about it here on the forum? Hey, I get that.. some of you have actual business that revolve around your expertise of this gear, so I can see why you would never go public with an issue you had. Makes total sense to me.
But I wonder if you have ever had these issues? Is this more common than we here about, or am I living with an issue that should not be happening?
(What I mean is, we all use laptops, and we all know from time to time they glitch or crash. Hopefully rarely. But, my AXE crashes from time to time. Is that normal like it is with a laptop? - because it is for me.)
I ask because I want this system to work for me long term. Right now, it's not working. I can't have these issues on stage anymore. The issues are intermittent, and somewhat rare, but not rare enough. They are nearly impossible to troubleshoot, and completely unpredictable. Could I have a bad unit? I would (should) contact support (and now I think I will) but it's hard to ask to fix an issue I can't reproduce on command. I might go 2 hours without a glitch. I might go a whole night... but every so often it happens. It's making a 100% analog rig more appealing to me again.
I also wonder ( a little) that if this has anything to do with why the big Fractal artists (J.P, Satch, Vai, on and on...) use these for effects, but still go with real amps. It's not like the tone can't be had, and it's not like they need stage volume or "amp in the room" . These guys run on IEMs, and direct would make sense. But a glitch at a Dream Theater show (or pick another band) would be unacceptable. I know Metallica and some metal bands use them without amps though.. so maybe this point is not valid.
So.... am I on an island, or has everyone had at least SOME trouble from time to time?