Whether to get Axe Fx II XL for recording

You don't need a rack caae. Especially if your just going to keep it at home. While it is nice to protect the unit when traveling I know quite a few guys who travel with theirs un-racked so they can toss it in a carryon.

The power conditioner has been discussed a lot around here. I think it's more a personal choice rather than a necessity. I have never used one in over 8 years and had no issues but of course it cannot hurt to be safer than sorry. It's a personal choice.
 
Awesome! Ordering now.

By the way, is an expression pedal essential? Wondering whether to order one now or just wait and see if I need one. I don't normally use a lot of wah or whammy effects.
 
Never mind, I've gone ahead and ordered without the expression pedal. I couldn't wait anymore! :mrgreen

Can't wait to get my hands on this thing!
 
So, I received my Axe FX 2 XL a couple of days ago..

I've come to the conclusion that this is the greatest thing ever invented for the guitar. I can't get over how good it is. Just with the factory presets I'm getting tones that I could have only dreamed of with other gear. I have to drag myself away from the Axe just to eat... I end up sitting for hours on end, my fingers red raw from hours of playing but unable to stop. Probably the most addictive thing I've ever come into contact with. I'd go as far as saying it's renewed my passion for the guitar. I feel the same kind of enthusiasm I felt when picking up the guitar for the first time.

I also haven't understood all of the recent discussion about CPU limits etc - some of the weirdest and most unique sounds I've heard on this device (to the point that it doesn't even sound like guitar anymore) only use up about 65% CPU at most. The possibilities are amazing. Possibly the greatest thing I've ever bought.

Thanks for the good advice all!
 
Nyeah Nyeah told ya so :) Now you just have to get over the regret of taking so long to do it ha!
Welcome - and good on you.
Pauly


asdfasd said:
So, I received my Axe FX 2 XL a couple of days ago..

I've come to the conclusion that this is the greatest thing ever invented for the guitar. I can't get over how good it is. Just with the factory presets I'm getting tones that I could have only dreamed of with other gear. I have to drag myself away from the Axe just to eat... I end up sitting for hours on end, my fingers red raw from hours of playing but unable to stop. Probably the most addictive thing I've ever come into contact with. I'd go as far as saying it's renewed my passion for the guitar. I feel the same kind of enthusiasm I felt when picking up the guitar for the first time.

I also haven't understood all of the recent discussion about CPU limits etc - some of the weirdest and most unique sounds I've heard on this device (to the point that it doesn't even sound like guitar anymore) only use up about 65% CPU at most. The possibilities are amazing. Possibly the greatest thing I've ever bought.

Thanks for the good advice all!
Click to expand...
 
asdfasd said:
So, I received my Axe FX 2 XL a couple of days ago..

I've come to the conclusion that this is the greatest thing ever invented for the guitar. I can't get over how good it is. Just with the factory presets I'm getting tones that I could have only dreamed of with other gear. I have to drag myself away from the Axe just to eat... I end up sitting for hours on end, my fingers red raw from hours of playing but unable to stop. Probably the most addictive thing I've ever come into contact with. I'd go as far as saying it's renewed my passion for the guitar. I feel the same kind of enthusiasm I felt when picking up the guitar for the first time.

I also haven't understood all of the recent discussion about CPU limits etc - some of the weirdest and most unique sounds I've heard on this device (to the point that it doesn't even sound like guitar anymore) only use up about 65% CPU at most. The possibilities are amazing. Possibly the greatest thing I've ever bought.

Thanks for the good advice all!
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give time, you'' push that CPU :). Greatest guitar tool ever for recording IMO.
 
Have still been playing with the Axe relentlessly, and just tried recording some tones via USB (I'm using the Axe as an interface). For some reason when I play back the recording I've made it doesn't sound as great as when I'm playing it live. It just loses something.. not exactly sure how to describe it. Is this possible? I'm recording into Reaper (set up at 48k). At first I was recording a mono track (which I've heard can make things sound worse) but have since tried recording a stereo track. When I'm playing the guitar I'm blown away with how amazing it sounds, but when I play back what I've just recorded it goes from blowing me away to just sounding good. The tone seems to lose some sparkle or something. Is this possible? Or is this all in my imagination?
 
Might be your imagination. It should be identical when using USB, and virtually identical using analog out, provided there is no level change or EQ in the playback path. Have you tried the re-amping option, where you record the direct signal (USB channel 3,4), and use it for playback (again using USB back to the AFX)? How are you monitoring when you play, and while you listen - the same way? Try using headphones to eliminate the effect of hearing your pick and strings coming from the guitar itself.
 
Good idea about the headphones. While monitoring and during playback I'm using my Edirol MA15D monitors. There's no EQ in the playback path, but my monitoring volume always seems much louder than my playback volume. Is there anyway of making the levels identical? This would also be handy to know for tracking - at the moment I have to boost all of the levels in my DAW to the point of clipping just to hear the other instruments. Turning down any of the volume controls in the Axe results in a tiny waveform. I'm sure I'm missing something.
 
axe fx is THE device when it comes to recording guitar and bass .. you can record at low volumes and/or reamp later if you didn't like the tone :D
 
After getting my monitoring level even with my playback volume, I can no longer hear any difference in the sound. Thanks for the advice.

The only issue now is that during recording and mixing I get an occasional delay in the playback, almost as if the computer or Axe Fx is getting overloaded and can't keep up. It means the metronome goes out of time for a brief moment. Pretty off-putting, especially when tracking. The only time I've experienced something similar is when I was recording with a crap computer that didn't have enough power to process multiple tracks at once. I've checked my CPU usage on my PC and the delays seem to coincide with a brief spike in CPU usage (only up to about 16% or so). Usually while recording or playing back the CPU usage is well under 10%. Any idea what could be happening here? The problem appears to get worse with the more tracks I'm using.
 
I've never experienced brief delays, and that does sound like something is being pushed over the limit or malfunctioning, but the more plugins and tracks i have going, the more overall delay (latency) i get (Sonar X3 Win7 QC i7 2.8GHz. 12GB RAM). To overcome this i do a mixdown of the tracks and plugs in my song project, and import the mixdown into a fresh project, so there is only the one track with no plugs in the project i am recording into. Then once the new track(s) is recorded, i import it back into the song project.

Now that i have an audio interface with built in zero latency mixer, i mute the track i'm recording on, and monitor my performance through the zero latency mixer, so latency in the project no longer matters.

Maybe someone else can explain the 'brief' delays you are getting.
 
I'd start with computer software such as S-gear or Revalver 4 (talking about $100 to $200) and see how you like the process. Then move up to AxeFX if you're digging it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
asdfasd said:
Cheers guys. By half decent monitors, what level are we talking? I was thinking of saving up for the Mackie Hr824 MKIIs, as I've heard that Mackie make the flattest 'affordable' speakers out there. The Hr824s also have a pretty extended bass range meaning I wouldn't need a sub woofer, and would have no problem playing bass through them. What monitors are you guys using?
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Check out the JBL LSR305 monitors - they are not only a great bang for the buck, they're on par with many monitors costing 5x as much. The HR824's are just so-so in comparison, while costing a bit more. (I've done direct comparisons and I always go back to the JBL's).
 
I remember selling my Triaxis based rack wondering if the Ultra would be worth it. Soooo glad I did! With the XL I cannot imagine my recording or playing life being any easier. It truly is more and better than I could ask for. #grateful
 
BillyZeppa said:
I've never experienced brief delays, and that does sound like something is being pushed over the limit or malfunctioning, but the more plugins and tracks i have going, the more overall delay (latency) i get (Sonar X3 Win7 QC i7 2.8GHz. 12GB RAM). To overcome this i do a mixdown of the tracks and plugs in my song project, and import the mixdown into a fresh project, so there is only the one track with no plugs in the project i am recording into. Then once the new track(s) is recorded, i import it back into the song project.

Now that i have an audio interface with built in zero latency mixer, i mute the track i'm recording on, and monitor my performance through the zero latency mixer, so latency in the project no longer matters.

Maybe someone else can explain the 'brief' delays you are getting.
Click to expand...

Is it possible that I need to increase my buffer size? I've been monitoring my CPU usage in Reaper and it's incredibly low - usually below 1%. Those spikes in CPU I was talking about earlier actually seem to have been from opening the task manager (what a noob). I seem to have tried everything - I've switched the Axe Fx to a blank patch, have pressed bypass on the unit during playback, have shut down anti-virus and other background processes on my computer, and have even followed some audio-optimization suggestions from here - Optimising your PC for audio on Windows 7 | Focusrite

My buffer size is currently set to the default, 2048 samples. Has anyone had experience with increasing buffer size with the Axe? Would love to get this sorted.

Cheers.
 
Plugged in my UA-25 sound card to see if the problem is purely to do with my computer - the UA-25 worked fine and I couldn't get it to miss a beat. Earlier I played along to a backing track in Reaper using the Axe FX as the interface and it was bordering on unusable. At least once every 30 seconds the playback audio would skip or lag. Increasing the buffer size seemed to make the problems less frequent, but I still had issues. Not sure what to do at this point. The playback issues make it impossible to record anything in time.
 
Had a bit of a noob question and didn't' think it was worth starting a new thread, so I'll ask here:

When plugging into the Axe Fx, I usually have the guitar cable already plugged into the front input but not plugged into the guitar yet. Usually the Axe Fx is already on, so I plug the cable into the guitar, causing the input to clip and sending a pretty horrible noise through the Axe Fx (when the unit is bypassed there isn't much noise). My understanding is that this kind of thing could be bad for your speakers, as it can cause a popping noise which could damage the speakers at higher volumes, so naturally if plugging in this way I turn off the speakers first. My question is whether plugging in this way could also be damaging to the Axe Fx itself. Just paranoid that I'm doing damage to the unit..
 
asdfasd said:
Had a bit of a noob question and didn't' think it was worth starting a new thread, so I'll ask here:

When plugging into the Axe Fx, I usually have the guitar cable already plugged into the front input but not plugged into the guitar yet. Usually the Axe Fx is already on, so I plug the cable into the guitar, causing the input to clip and sending a pretty horrible noise through the Axe Fx (when the unit is bypassed there isn't much noise). My understanding is that this kind of thing could be bad for your speakers, as it can cause a popping noise which could damage the speakers at higher volumes, so naturally if plugging in this way I turn off the speakers first. My question is whether plugging in this way could also be damaging to the Axe Fx itself. Just paranoid that I'm doing damage to the unit..
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Nope!
 
Like kevinerror said: "Nope!"

But why not turn down the Axe's output knob instead of turning off your speakers? Way more convenient.
 
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