How I do FRFR, Dolby 5.1, and Live AMP simultaneously or individually
I have to go back and re-read the thread as I think there are a few gold nuggets in there for me.
I have to admit I was confused as to what I wanted in terms of speakers for strictly playback. I kept on reading FRFR is great for ensuring your recording mix is balanced. I kept thinking, well that great, accept I want to optimize the guitar playback for my ears when I'm just noodling around practicing or learning new songs. So I thought, I'll try various playback options and see what I like.
After messing around for a day or two, I came up with 3 distinct playback options. I can now simultaneously or individual output playback from my AXE FX II to all 3 options. To hear them all "live" at the same time, I mix the volumes to my liking and place the speakers in places appropriate for my hears while playing guitar "live." To hear each individually, I switch them in and out manually one at a time. This has allowed me to obtain playback sounds with all possible combinations of those three.
1.) The 5.1 Dolby - is coming out of a Realtek HD Audio Controller in my motherboard -- we get some really cool spatial effects on some of the presets here through 5 speakers and SW. It converts to simulated 5.1 even though signal isn't actually 5.1, which still makes for a wide sound.
2.) The M-audio FRFR - is coming out of an M-audio Delta 1010LT balanced in/outs -- this gets a decent FRFR for a small studio situation and is used for the recording playback
3.) The "Amp on Stage" 4x12 Recto Cab - is actually being fed from the AXE FX II through a Lexicon MPX G2 preamp,which powers a Mesa 50/50 + 4x12 Mesa recto Cab. The Lexicon is in "bypass" mode on the UNITY GAIN preset - I simply use the main outs of it to power Mesa 50/50. Doing this allows me to play all original presets w/global parameters unchanged. This seems to negate the need to mess with the preset as stated in the manual(reference page 22 section "3.4.7 Direct to FOH plus Real Amps on stage"). I do plan to try that option, but the manual is talking about how one does that with an amp head but I'm trying to do it with a rack preamp/amp situation....its different enough that I have to much with cabling and the preset options described in the afremention manual section. I'll report back if I figure it out and it actually sounds better....I can't image it does though because it actually sounds a little better than my Triaxis and JMP-1 when going directly into me Mesa 50/50 + recto CAB.
All that said, the jury is still out for me as to which one of the 3 options, individually , sounds better as they all sound very similar/great, but each has its own distinct voicing naturally. However, mixed together properly live they actually sound quite amazing in my studio room. That's what I use for playback at the moment -- not for trying to determine best mix for recording -- the M-audio's are the best thing I own for that!
Any suggestions on the 3rd option for the live sound are welcome as I still have some more R&D there.