New owner and lovin it!!

Dr Buds

Inspired
Hi all,

Thought I'd post a bit of an intro here as there hasn't been much action on the "Intro" thread for some time (I guess you could consider this a review of sorts anyway).

Been lurking around here for a while and got my Axe II about 2 weeks ago. I came across the Axe randomly whilst watching some you tube vids about a month ago. Of course I was instantly hooked and had to have one!! Within a few weeks I'd sold all my gear and ordered my new BEAST. What can I say? - simply astounding!!! To the point where I actually thought "have I bit off more than I can chew here!!?" So many options, combinations, parameters to tweak (of things I'm yet to fully understand) that I was a bit concerned I would just get lost in it all. But thanks to the wealth of knowledge and information contained on this forum I'm starting to get to grips with the basics and experimenting with different presets and making my own patches. I didn't bother staying on the current firmware (10.12) Everyone raved so much about 11 beta I thought I may as well dive right in and get the best out of it. I'm having a ball!! The only problem now of course is that like most of you, I'm kind of obsessed with it. I'm itching everyday to get home from work so I can plug in!! I also fall into that trap where I set out to try and achieve a certain goal, but get stuck on various presets, noodling around incessantly without actually achieving anything! Well, that's not entirely true - I do have a hell of a lot of fun doing it!

Anyway, I just want to say thank you to Cliff & Fractal for their superb efforts and I can't wait to see what else they come up with. Thanks to all of the contributors on this forum too. Without you guys sharing your knowledge I would've felt a little overwhelmed I think. Hopefully I can start getting some projects completed and uploaded for you all to hear. Some of the stuff you guys come up with is amazing! I'm still very new to home recording so I still have a hell of a lot to learn, and I do need to make a few upgrades to my setup, but hopefully I'll get my head around it all and start producing some decent results!

Signing off - a very happy new member of the Fractal family!!
 
Welcome Dr Buds.

Please don't spoil my expectations and tell me that you have an upward inflection, like a good proportion of your fellow countrymen.

Just kidding,

Welcome, strap yourself in, it's gonna be a helluva ride.
 
Welcome Dr Buds.

Please don't spoil my expectations and tell me that you have an upward inflection, like a good proportion of your fellow countrymen.

Just kidding,

Welcome, strap yourself in, it's gonna be a helluva ride.


Nah, me parents taught me proper and stuff mate, I talk good and everyfink ;)

Cheers for the welcome though. I'm looking forward to the ride!
 
That's great to hear that you love your new AxeFX 2. It can appear to be more than one person can chew, but it really offers something for everyone. I've been primarily focusing on jazz for the past couple of years, but I recently got it in my head that I don't want to be a "deer in headlights" when playing rock, so I've been working on transcribing some Sabbath songs. Under other circumstances, I'd be looking to buy an amp that could do rock and metal really well, but with the AxeFX 2 I just dialed in a nice setting with the Cornford MK50 model and plugged in my SG and was happy as a clam.
 
That's great to hear that you love your new AxeFX 2. It can appear to be more than one person can chew, but it really offers something for everyone. I've been primarily focusing on jazz for the past couple of years, but I recently got it in my head that I don't want to be a "deer in headlights" when playing rock, so I've been working on transcribing some Sabbath songs. Under other circumstances, I'd be looking to buy an amp that could do rock and metal really well, but with the AxeFX 2 I just dialed in a nice setting with the Cornford MK50 model and plugged in my SG and was happy as a clam.

Well, Sabbath is a dam good place to start!

Exactly - I'm primarily a metal head, but I've always been interested in lots of different styles of music. Especially when it comes to playing guitar, messing around with different styles can be a huge benefit and learning experience and add something unique to what you do in your preferred genre. The Axe Fx just facilitates that with ease, at the touch of a button! Doesn't get any better than that really.
 
I also fall into that trap where I set out to try and achieve a certain goal, but get stuck on various presets, noodling around incessantly without actually achieving anything! Well, that's not entirely true - I do have a hell of a lot of fun doing it!

Been my modus operandi since July 3 2011. One glorious day I too may actually become productive...but until that day ;)

I also fall into that trap where I set out to try and achieve a certain goal, but get stuck on various presets, noodling around incessantly without actually achieving anything! Well, that's not entirely true - I do have a hell of a lot of fun doing it!
 
Been my modus operandi since July 3 2011. One glorious day I too may actually become productive...but until that day ;)

Well low and behold, I did actually achieve some progress last night. Got to work on making a variety of rhythm tones to see how they each sounded once recorded in reaper and layered. Same riff over and over with different presets, then muting/unmuting to do direct comparisons to try and nail down the sound I like most. I'm trying to avoid the need to do a whole bunch of post EQ'ing when recording so I'm putting the effort in to get them sounding right at the start. Obviously re-amping will make this process a whole lot easier but I haven't figured that out yet so that's next on the list (I know it's pretty easy, I just need to learn the process) I think recording each sound and riff over and over does help nail down your timing while playing though, so it's not all bad. So far I've only been working with headphones, so this weekend I'll be hooking it all up to the PC/monitors etc.. I have to hear this thing properly - nice and loud and in my face!!

Anyway, once I've got a bit more done I'll post some examples and see what you guys think. I'm guessing I'll need an account on Soundcloud??
 
Soundcloud is great.

What kind of monitoring solution will you be using?

Well I have a set of KrK Rokit RP5's. Up until getting the Axe I was using a very basic interface that I got with an entry level version of Sonar, but I've since tried Reaper and it was instantly easier for me so I'm going to stick with that. I'm planning on using the Axe as my interface, so I just have to work out how that all gets hooked up with the monitors. When I'm not recording I'll just blast it from the KrK's. So far I've literally just been sitting in my living room with the Axe going direct into my MacBook pro/reaper and playing and monitoring through the headphones.
 
Awesome. I was using a Focusrite Scarlett interface for my Ultra. Having built-in digital output and headphone output on the II really makes things more elegant. The only limitation is the locked in 48khz output from the AxeFX II's digital output, so I have to be mindful of that.

Down the road you might want to look at upgrading the studio monitors to something like the Atomic CLR series. The AxeFX really shines when going through a top notch FRFR system. When I got my Ultra I was going through a Tech 21 Power Engine. When I went to Atomic FRFR power cabs (the tube version, which I still use) it was like taking a blanket off of my tone!
 
Yeah I've read a lot of people here rave about the CLR's so I may look into that down the line. For the time being I just want to get the best out of what I've already got and really focus on getting up to speed with the whole recording process (whilst endlessly tweaking with the Axe of course!) Right now I'm fine with tracking guitars and bass and programming a drum track, but I've had ZERO experience with mixing and mastering - wouldn't even know where to begin! From that point of view I'm not sure if the 48khz issue would really bother me, at least until I get more experience, but I guess I could still go through my current interface if it did anyway. So I've got quite the learning curve ahead of me, but I've got a pretty good ear and I know what sounds good to me, it's just about learning the processes involved. Anyone in Melbourne wanna give me some lessons? :D
 
The only problem now of course is that like most of you, I'm kind of obsessed with it. I'm itching everyday to get home from work so I can plug in!! I also fall into that trap where I set out to try and achieve a certain goal, but get stuck on various presets, noodling around incessantly without actually achieving anything! Well, that's not entirely true - I do have a hell of a lot of fun doing it!

Ha ha! As a fellow Axe newbie I know exactly what you mean!

Glad you're enjoying it! :encouragement:
 
So you say that you end up playing it a lot? Than you are doing it right. :)

I think that you did what I did which was my homework before diving into it. I do think that you have a serious advantage coming into the game right now vs some of us old timers. The extra parameters are great to have, but in the past they were a lot more necessary than they are today. Most of my secret sauce tweaks have been eliminated gradually as new firmware has been released, but the biggest thing was when Cliff matched each parameter to the actual amp. I haven't dug into anything beyond the main and mix pages in months. Some of the amp models did best with some massaging and tweaking and some PEQ's here and there, but now it's just like "plop" there's an amp "plop" there's a cabinet "plunk" there's a reverb and I'm good.

I don't know why the reverb has a different sound effect.

Enjoy and welcome to the forum.
 
Cheers!

I'm sure when the Axe first came out it would've taken a lot more tweaking to get the sound you were after, and you're right - It's pretty easy with a few clicks to get close to what you want from my limited experience with the current firmware. I still think that extra experience you've had is invaluable though. I might get close to what I'm looking for quite quickly, but getting that last 10% might come from tweaking certain parameters that I wouldn't think of and don't understand much about and therefore might elude a newbie like me. I can tweak virtual knobs all day long and hear the changes in the sound, but not really nail the change I'm looking for. I think I can a pretty dam good sound just using my ear while playing around with certain parameters, but I'm sure someone more experienced could change something that takes it to the next level and makes it sound even better. I just want to get to that level myself......if I can :?
 
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