Axe-Fx III and MFC-101 Review

trancegodz

Fractal Fanatic
I've had the Axe FXIII for three days now. I have an MFC-101 and one of Roadrunner's 4 switch external pedals he made to go with the MFC-101, and three Roland EV-5 pedals, all in a nice road case. I was worried about not being able to use the MFC-101 in the way I am used to. I shouldn't have worried. I got everything working, hitting reveal I have: IA's 1-5 for scenes, IA's 6-10 to turn on and off effects, IA's 11-15 for the Looper, IA's 16 and 17 to turn on and off effects, the 4 external switches to turn on and off 4 more effects, a wah, whammy, and volume pedal. All working just like they were with the Axe FXII (except for showing the names). I access the channels by turning what I want on and off in scenes. I can also switch presets the same as before. MFC-Edit helped a lot.

First you have to set up all of the user cc numbers in the Axe FXIII. This takes a while, but it's global so you only have to do it once.

I really wish Axe Edit for the Axe FXIII was done as it took me 7 hours to re-create my main preset from the front panel. I'm not going to try to re-create any more of my custom presets until Axe Edit is out. The Axe FXIII is actually way easier to program from the front panel than the Axe FXII is. At least I know how to do it now.

The sound of the amps in Axe FXIII is pretty much the same as the Axe FXII. A little fuller and a little more detailed. What I really noticed was the improvement in the sound of the effects. The reverbs and delays all sound noticeably better. All of the effects I've tried sound better. It must be the extra CPU available to run everything.

Minor bugs seem to be discovered almost every day, but they are fixing them as fast as people are reporting them. So no worries there. Amazing!

The big disappointment for me was discovering they had re-moved the "Half" function for the Looper (half speed/double speed). It must have been an oversight. I really think they will bring this back in a future firmware update. I hope so. The looper in the Axe FXIII is 5 minutes now so that is better. For now the Looper in the Axe FXII is better to me.

I was happy with the Axe FXII, but bought the Axe FXIII mainly because of the extra CPU. I am discovering what can be done with channels. This is a great innovation. I am going to use the Axe FXII live and Axe FXIII in the studio.

Like the Axe FXII I am sure the Axe FXIII will keep getting better and better for years to come. You can't go wrong with this one. Great job Fractal!
 
although you can do what needs to be done i.e selecting presets, scenes, IA's, looper, etc... the major drawback is no 2-way communication. when you select scenes you have no confirmation on the MFC of what IA's are on or off. Until we have the FC, it would be great if running midi out of the III to midi in on the MFC could give us 2-way communication.
 
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when you select scenes you have no confirmation on the MFC of whats on or off. Until we have the FC, it would be great if running midi out of the III to midi in on the MFC could give us 2-way communication.
The LED's don't illuminate red or green?
 
yes they do, you can set them how you like so when you turn on say DELAY, the light comes on but if you switch to another scene the light will stay on until you turn it off.
 
If you set your MFC-101 up with 5 linked IAs. Only one scene will be on at a time and only one light for the scene you selected. When you switch from scene 1 to any other scene the light goes off on IA#1 one and comes on for the IA of the new scene you just selected. That's the way mine is working.

I am only using one midi cable from the MFC-101 midi out to the Axe FXIII midi in. I haven't tried hooking up two midi cables. I am very happy with it as it is for now, but I may still buy one of the FC pedals when they become available.
 
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yes that's the way scenes work but not IA's. When I refer to "IA" I'm talking about instant access effects switches, not scene switches. another ex would be... you're on scene 1, IA (effects) lights are off. switch to scene 2 which turns on an OD and delay; those IA lights won't come on to show you the effects are active. BTW, a 2nd midi cable will not give you 2-way communication so waste your time ;-)
 
Thanks for the info Brian. If what you say is right it would great to have 2 way communication in the future.

I'm happy that I am able to change presets, change scenes, use the looper functions, turn on and off all of the effects, and all my external pedals and switches work. With just a couple of easy changes I can use the MFC-101 with my Axe FXII or Axe FXIII now.
 
it's not difficult to setup for the III, save the file then it's a piece of cake to switch back & forth from the II to the III. When I have some time, I'd like to see if the Midi Block could be setup to change the status on the MFC
 
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Update:

I've had the Axe FXIII for 5 days now. I've re-created 5 of my main presets from my Axe FXII so far. Its is getting easier as I am learning my way around the front panel better. I play in a Jimi Hendrix Tribute band for fun and the Plexi 100W 1970, and the 1959 SLP Jump are particularly good sounding to me for what I need. As someone who still owns several old Marshalls and has used them since the 1970's, some of the Marshalls in the Axe FXIII nail the sounds I am used to hearing. I'll be comparing the Axe FXIII to my real Hiwatt, Vox Ac30, and 66 Super Reverb, and 59 Bassman soon.

I had to set the input gate up to tame down the noise a bit. Some of the amps and drive pedals are very noisy, but then their real counterparts are also.

I am also noticing that when using block level and looking at the meters, that when visually setting up 4 amps on 4 channels and trying to balance the levels, that even when they were all set visually to the same levels on the Axe FXIII, they were not the same in volume audibly. Looking at the meter with the volume hitting the line, I could change the volume in the amp block by as much as 2 (same from -14 to -12) and the level on the meter stayed the same. So don't just rely on the meters to set up your levels. You have to use your ears. The meters are a great help though. They get you in the ball park and make sure you are not clipping anything.

Except for them removing the Half Speed function from the Looper (which it now looks like they may add back in when they get the time), I am very happy with the Axe FXIII so far. I'll be even happier when Axe Edit comes out as it looks like they have made some improvements that will make it even better than it already was.
 
Just to add a comment here, since you've mentioned it in a few places (and Cliff answered you) and others reading this thread may have missed it, they did not "remove the half speed function" .

They did not yet include this function on the Axe Fx III Looper, which as Cliff replied to you was written from scratch. It is not the same Looper code as the Axe Fx II.

This is also the explanation behind the "missing" Stack feature. This is a new Looper...

Also, to paraphrase what Cliff has replied to various people in various threads:

The Axe Fx III is not the Axe Fx II.

Meaning that just because something exists and behaves one way in the II doesn't mean it exists and behaves the same way in the III.
 
Splitting hairs on whether they "removed it or "didn't add it" is silly. Cliff said he'd add it to the wish list and may add it back in when he gets some time. That's good enough for me. I do like the fact that the new looper is 5 minutes now. That was a real nice addition.
 
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Update: I've had the Axe FXIII for 6 days now. I have had a chance to go through all the Factory presets. I mainly use an Eric Johnson Stratocaster, but I use other guitars also; a custom made guitar, a Les Paul, Joe Satriani Ibanez, Steve Vai Jem, Charvel, Gretsch Country Gentleman, Rickenbacker 12 string, and Dan Electro.
Logically the Factory presets will sound very different depending on what guitar you use, what pickups you have in that guitar, and which pickup you have you selected. None of the Factory presets sounded right with a Stratocaster to me. I will have to go through them all and tweak them to optimize them for a Stratocaster.
I am not sure, but it appears that all of the presets were created using a guitar with much hotter pickups than a Stratocaster. I also noticed that the volume levels of the Factory presets are all over the place. Some are way louder than others. I've tweaked a couple Factory presets so far and got them sounding right to me with a Stratocaster. I have re-created about 6 of my main presets that I used in the Axe FXII so far and all are sounding great.
 
I don't think you can create a preset that would sound the same with a variety of guitars so I'm sure they aimed for middle ground. The Axe II was the same way. Personally I wouldn't bother trying to tweak all the factory presets for my guitar(s). If there are specific ones that I use, then yeah.

I can see where it would be handy to have all presets at least leveled from the factory though. Not a big deal to me but to some I can see it.
 
I agree. I mainly used about 20 presets that I created from scratch in the Axe FXII and will likely do the same in the Axe FXIII. The ones I've created so far are sounding good. I'll re-create those presets optimized for my main guitar, the Stratocaster first, then maybe do the same for Les Paul. I've been wanting a Telecaster and if I get one I think I will create some presets optimized just for Telecaster also. I re-created my main Vox AC-30 preset last night. It sounds real good. It took forever auditioning all the Vox Ac30 cabs in the cab block.

I see they just released new Factory presets for the Axe FXIII. I just downloaded them.

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/axe-fx-iii-factory-presets-v1-07.137905/
 
Re different guitars, it was my understanding that the presets came from many different sources, so likely many different guitars. It would be helpful if there was a list showing what type of guitar was intended for each preset. Anyway, going through them with an LP with vintage level pickups sounds right on a lot of them
 
I've had the Axe FXIII about a month and a half now. Best things about it are the huge increase in CPU; the addition of channels; and the new cab block. To me those are the biggest improvements over the Axe FXII, Axe FXIIXL, and Axe FXIIXL+, and the main reasons to buy one. The biggest disappointment to me is the fact they did not include the Half Speed function in the Looper that has been on every single other Fractal Audio product. Hopefully they will add this soon in a firmware update.

I was surprised to discover that the Axe FXIIXL+ has 1 more bank of user presets than the Axe FXIII.

It seems to be taking forever for them to make a fully functional Axe Edit for the Axe FXIII. I am really missing having a fully functional Axe Edit for the Axe FXIII.
 
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It seems to be taking forever for them to make a fully functional Axe Edit for the Axe FXIII. I am really missing having a fully functional Axe Edit for the Axe FXIII.
it's moving along quite nicely. development takes time. the Axe-Fx III was released 3 months ago. that's not forever.

i'm glad they released the Axe-Fx III when they did, rather than waiting for everything to be completely finished - no one would be using an Axe-Fx III right now if so.
 
They just released 1.09 Beta 6 and a new Beta 6.02 Version of Axe Edit to go with it. Lots of great things have been added, including improving the way the looper works and adding a way to clear the audio. They still haven't added the Half Speed function for the Looper that is on all the other Fractal Audio products though. Hopefully it will be in the official 1.09 release.
 
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