Announcing Axe-Fx III Mark II

Joe Bfstplk said:
How would that work, when so many different control configurations exist in the modeled amps, and so far, two amp blocks can be run at a time?
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This.

But you can roll your own custom compromise on the performance pages. Can't see what they could do with a finite amount of screen space that's better than that. You can't boot directly to one of those screens afaik, but they're quick to get to.
 
Joe Bfstplk said:
How would that work, when so many different control configurations exist in the modeled amps, and so far, two amp blocks can be run at a time?
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Without getting into too many particulars, Gain, high, mid, low, Master. Reverb amount.

Having these is already night and day from not having any,

No guitarist i know wants or cares to page through just to adjust while he is busy playing, This is how you adjust your sound in general, And thats how its been done for decades. If you want to tinker, thats anyway not part of an Amp's front panel.
 
Dave Merrill said:
This.

But you can roll your own custom compromise on the performance pages. Can't see what they could do with a finite amount of screen space that's better than that. You can't boot directly to one of those screens afaik, but they're quick to get to.
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I honestly think that 5 dedicated Knobs, in addition to the existng ones would have been night and day of a difference, even if adds to the price and takes up some screen Real Estate for it.

Nothing is more valuable than the ability to immediately adjust your tone while playing, Whether in a gig or in the studio. All this paging around is a total downer when your playing and in the zone.

An amp modeler should also model the tactile experience not just the "sound" as that ends up being an important part of you getting your "Sound".
 
dumbeat said:
Without getting into too many particulars, Gain, high, mid, low, Master. Reverb amount.

Having these is already night and day from not having any,

No guitarist i know wants or cares to page through just to adjust while he is busy playing, This is how you adjust your sound in general, And thats how its been done for decades. If you want to tinker, thats anyway not part of an Amp's front panel.
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That's the thing, though, not all amps have those controls. Plus, there are two amp blocks. The Performance tab lets you get at any knobs you assign to it very quickly. There are two pages: global and per-preset....
 
Joe Bfstplk said:
That's the thing, though, not all amps have those controls. Plus, there are two amp blocks. The Performance tab lets you get at any knobs you assign to it very quickly. There are two pages: global and per-preset....
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Thats already paging around. This needs to feel like a real amp. You know where to send your fingers blindly at any given time.
The 5 controls (or 6 for Reverb amount) im suggesting are the bread and butter of any amp out there.
All this screen time is very unmusical and counter intuitive. If you want to page dive- be my guest, but it shouldn't be the modus operandi if its trying to mimic the Amp experience.
 
dumbeat said:
Thats already paging around. This needs to feel like a real amp. You know where to send your fingers blindly at any given time.
The 5 controls (or 6 for Reverb amount) im suggesting are the bread and butter of any amp out there.
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So put those controls on the global page and stay there, done.

Agree that isn't like dedicated physical knobs, but that gets tricky too, since they need to reflect the current setting somehow.

I've had two versions of that: A Blackstar ID60, all physical knobs with a master LED that flashed when the knob position crossed the current value, and a CyberTwin, with motorized physical knobs. I hated working with the ID because of that interface (sounded decent though). The CT was actually kind of ideal in that respect -- just like a real amp with memory -- but I'm sure that was expensive to produce, and an eventual maintenance nightmare.

All told, there are a lot of other things I like about the Axe III, and this UI doesn't bother me enough to be an issue. I mostly use the front panel too, not the editor, and it's fine.
 
unix-guy said:
I don't recall anyone from Fractal ever saying that was the intent.
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Hi!

Depens on how you look at it. You are very right looking at a from the hardware perspective. The software is the opposite. Funny that ppl always keep craving for what they are most familiar with. I totally get what he wants and my reflexive response is “yeah”. Then again, this is a modeler and much more advanced. And you can always try to keep adding stuff like buttons, dials, and bigger screens, but we also want small, light and a million options (I know I do) choices have to be made in a design. Hindsight can lead to insight for the future. Let’s see what they have in store for us in the furure. The extra preset slots in the mark 2 is a great step. If you give us so many options as the axe does, at least give us room to put it in.

Harm
 
Harm said:
Hi!

Depens on how you look at it. You are very right looking at a from the hardware perspective. The software is the opposite. Funny that ppl always keep craving for what they are most familiar with. I totally get what he wants and my reflexive response is “yeah”. Then again, this is a modeler and much more advanced. And you can always try to keep adding stuff like buttons, dials, and bigger screens, but we also want small, light and a million options (I know I do) choices have to be made in a design. Hindsight can lead to insight for the future. Let’s see what they have in store for us in the furure. The extra preset slots in the mark 2 is a great step. If you give us so many options as the axe does, at least give us room to put it in.

Harm
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I think saying the Hardware is not supposed to mimic the Amp experience may hold in "Court" but in reality this device is here to replace a guitar amplifier- whatever that is.
From my personal experience of 35 years of professionally playing, being able to intuitively and quickly adjust the major, bread and butter parameters i mentioned, is more valuable for getting my tone at any given context than having a 1000 amps to choose from. I know, someone is going to jump and say that there are devices like that out there, and ill say, if this is the best modeler, why look somewhere else? Does it have to be one instead of the other?

Point im making, i think this device would have been perfect if it was designed as a 2 layer Hardware interface, Layer 1, a "Traditional" amp interface, Layer 2, Under the hood- deep and endless modeling where you can even experiment with different electric wire and fuses to your heart/ear content.
 
dumbeat said:
I think saying the Hardware is not supposed to mimic the Amp experience may hold in "Court" but in reality this device is here to replace a guitar amplifier- whatever that is.
From my personal experience of 35 years of professionally playing, being able to intuitively and quickly adjust the major, bread and butter parameters i mentioned, is more valuable for getting my tone at any given context than having a 1000 amps to choose from. I know, someone is going to jump and say that there are devices like that out there, and ill say, if this is the best modeler, why look somewhere else? Does it have to be one instead of the other?

Point im making, i think this device would have been perfect if it was designed as a 2 layer Hardware interface, Layer 1, a "Traditional" amp interface, Layer 2, Under the hood- deep and endless modeling where you can even experiment with different electric wire and fuses to your heart/ear content.
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Hi,

Fortunately I have 25 years of experience too and still think that the years of experience are absolutely irrelevant in this matter.
Anyway: you and I WANT the same. I just think that the designers have to find a middle ground between “old school”. And the next generation. And the axe fx is so much more than just an amp simulator.

Harm
 
Harm said:
Hi,

Fortunately I have 25 years of experience too and still think that the years of experience are absolutely irrelevant in this matter.
Anyway: you and I WANT the same. I just think that the designers have to find a middle ground between “old school”. And the next generation. And the axe fx is so much more than just an amp simulator.

Harm
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Well, experience is a total factor when you see what, in real life situations, you look for.
It's hard to discard experience... Its everything thats not "on paper"...

But anyway, Agree with you that the XFX is more than a modeler, but as long as im trying to use it as a replacement for a real amp, the interface is still sending back to my real amp and effect pedals into a cab or a load box, almost every time.
 
dumbeat said:
Well, experience is a total factor when you see what, in real life situations, you look for.
It's hard to discard experience... Its everything thats not "on paper"...

But anyway, Agree with you that the XFX is more than a modeler, but as long as im trying to use it as a replacement for a real amp, the interface is still sending back to my real amp and effect pedals into a cab or a load box, almost every time.
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I think you and I both use the unit the same way. I do notice that the number of users that get much more out of the unit is big, which leads to other user wishes. If I look at the wish list there is so much asked for that I either even know nothing about or will never use.

Anyway, hat tip to you and have a great day.

Harm
 
Harm said:
And the axe fx is so much more than just an amp simulator.
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Yep, under the AXE-FX III logo it says "PREAMP/EFFECTS PROCESSOR". It doesn't say guitar amp modeler, simulator, or replacement. A good fraction of users are into the effects (30+ distinct effects) as much as or more than the amps (e.g. in an effects loop, acoustic processing, vocal processing, synth, etc) or are using it primarily for recording or hobby use. Thus a generic context-dependent interface fits that purpose.

dumbeat said:
but in reality this device is here to replace a guitar amplifier- whatever that is.
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Maybe (see above). I get the desire to have dedicated knobs for amp controls but this isn't the primary or only function of the Axe. An outboard or rack knobby controller could serve the purpose. A 1U or 2U easily programmable knobby device with scribble script and an indicator of control position would be pretty cool... something like an outboard performance page (with multiple views) with 12-24 rotary encoder/buttons, FAS RC-12 and RC-24?.

Daveis said:
The older I get the more I just want it to sound good out of the box with minimal editing. Old spice confirmed.
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So-called "minimal editing" (or quick editing) is what some people seem to be discussing here. Which has nothing to do with the OP or the Mark II as such, but fun to ponder...
 
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Are there any videos of the MKII showing the New IPS Display? Can't seem to find one yet.
 
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