AX8 Magnetic KickTags Glow Labels - follow their development here!

Time for the next instalment!

As I mentioned in my last post in this thread, I went about designing 3 different size Surrounds for the three switch types as I see them. I wanted the design to be sleek, non-obtrusive yet functional. Essentially, the same design ethos as the MFC ones. Here's the mockup I made of the labels I wanted to prototype.

AX8%20and%20FX8%20preview_zpsjjsgcqps.jpg


The top Surround is for the far left (1 and 5) switches, and the one on the right is for the 3 function switches on the right of the board. The main surrounds will be available with or without cutouts for 'Tiles' (the design protos above have those cutouts). All labels will be made of the same solid laser-cut acrylic as the MFC labels, including magnetic backings with Neodymium magnets for extra magnetic grooviness, and will also be 4mm thick. Glow-in-the dark magnetic custom Text Labels and various design Tiles (just as for the MFC) will fit perfectly into the slots, allowing you to move things around and change up as you need.

Next step was to see how these would look on a virtual board, before finalising the CAD drawings and getting prototypes made to try out on a real board. Picture of that one coming next!!
 
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I would recommend offering a set of just the three right "F-Switch" labels. The flexibility you've designed via inserts will probably be very popular because people will want to experiment with different combinations for TAP and HOLD on each switch. I know that amongst even the five or so people inside Fractal using AX8s there that many different preferences for these settings!
 
Admin M@ said:
I would recommend offering a set of just the three right "F-Switch" labels. The flexibility you've designed via inserts will probably be very popular because people will want to experiment with different combinations for TAP and HOLD on each switch. I know that amongst even the five or so people inside Fractal using AX8s there that many different preferences for these settings!
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Hey Matt, yep - that's the plan. The three rightmost labels, including the text labels that go with them, will be available independently from the other Surrounds and text labels.
 
Next up... I laid out a graphic mockup on top of a picture I found of the board to see how they'd look (no expense spared here folks!! Did I mention, I own neither an AX8 or FX8?... but am on the waitlist with G66 for an AX8 :) )

Here's how it worked out. I've mocked up a board with sample labels and Tiles, to show how things would look when you put a set of labels together on the board. On the right of the board, I've shown the text inserts that will fit into the right-most F-switch Surrounds (which will be pre-printed as shown, due to the fact there are pre-defined functions they can have). All text labels will be glow in the dark and, as mentioned in the recent exchange with M@, a pack of 3 F-Switch Surrounds, together with all the text labels that will fit into them, will be available as a separate pack, independently of the main switch Surrounds and text labels. Here's my dodgy mockup!

Full%20AX8%20and%20FX8%20PREVIEW_zpsg7zkw2zg.jpg


Next step... finishing up with the CAD shenanigans and then off to prototyping... :)
 
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If you don't mind me asking... Why do the "F-Switch" tags have that extended upper bout? Wouldn't it make more sense to leave it at a uniform height (as in the image on the right)?

EDIT: Answering my own question: I guess you need that space for the underlying neodymium magnet.

AX8-FX8 Kicktags.jpg
 
Oi, you! Stop editing my designs lol!!

Yes, for the neo mag, but also to cover up the silk screen text around those labels, or it would look fugly. OCD, remember? :)
 
My only suggestion would be to make the label cutouts for the regular switches and the F-switches the same size (width) so they are interchangeable, particularly for guitarists that make their own labels. If you bought a bunch of blanks it'd be somewhat annoying to have two different sizes to manage.

Yes, I DO understand that you'd be giving up a tiny bit of width on the 8 regular switches.
 
benvigil said:
My only suggestion would be to make the label cutouts for the regular switches and the F-switches the same size (width) so they are interchangeable, particularly for guitarists that make their own labels. If you bought a bunch of blanks it'd be somewhat annoying to have two different sizes to manage.

Yes, I DO understand that you'd be giving up a tiny bit of width on the 8 regular switches.
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Thanks for the suggestion buddy, however, I wouldn't do that, as it would then mean you couldn't interchange labels with the MFC (which was a design consideration), and I also want text labels to be as big as possible from a functional point of view. The labels for the F-switches, as I mentioned elsewhere, are pre-printed as their functions are based on a set/predefined number of actions, so the only ones you'd need to write on (if you wanted blanks) are the ones for the main switches.
 
Toadfish said:
the F-switches, as I mentioned elsewhere, are pre-printed as their functions are based on a set/predefined number of actions
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...until FAS expands their functionality in a FW update. ;)

Also, not being an MFC user (a trait I imagine the VAST majority of new AX8 users will share), I didn't take backward compatibility with the MFC into consideration.
 
The only thing and this is a me personally ,I find that the tiles make it just a lil too busy ,It looks great with the MFC as it is one LED.

When you throw in 3 LEDS ,plus a color or graphic tile and then a glow .too me its like a busy webpage with 5 different fonts . but again thats me I like simple ,streamlines most will probably dig it
 
These are great Sukh :D

got me thinking though would it look shite if you extended the labels to touch each other to hide the white paintwork showing up?

Personally i dont think it looks over the top with the cool tiles you put in, but i suppose you do make a few differnt versions (without the smaller tile etc) so if was a problem to folk, they dont have to order them ones

Killer work though as always mate!
 
Toadfish said:
Thanks for the suggestion buddy, however, I wouldn't do that, as it would then mean you couldn't interchange labels with the MFC (which was a design consideration), and I also want text labels to be as big as possible from a functional point of view. The labels for the F-switches, as I mentioned elsewhere, are pre-printed as their functions are based on a set/predefined number of actions, so the only ones you'd need to write on (if you wanted blanks) are the ones for the main switches.
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Oh, and lest you think I don't like the product... quite the contrary. Stellar designs, utility, market fit, everything. It all just works!
 
Randalljax said:
The only thing and this is a me personally ,I find that the tiles make it just a lil too busy ,It looks great with the MFC as it is one LED.

When you throw in 3 LEDS ,plus a color or graphic tile and then a glow .too me its like a busy webpage with 5 different fonts . but again thats me I like simple ,streamlines most will probably dig it
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Hey dude,

As I mentioned before, there is a version of the main surrounds that does not have a cutout for a Tile, so you can mix and match as you need. The Tiles are not just cosmetic, and serve a useful function, however, for example, labelling looper functions (as the ones printed on the board will be covered up by the Surrounds), which is what I can imagine most people would want to use Tiles for on the AX8 and FX8
 
RushOvGY said:
These are great Sukh :D

got me thinking though would it look shite if you extended the labels to touch each other to hide the white paintwork showing up?

Personally i dont think it looks over the top with the cool tiles you put in, but i suppose you do make a few differnt versions (without the smaller tile etc) so if was a problem to folk, they dont have to order them ones

Killer work though as always mate!
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Hey man, thank you :)

This is something I had considered but came to the conclusion that it would, indeed, end up looking shite! The main reason being that unless you have your labels perfectly lined up, it will make things look very wonky on the board (I've tried this approach before around 4 years ago when I first attempted GCP labels). The other option was to make each Surround cover 2 switches, but there are issues with that approach too.

However, I am extremely anal retentive and, although it's highly unlikely to bother the masses, I already have an idea on how to nicely hide the white bits that may stick out. I'll be trying it out on my MFC at some point so watch this space!!
 
Next instalment... the Prototypes!!!

I now have the prototype Surrounds made and here for me to assemble into labels, which I'll then send to a couple of friends to try out and see if my measurements were correct (remember, this has all been done off of supplied measurements and pictures!!). One kind chap (and a forum member), who is quite local to me, has even offered to loan me his FX8. Top banana!

Here they are, bathed in a sexy purple-y blue light on my workbench this morning. Ain't they pretty?

542DE418-AFD9-449D-91BD-CE9B3F9C0ADB_zpswhym0ikk.jpg


Next step, this weekend, is to make the magnetic backings, glow labels and some tiles, bung on some Neo's and then off they go to see if they fit or if I got the measurements horribly wrong ( in which case, I'm pretty sure I could use these as bottle openers or car window scrapers - hey! Now there's an idea!)

Next instalment later this weekend!
 
Looking good my friend! Your work has ALWAYS been stellar. It's always great to hear your thought processing and updates on development! You are simply the best!
 
I like them, except for one thing and maybe you've already taken this into consideration....

With the X/Y function for each switch, having a single label like Phaser, Delay etc... may not be as helpful as two half size labels like:

OD/DIST, PHAS/VIBE, DDL/MEMMAN, 1/4/dot8th, BST1/BST2, SPRG/SHIM, etc... something that shows more accurately how X and Y are set.
 
That made me realize something... since you can assign totally different effects to the IA switches in different presets, I don't know how useful it's going to be to have labels on the AX8. I'm sure most of us will try to go for consistency between presets, but I can already think of some of mine where I'm going to have completely different setups, especially since we "only" have 8 IA to select from. So I'll have IA switches that do totally different things in different presets... i.e. #5 might be a Phaser on one, Pitch on another, and Auto-wah (Filter) on yet another.
 
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