Axe-FX For The Recording Musician

Steven Persson said:
I have the same setup (Axe FX III and a Scarlett audio interface (6i6). Stupid question: When connecting the Axe to the Scarlett via S/PDIF, are you suppose to use both S/PDIF inputs (IN and OUT) on both devices? Or maybe @GlennO can chime in?
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That's right. If you look at the diagram for option #5, you'll see arrows going in both directions, so connect both spdif ports. That way you can record the wet output from the Axe-FX via your 6i6.
 
GlennO said:
That's right. If you look at the diagram for option #5, you'll see arrows going in both directions, so connect both spdif ports. That way you can record the wet output from the Axe-FX via your 6i6.
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Yeah, I kind of figured that out but I wasn't sure anyway.....:) Thanks for the clarification.
 
One thing though @GlennO ...I understood the latency issues regarding DI is related to USB. How does the #5 configuration in your instructions prevent that? Or it doesn't and you have to manually enter a value to line it up with the dry tracks?
 
Steven Persson said:
One thing though @GlennO ...I understood the latency issues regarding DI is related to USB. How does the #5 configuration in your instructions prevent that? Or it doesn't and you have to manually enter a value to line it up with the dry tracks?
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While avoiding the latency compensation issue shouldn't the reason one chooses option #5, it is indeed a side effect of using that option that you avoid that problem. The reason is that the audio device connected to your computer (i.e. the audio interface) correctly reports latency to your DAW. The problem with incorrect reporting of latency is only an issue with the Axe-Fx. Most audio interfaces report it correctly.
 
In the Other Notes section, an additional tip for anyone else recording a separate DI mono track and then editing/comping the main track(s): at least in Logic (and I'm sure other software) you can just "group" all the associated tracks then turn on editing and quantize-locked audio in the group settings. Edits made to one track will be applied consistently to all tracks in the group and your DI track will stay in sync.
 
The other day I was recording directly from USB into Logic and I could have sworn the the recorded audio was off. I guess I have the latency issue with my setup. I'll have to try and dial that in. I have a patch bay and I've mostly just sent my output directly to the input of my audio interface. I wanted to start experimenting with the AXE as my standalone interface and also the pure digital path. I have recorded directly from usb before but never noticed this until just the other day. Most of my recordings have just been capturing random ideas etc but this go around I'm really trying to do some full productions so I guess that is why I noticed it. I was playing to a click then listening back and it was just off. I'm not the best at locking in with a click but this seemed bad even for me. Has Fractal ever commented on this anomaly? Sure would be nice to get that working so we don't have to manually tweak the offset.
 
I guess the issue was my playing and not needing to offset for latency not getting reported correctly. This is based on using the IO utility plugin provided with Logic. @GlennO do you have any experience using that plugin for measuring how accurate the latency measurement is? I tried it with both my UAD Apollo and with the AxeFX and in both tests it shows no drift being detected. I did my test with the buffer set to 128 and 48K as the resolution on both devices.
 
I liked, "After you're done recording, rewind and hit play to listen to what you recorded."

It could have been written, "After you're done recording, play back what you recorded." However, it is always fun when a phrase for an obsolete concept like rewinding a tape still lives on in the digital era.
 
The guide that I uploaded at the top of this thread is screenshots of a PDF. If anybody wants a PDF version, let me know and I'd be happy to upload that file.

P.S. The reason I didn't upload a PDF to begin with is because I update the guide from time to time, and if you download a PDF, at some point it will become outdated.
 
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ectoplasm88 said:
The other day I was recording directly from USB into Logic and I could have sworn the the recorded audio was off. I guess I have the latency issue with my setup. I'll have to try and dial that in. I have a patch bay and I've mostly just sent my output directly to the input of my audio interface. I wanted to start experimenting with the AXE as my standalone interface and also the pure digital path. I have recorded directly from usb before but never noticed this until just the other day. Most of my recordings have just been capturing random ideas etc but this go around I'm really trying to do some full productions so I guess that is why I noticed it. I was playing to a click then listening back and it was just off. I'm not the best at locking in with a click but this seemed bad even for me. Has Fractal ever commented on this anomaly? Sure would be nice to get that working so we don't have to manually tweak the offset.
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Did you have the output on your axe fx turned up? This will cause issues. I always turn output to 0 and monitor in Logic.
 
Thank you very much @GlennO. Even being myself a very experienced studio guy, this guide is like gold for me by don´t wasting time supposing how to hook too many things to make the thing work.

Thanks a lot, once again !!!
 
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