Axe-FX III MkII "live" tone does not match Logic Pro X recorded tone

Jayo

Jayo

Member
Hi, I am relatively new to Axe-FX 3. I have watched some tutorials and read through the manual. I think I can make my way around the device pretty well.

My major hurdle at this point is getting the recorded tone of the Axe-FX to precisely match what I hear as I play. I'm really enjoying experimenting with tones but when I playback the recorded material it is lacking the clarity and distinction of what I hear as I record. The recorded tone is lacking the dynamic range of sound. It sounds kind of "muddy" or maybe it's the sound of a compressed signal.

The VU meters for the latest Preset are well into the red hitting nearly 8 dB peaks but never maxing out. This seems to tell me that I had a strong enough signal to create a loud enough recording.

In an additional recording I turned down the Amp block to get the VU meter below the red line indicating the 0dB threshold in an attempt to make sure that I wasn't clipping the signal and this also yielded a recording that does not match.

There is a very distinct tone that I am using for reference in this particular recording and it's just not ringing through as well.

This has been something I have been aware of for a while now with various recordings.

I actually thought I resolved the problem because I had been recording in mono and lost sound quality that way. Recording in stereo gave better results but it's still just not right.

I'm hoping I'm just doing something wrong. Is my MacBook pro somehow the problem? It's relatively new and I had extra RAM installed to help handle my home studio needs. I have also recorded a single chord strike in a Logic file with only a single instrument track, so it's not a function of overloading the processor with too many tracks.

Are my expectations too high or is this user error? Has anyone else experienced this? If I can sort this out I'll be in home studio nirvana.
 
Can you hear the guitar strings from the guitar itself while you’re recording?

the axe outputs to recording exactly what you hear from the device while playing. RAM or computer type doesn’t affect tone being muddy or anything.

chances are you’re hearing the brightness of the strings from the guitar while playing then not hearing it when listening back.
 
It's definitely not the strings ringing out. I should have mentioned that I am mostly recording with headphones on. I have tried to play the chord without the Axe-FX volume turned down and the headphones off but the distinct tone that the preset is creating cannot be heard by strumming alone.

Also, I typically play with the headphones plugged into the Axe. I tried plugging the headphones into the laptop and I get a similar muted sound.

Maybe I need a better USB cable. The one I have is new though. Maybe I need a DAC for the laptop?
 
chris said:
Can you hear the guitar strings from the guitar itself while you’re recording?
Click to expand...

this is the crucial factor. I struggled with this for years. Apart from this, there is literally no way for the sound to change. This is one instance where you cannot trust your ears.

edit: unless the sample rate is different on your recording than your monitoring.
 
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It’s hard to evaluate your tone as you play. Instead, try recording something into the looper and see ihow that compares to what you record into your DAW.
 
Jayo said:
It's definitely not the strings ringing out. I should have mentioned that I am mostly recording with headphones on. I have tried to play the chord without the Axe-FX volume turned down and the headphones off but the distinct tone that the preset is creating cannot be heard by strumming alone.

Also, I typically play with the headphones plugged into the Axe. I tried plugging the headphones into the laptop and I get a similar muted sound.

Maybe I need a better USB cable. The one I have is new though. Maybe I need a DAC for the laptop?
Click to expand...
digital is digital. a better USB cable won't put more 0s and 1s into your recording.

you can still hear the guitar strings with headphones on, unless it's loud enough to prevent that.

if you can have someone else take the guitar out of your room so you can't hear it and you record them playing something, then compare to the recording, it should be the same at that point.

the only other thing it could be is a plugin or something on the recorded track that is changing the tone, like EQ or something.

what comes out of the Axe via USB is exactly what you hear when you play it. if it sounds different it is 99% of the time something else affecting it like we've mentioned.
 
Jayo said:
The VU meters for the latest Preset are well into the red hitting nearly 8 dB peaks but never maxing out. This seems to tell me that I had a strong enough signal to create a loud enough recording.
Click to expand...

Is that the meters in your DAW, or the axe fx? If it's the meter in your DAW, your sending a signal that's too hot and you need to back off the output somewhere in your preset.
 
Are you changing your sessions from 44k to 48k?

I had this exact issue; I’d spend an hour dialing something in, then listen to playback and it’d be off. People claim you can’t really hear the difference between the two, but I beg to differ when listening through studio monitors.

File-Project Settings-Audio. Give that a shot and see if it makes a difference.

Logic won’t let you set it to 44 permanently, so I just made a template already set to 48K and just open that when I start a new session.
 
I don't know if this will help but here goes:
I have had contrary to what you are saying the opposite effect. It would sound odd then at playback better. This wasn't using the AF but software amp sims. It was a real rookie mistake on my part.
I was monitoring the input of the interface so I was hearing the dry DI guitar along with the effected guitar. It drove me mad until I figured it out!
Maybe this is what you are hearing?
 
Thanks for all your input. As a newcomer to the forum it's great to get feedback.

I have spent quite a bit of time troubleshooting and I have an suspicion about what is happening.

This is my basic signal path, for reference: from the Axe-FX to the MacBook and recorded by logic. But then the signal is pushed back to Axe-FX because that is where I have the headphones plugged in.

I finally decided to unplug the USB cord connecting the Axe to my laptop in the middle of a strum. The sound immediately flatted out. The subtle flanger sound vanished and I was left with a drier sound, also like cutting all reverb. The sound was not as loud and less full.

So, I suspect what must be happening is that the Axe-FX is sending the signal to both the built in headphone output as well as to the MacBook and then logic pushes it back to the Axe and out the headphone output there. But the second signal is making it to the headphones with a little latency.

This would explain the fuller sound as well as a slight flanging / chorus / reverb sound. There must be some minimal latency that offsets the 2 signals.

I went into logic and copied and pasted one recorded track down to a second new track and then slightly shifted the second track over by a very little bit so that it started playing a fraction of a second later. When I played both tracks simultaneously I came much closer to the sound I was hearing out of the headphones.

Is it possible that I'm getting two signals out of the headphones, one with latency?
 
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Jayo said:
Thanks for all your input. As a newcomer to the forum it's great to get feedback.

I have spent quite a bit of time troubleshooting and I have an suspicion about what is happening.

This is my basic signal path, for reference: from the Axe-FX to the MacBook and recorded by logic. But then the signal is pushed back to Axe-FX because that is where I have the headphones plugged in.

I finally decided to unplug the USB cord connecting the Axe to my laptop in the middle of a strum. The sound immediately flatted out. The subtle flanger sound vanished and I was left with a dryer sound, also like cutting all reverb. The sound was not as loud and less full.

So, I suspect what must be happening is that the Axe-FX is sending the signal to both the built in headphone output as well as to the MacBook and then logic pushes it back to the Axe and out the headphone output there. But the second signal is making it to the headphones with a little latency.

This would explain the fuller sound as well as a slight flanging / chorus / reverb sound. There must be some minimal latency that offsets the 2 signals.

I went into logic and copied and pasted one recorded track down to a second new track and then slightly shifted the second track over by a very little bit so that it started playing a fraction of a second later. When I played both tracks simultaneously I came much closer to the sound I was hearing out of the headphones.

Is it possible that I'm getting two signals out of the headphones, one with latency?
Click to expand...
It's hard to tell from your description if you're monitoring through your computer or not. If you are, don't do that! :).
 
Yes, I actually did have input monitoring turned on for my audio tracks in Logic. :tearsofjoy:

Turning off Input Monitoring has officially solved the mystery.

Thanks GlennO and everyone else that offered their insight. Home studio nirvana achieved (for now).
 
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