Axefx + synth in a live setting...

[fret]

I spent a bunch of time mucking around with the synth block. But in the end I decided it wasn't going to be able to pull off the sound I had in mind. However the gig over the weekend still needed a few synth lines. I have created a few ES2 patches in Logic that do the lines justice. But wanted to come up with a minimal way of getting those inserted into the set.

Now it all seems logical in hindsight but all I needed to do was plug a macbook into the USB port, load up my patches in Logic and run a 2 octave keyboard into the other USB port. Adjust Axefx USB volume to taste and now I can play the parts needed straight into the same input at the sound desk as all my guitar sounds. No need for any extra inputs or interfaces or even that many cables. The desk EQ is flat anyway because the guitar patches have a mix friendly sound. Worked so well I can't want to do it all again...

As a bonus I can playback whatever is needed during rehearsal if we are doing covers and need to hear some part of the original. It truly is a wonderful box.

Oh and if you're thinking of doing this, you should absolutely set your system sounds to go through the laptop speakers instead of the Axefx interface... because you know... reasons. And turn off the power saving features.

 

[lauke-lux]

Good idea, discovered only lately the USB input, as I needed to "excercise" through the headphones for keeping silent in the night. Didn't even think of it as en additional instrument input, but effectively

 

[Zwiebelchen]

Latency is a problem then, though.

If you need the immediate response, then there is no way around an actual hardware synth.


If you want to play synth and guitar at the same time (and have the skill to pull it off), you should take a look at the Moog Taurus... it's a pedal-based synth. I heard nothing but good about this.

It was on my "to buy" list in the past, but as I was pretty sure that I don't have the dexterity to play it consistently while riffing, I kind of discarded the idea.

 

[fret]

Latency is a problem then, though.

Lots of keyboard players use laptop sounds... and the latency of laptop->interface is good enough for them... the sound is only going from the laptop out (not a round trip say with recording). So I'd imagine it's sub 5ms on the Axefx2 interface. It certainly felt immediate when I played the notes... and I know the feel of latency from so much recording over the years.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

Depends a bit on the sounds you use. I'm very sensitive to latency and when using sounds with strong percussive elements, it definitely has an impact on your timing. I couldn't get the latency of my old midi-keyboard+Laptop below 30ms and it was definitely noticable for me.