RossE
Inspired
Overview
I've owned the Axe Standard, the Ultra and now the II. Beginning when I got my Axe Standard I have been on a quest for the best midi floor controller to meet MY needs. Along the way I've owned the following: FCB1010, Rolls MidiBuddy, Voodoo Lab Ground Control Pro, Boss FC-50, Rocktron Midi Mate, a custom unit made from multiple Roland controllers, the Fractal MFC101 and now the TB-12.
I do want to say the MFC101 was a great controller. For me it was just too big and had too many rows deep in buttons for me to navigate easily with my toe. As a perfect match for the Axe FX II and as to capability and quality it was aces. Just not for me, as stated above.
But......I think I have found my match in the TB-12. It is a 12 button MIDI foot controller made by a company in Moscow Russia called BJ Devices. You can do your own sniffing around at BJ Devices - midi controlles and digital switching systems.
My story is about having one in hand and using it with my Axe FX II.
Controller Hardware and Connections
Built very solid
The documentation has been translated from Russian to English. It is good but not great. For example, the detail on saving changes could have been a bit better presented. Details that were not completely clear to me Sergey was happy to explain. So you just need to read carefully and ask questions if not sure.
Future enhancements I'd like to see......
So far the customer service has been exceptional. Sergey Burenkov has been my single contact for the entire experience. He has been super responsive to emails and most often we have used instant messaging over Skype. I found a couple of bugs in the TB-12 FW code and suggested a few code enhancements. All bugs have been fixed and most all of my suggestions implemented in the 2 months I've owned my unit. I grade that kind of service as exceptional, on the same plane as Fractal service.
Payment and Shipping
My experience on this topic is from a USA perspective. Buyers from other countries check with Sergey on options. I paid using Western Union and BJ Devices shipped my unit to me via Russian Post. It took about 7 weeks to arrive. They can now take Paypal payment and can ship Russian Air. Russian Air takes 2-3 weeks to get the package to the USA. Russian Post shipping cost me $40. Russian Air is about $65. Eventually I will order myself a backup TB-12 unit. When I do, I plan to use Paypal and Russian Air.
Verdict
Cons
===================================================================================
This is the configuration I am currently using with my TB-12. It is really nothing fancy.
Toe Buttons 1-5 and 7-10 select Scene 1 of Axe FX II presets 0-9 (PC)
Toe Button 6 selects Scene 3 of the current preset (CC_ct)
Toe Buttons 12 selects Scene 2 of the current preset (CC_ct)
Toe Button 11 toggles back and forth from Performance Mode to Shift Mode (Shift)
When in Shift Mode
Toe buttons 6 and 12 send CC messages in Performance mode.
Toe buttons 1-4 and 7-8 send CC messages in Shift mode.
They can't overlap sending CC messages in both modes. This is the Shift mode limitation I mentioned previously.
Note2:
The external switch in center is my Tap Tempo hard cabled to the Axe FX pedal jack. My choice since I didn't want to dedicate a TB-12 Scene 1 toe button.
Note3:
The Mission SP1 is setup for WAH and Volume as explained by Krisat Katsu Kuri Media. Works with the TB-12 setup the same way as for the MFC.
If you have other questions that are not covered in the manual, let me know.
I've owned the Axe Standard, the Ultra and now the II. Beginning when I got my Axe Standard I have been on a quest for the best midi floor controller to meet MY needs. Along the way I've owned the following: FCB1010, Rolls MidiBuddy, Voodoo Lab Ground Control Pro, Boss FC-50, Rocktron Midi Mate, a custom unit made from multiple Roland controllers, the Fractal MFC101 and now the TB-12.
I do want to say the MFC101 was a great controller. For me it was just too big and had too many rows deep in buttons for me to navigate easily with my toe. As a perfect match for the Axe FX II and as to capability and quality it was aces. Just not for me, as stated above.
But......I think I have found my match in the TB-12. It is a 12 button MIDI foot controller made by a company in Moscow Russia called BJ Devices. You can do your own sniffing around at BJ Devices - midi controlles and digital switching systems.
My story is about having one in hand and using it with my Axe FX II.
Controller Hardware and Connections
Built very solid
- All steel case in adequately thick gauge, but not excessively heavy
- Label magnets adhere well, about like the MFC
- Construction design, fit and finish all good
- LED readout is a pleasant blue, adequately bright and large enough to read easily
- Big deal for me. I can navigate two rows easily. 4-5 rows are too many.
- Buttons have a solid click, but not too loud. Quieter than the GCP or MFC.
- Any button in any location in any order can be configured as a PC, CC toggle (AI), CC controller (Scene), SHIFT (will explain SHIFT later) or Bank up/dn
- Each button has a LED. Lights red for PC, green for AI, yellow for Scene and flashing green for shift.
- There is a dedicated bank of configuration buttons located between toe button rows (see pic)
- Midi Out - 5 pin, supports phantom power, same spec as Rolls, etc.
- Midi In - 5 pin, must be connected to allow two-way communications with Axe FX
- Exp. P1 and Exp.P2 - TRS, supports standard expression pedals. Works great with Mission SP-1, but needs reverse polarity setting.
- SW1/2 and SW3/4 – TRS, intended use is for external amp switching. Cannot be used for external latching or momentary switches to control Axe FX AIs etc.
- USB – used for FW updating of TB-12 only
- Power – uses an AC adapter. European standard unit provided, USA users will need to buy a US standard adapter or converter plug. Adapter is common v/ma. I had one laying around that was in the correct spec range.
- Updates are performed from a computer using a standard USB cable and a free down loadable 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] party application called Chip45Boot2 GUI (WIN, Mac, Linux). I use WIN only with no issues.
- Procedure is not as simple as Fractal Bot, but not difficult. Once you've done it a couple of time it is quick and easy.
- Tuner Functions
- Tuner Engage
- The TB-12 can be configured so that a press of any toe button longer than a set time interval will engage the Axe FX tuner.
- As typical, a matching CC toggle # must be specified on the TB-12 and the Axe FX
- The time interval to engage is configured in milliseconds . Example: TB-12 set to 3000 means the toe button must be held down for 3 seconds before the tuner will engage. Needless to say this can be dangerous if you accidentally hold a button down for too long during a live performance. So set a long interval and be careful.
- Tuner Redisplay
- The TB-12 can redisplay the tuner function from the Axe FX II out to its' LED screen
- You must have MIDI IN and OUT cables connected between the TB-12 and the Axe FX for this to work.
- The display design and responsiveness actually work better for me than that of the MFC
- Tuner Engage
- Tap Tempo
- The TB-12 provides a tap tempo function using the selected preset button
- Example: Toe button 1 on the TB-12 selects preset #1 on the Axe. Once preset #1 is selected, additional presses on that same toe button will set tap tempo.
- As typical, a matching CC toggle # must be specified on the TB-12 and the Axe FX
- If you use this feature along with Axe FX Scenes, a given preset button cannot be used to reset back from Scene 2-8 to Scene 1. In this case you need to dedicate a TB-12 toe button to select Preset X Scene 1.
- Shift Feature
- This feature allows you to press one toe button on the TB-12 and temporarily shift the other 11 toe buttons to CC Toggle type
- One of the 12 toe buttons must be dedicated to control the shift feature
- In this mode, 11 of the 12 toe buttons can become AI switches
- The 12[SUP]th[/SUP] button that is dedicated to shift, toggles the entire TB-12 configuration between normal performance mode and shift mode.
- There are some limitations when using overlapping CC type buttons in both modes. See my layout example.
- I use this feature to operate the Axe FX Looper. Will explain later in my layout example.
- Preset Name Re-display
- This feature displays the Axe FX II preset name on the LED display of the TB-12
- You must have MIDI IN and OUT cables connected between the TB-12 and the Axe FX for this to work.
- Configuration of the unit is done using a dedicated button pad with 6 buttons
- This is different than most controllers which use dual function toe buttons to configure. I like this dedicated pad. It keeps the labeling simple and was easy to memorize the required steps.
- You can look at the BJ Devices manual to see all configurable parameters.
- Note on Banks - I only use one bank. If you want to use multiple banks you have to dedicate two of the TB-12 toe buttons as bank up and bank down, or you can use external switches connected to Exp. P1.
The documentation has been translated from Russian to English. It is good but not great. For example, the detail on saving changes could have been a bit better presented. Details that were not completely clear to me Sergey was happy to explain. So you just need to read carefully and ask questions if not sure.
Future enhancements I'd like to see......
- A RJ-45 jack for one cable 2-way MIDI communication with the Axe FX II
- An option for SW1/2 and SW3/4 to be used for external momentary or latching switches to send CC messages for AIs. Scenes, etc.
So far the customer service has been exceptional. Sergey Burenkov has been my single contact for the entire experience. He has been super responsive to emails and most often we have used instant messaging over Skype. I found a couple of bugs in the TB-12 FW code and suggested a few code enhancements. All bugs have been fixed and most all of my suggestions implemented in the 2 months I've owned my unit. I grade that kind of service as exceptional, on the same plane as Fractal service.
Payment and Shipping
My experience on this topic is from a USA perspective. Buyers from other countries check with Sergey on options. I paid using Western Union and BJ Devices shipped my unit to me via Russian Post. It took about 7 weeks to arrive. They can now take Paypal payment and can ship Russian Air. Russian Air takes 2-3 weeks to get the package to the USA. Russian Post shipping cost me $40. Russian Air is about $65. Eventually I will order myself a backup TB-12 unit. When I do, I plan to use Paypal and Russian Air.
Verdict
Cons
- Having to dedicate a Scene 1 button when using the tap function
- Two cables required to use the Tuner and Preset Name redisplay features
- SW1/2 and SW3/4 cannot be used for external momentary or latching switches
- USA buyers have to work around the European standard AC adapter.
- Price even with overseas shipping is very fair for what you get
- Smaller size and only two rows of buttons
- Way above and beyond just basic features
- Excellent build and quality
- Excellent service
===================================================================================
This is the configuration I am currently using with my TB-12. It is really nothing fancy.
Toe Buttons 1-5 and 7-10 select Scene 1 of Axe FX II presets 0-9 (PC)
Toe Button 6 selects Scene 3 of the current preset (CC_ct)
Toe Buttons 12 selects Scene 2 of the current preset (CC_ct)
Toe Button 11 toggles back and forth from Performance Mode to Shift Mode (Shift)
When in Shift Mode
- Toe Button 1 = Looper Rec (CC_tg)
- Toe Button 2 = Looper Dub (CC_tg)
- Toe Button 3 = Looper Play (CC_tg)
- Toe Button 4 = Looper Undo (CC_tg)
- Toe Button 7 = Metronome Bypass (CC_tg)
- Toe Button 8 = Looper Bypass (CC_tg)
Toe buttons 6 and 12 send CC messages in Performance mode.
Toe buttons 1-4 and 7-8 send CC messages in Shift mode.
They can't overlap sending CC messages in both modes. This is the Shift mode limitation I mentioned previously.
Note2:
The external switch in center is my Tap Tempo hard cabled to the Axe FX pedal jack. My choice since I didn't want to dedicate a TB-12 Scene 1 toe button.
Note3:
The Mission SP1 is setup for WAH and Volume as explained by Krisat Katsu Kuri Media. Works with the TB-12 setup the same way as for the MFC.
If you have other questions that are not covered in the manual, let me know.
