Hi! For those patient and kind enough, I have some important questions to ask. 
Former owner here of an Axe-FX II XL+. Loved it! Had some financial issues after a couple of years, however, and begrudgingly sold it and purchased an AX8 as a more affordable replacement. Shortly after though, decided to sell my guitars (and therefore the AX8) and focus on hardware/software synths instead - I just couldn't afford to keep everything at once. Anyway, that's been a lot of fun and a very interesting learning experience, but I've simply missed the guitar WAY too much (will never do that again) and have decided to shake things up once more: selling off most of the software and pairing down the hardware synths to just a couple of simple desktop units.
I started the comeback by ordering a beautiful Godin Multiac Steel Spectrum acoustic/electric guitar (https://godinguitars.com/product/multiac-spectrum-natural-hg-031238/), which should arrive shortly after the holiday. After much research, I also then ordered a Fishman Aura Spectrum DI box (https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AuraSpectDI--fishman-aura-spectrum-di-imaging-pedal-with-di) to essentially serve as the preamp. In addition, I was planning on setting up a modest pedalboard (and started making some purchases) to run the DI box through before running the signal back to my mixer, then into my audio interface and finally my studio monitors.
Long story short, I wasn't even thinking about Fractal with any of this until, suddenly, it dawned on me today that (holy sh!t) maybe an Axe III could replace a lot of this equipment! Looking at the product page on their website, I became even more intrigued. I think this could actually work! I would LOVE nothing more than to come back to the Fractal family for good. I love their products, I love their company ethos and product support, I love the community, and I think Cliff himself is a real cool dude. Anyway, I'm just hoping it's not too good to be true and would like to pose some relevant questions to you all before making a final purchasing decision.
--- I'll number them to make it easier to read. Please free to answer any and all, if you feel so inclined:
1) The number one biggest concern I have is that I have moved over almost exclusively to a Linux OS (specifically, Ubuntu 18) due to work. If I'm going to make this purchase, I would need to sell my existing class-compliant audio interface and use the Axe III as my interface instead. I've just read through some of the forum posts about this topic and it looks like I can use Wine for the editing and update software, which is good to know. Regarding the interface capability itself, however, is there anything I should be concerned about or aware of in a Linux environment? How is the Axe III as an interface, in general, compared to the previous generation?
2) I just bought an acoustic guitar. Granted, it's a fairly versatile acoustic guitar, but my only experience with these units is exclusively via electrics. I do plan to add an electric eventually, but how well does the Axe III handle acoustic guitars, specifically piezos like the Godin has? Would it be advisable to keep the Fishman DI and plug directly into that and then through the Axe for effects or is that pretty unnecessary? Any insight here would be greatly appreciated because it's completely foreign territory for me.
3) My last concern has to do with my hardware synths. I'd love for the Axe to replace my mixer altogether as well. It does look like there are a few extra inputs on the back of the unit, so that's good. How well does the Axe play with synths (both analog and digitial)? I'm concerned that everything would be tuned towards guitar pickups and therefore not so hot processing and applying effects to the synths. Could I, in theory, have a guitar and my two synths plugged into the unit at all times and have separate signal chains for each? If so, this would be amazing and a potential game changer! If I acquire another synth or two down the line, can the number of inputs be expanded with a third party interface or something like that? Just trying to think it all through. Also, as always, I don't know what I don't know!
Bravo if you've managed to read through all of the above and thank you sincerely for taking the time. Your advice/insight/criticism is very much welcome and invited. Really hoping to make this work!
Best,
Will
Former owner here of an Axe-FX II XL+. Loved it! Had some financial issues after a couple of years, however, and begrudgingly sold it and purchased an AX8 as a more affordable replacement. Shortly after though, decided to sell my guitars (and therefore the AX8) and focus on hardware/software synths instead - I just couldn't afford to keep everything at once. Anyway, that's been a lot of fun and a very interesting learning experience, but I've simply missed the guitar WAY too much (will never do that again) and have decided to shake things up once more: selling off most of the software and pairing down the hardware synths to just a couple of simple desktop units.
I started the comeback by ordering a beautiful Godin Multiac Steel Spectrum acoustic/electric guitar (https://godinguitars.com/product/multiac-spectrum-natural-hg-031238/), which should arrive shortly after the holiday. After much research, I also then ordered a Fishman Aura Spectrum DI box (https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AuraSpectDI--fishman-aura-spectrum-di-imaging-pedal-with-di) to essentially serve as the preamp. In addition, I was planning on setting up a modest pedalboard (and started making some purchases) to run the DI box through before running the signal back to my mixer, then into my audio interface and finally my studio monitors.
Long story short, I wasn't even thinking about Fractal with any of this until, suddenly, it dawned on me today that (holy sh!t) maybe an Axe III could replace a lot of this equipment! Looking at the product page on their website, I became even more intrigued. I think this could actually work! I would LOVE nothing more than to come back to the Fractal family for good. I love their products, I love their company ethos and product support, I love the community, and I think Cliff himself is a real cool dude. Anyway, I'm just hoping it's not too good to be true and would like to pose some relevant questions to you all before making a final purchasing decision.
--- I'll number them to make it easier to read. Please free to answer any and all, if you feel so inclined:
1) The number one biggest concern I have is that I have moved over almost exclusively to a Linux OS (specifically, Ubuntu 18) due to work. If I'm going to make this purchase, I would need to sell my existing class-compliant audio interface and use the Axe III as my interface instead. I've just read through some of the forum posts about this topic and it looks like I can use Wine for the editing and update software, which is good to know. Regarding the interface capability itself, however, is there anything I should be concerned about or aware of in a Linux environment? How is the Axe III as an interface, in general, compared to the previous generation?
2) I just bought an acoustic guitar. Granted, it's a fairly versatile acoustic guitar, but my only experience with these units is exclusively via electrics. I do plan to add an electric eventually, but how well does the Axe III handle acoustic guitars, specifically piezos like the Godin has? Would it be advisable to keep the Fishman DI and plug directly into that and then through the Axe for effects or is that pretty unnecessary? Any insight here would be greatly appreciated because it's completely foreign territory for me.
3) My last concern has to do with my hardware synths. I'd love for the Axe to replace my mixer altogether as well. It does look like there are a few extra inputs on the back of the unit, so that's good. How well does the Axe play with synths (both analog and digitial)? I'm concerned that everything would be tuned towards guitar pickups and therefore not so hot processing and applying effects to the synths. Could I, in theory, have a guitar and my two synths plugged into the unit at all times and have separate signal chains for each? If so, this would be amazing and a potential game changer! If I acquire another synth or two down the line, can the number of inputs be expanded with a third party interface or something like that? Just trying to think it all through. Also, as always, I don't know what I don't know!
Bravo if you've managed to read through all of the above and thank you sincerely for taking the time. Your advice/insight/criticism is very much welcome and invited. Really hoping to make this work!
Best,
Will
