Rick
Axe-Master
The FC-12 arrived today, as punctually as always from Fractal's able staff. The now-familiar black band around the box was a sure sign hours were to be lost this day.
Open the double boxing and there it is: Wider side to side than the MFC by a good bit, even about 3/4" wider than the RJM MMGT/22. Very much shorter front to back, though, with only two rows of footswitches it is a full 5" less into your toe space. Height is close to the same, maybe a hair shorter than the RJM. I backed up everything on the III, and read the few setup pages in the box.
Hookup via FasLink, and everything lights up with the current preset and scene (above/below, each on their own line in the main screen) and all footswitch windows lit but blank. A quick setting change on the III and all the buttons were nicely filled with preset names and bank buttons. Changed a setting for the external pedal, calibrated an EV-2, and that's it! Everything working. Obviously, this was monstrously less involved than setting up the RJM, as all of the MMGT programming resides in the controller itself. The III to FC-12 setup cannot be called anything less than stupid simple. A drummer could do it.
Next, I looked through layouts and found that by going to Perform 1, I could literally gig this tonight. It's not laid out exactly as I would do it, but straight from Fractal there is enough there to go make some money. Pretty sweet, and obviously indicative of design by gigging musicians. There is no real comparison on the screens... the RJM's are huge by comparison and easily more readable. But these are not bad at all, and I have no problem seeing them while standing anywhere close enough to step on the controller. That's going to be an individual choice based on like or need. As an aside here... many of us loved the magnetic labels on the MFC and the labeling here is no smaller, and it is lit up. Workable? No doubt.
So, to make this a short story, true to the first blush theme, it's an impressive controller. Obviously not the number of options in front of you at all times (10 less footswitches pretty much guarantees that), but a completely workable number of options and many more available with a little thought and programming. Everything is so native to the III that you hardly have to tell it anything and you're there.
And there you are. I hoped I would hate it, as that would make deciding on which to use a lot easier. But it is a very nice, well thought out device that shines because of its integration with the Axe FX III. I'm staying with the RJM for the immediate future, but certainly want to do a lot more exploring with this and see what can be done with it. I'll have to educate myself on the midi control possibilities via the III... time for some searches. See? I knew hours were going to be lost!
Open the double boxing and there it is: Wider side to side than the MFC by a good bit, even about 3/4" wider than the RJM MMGT/22. Very much shorter front to back, though, with only two rows of footswitches it is a full 5" less into your toe space. Height is close to the same, maybe a hair shorter than the RJM. I backed up everything on the III, and read the few setup pages in the box.
Hookup via FasLink, and everything lights up with the current preset and scene (above/below, each on their own line in the main screen) and all footswitch windows lit but blank. A quick setting change on the III and all the buttons were nicely filled with preset names and bank buttons. Changed a setting for the external pedal, calibrated an EV-2, and that's it! Everything working. Obviously, this was monstrously less involved than setting up the RJM, as all of the MMGT programming resides in the controller itself. The III to FC-12 setup cannot be called anything less than stupid simple. A drummer could do it.
Next, I looked through layouts and found that by going to Perform 1, I could literally gig this tonight. It's not laid out exactly as I would do it, but straight from Fractal there is enough there to go make some money. Pretty sweet, and obviously indicative of design by gigging musicians. There is no real comparison on the screens... the RJM's are huge by comparison and easily more readable. But these are not bad at all, and I have no problem seeing them while standing anywhere close enough to step on the controller. That's going to be an individual choice based on like or need. As an aside here... many of us loved the magnetic labels on the MFC and the labeling here is no smaller, and it is lit up. Workable? No doubt.
So, to make this a short story, true to the first blush theme, it's an impressive controller. Obviously not the number of options in front of you at all times (10 less footswitches pretty much guarantees that), but a completely workable number of options and many more available with a little thought and programming. Everything is so native to the III that you hardly have to tell it anything and you're there.
And there you are. I hoped I would hate it, as that would make deciding on which to use a lot easier. But it is a very nice, well thought out device that shines because of its integration with the Axe FX III. I'm staying with the RJM for the immediate future, but certainly want to do a lot more exploring with this and see what can be done with it. I'll have to educate myself on the midi control possibilities via the III... time for some searches. See? I knew hours were going to be lost!
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