Software FracPad III - iOS/Android/Mac/Win Editor for the Axe-Fx II/XL/XL+, AX8/FX8, Axe-Fx III and FM3/FM9

Third party software for Fractal Audio products.
Good news, i'm actually implementing the perform screens :)

Thanks for sharing the good news. I am planning/hoping to be able to start the demo process this weekend. Just ordered the Silex unit this morning and it seems like adding the FracPad to the mix is a foregone conclusion for me for so many reasons.
 
Thanks for sharing the good news. I am planning/hoping to be able to start the demo process this weekend. Just ordered the Silex unit this morning and it seems like adding the FracPad to the mix is a foregone conclusion for me for so many reasons.
So you mean i'm developing this specifically for you for nothing? ;)
 
So you mean i'm developing this specifically for you for nothing? ;)

Oops, I think my phone mysteriously deleted a key word above. Should have been "contingently foregone conclusion." But yeah, I am sure I would be able to find a way to live just fine without the mirrored performance screen that I will be setting up on the Axe III. I assume the comparable feature that you already had setup might actually be incrementally better than Fractals implementation (baseless hunch before actually trying out the software), but there are a handful of good reasons why it would be really helpful to be able to have both.
 
FracPad III 3.21 is available (soon on iOS, probably tomorrow when Apple will have validated it) :

  • AxeFx III firmware 10.02 compatibility
  • AxeFx III tuner display mode taken into account when displaying tuner
  • AxeFx III Per-preset and global Perform screens can now be displayed in Perform Mode
  • Old Performance mode renamed to Song mode to avoid confusion

 
By the way, I recall seeing some mentioning of the wireless Silex units along the way in this thread somewhere, but I don't recall seeing any testing or confirmation. Anyway, I am wondering if it should be possible to use FracPad on an Android phone that is wirelessly connected to an Axe III through a Silex unit. Seems like it should and should be able to test it out myself in a week or two, but wanted to ask in advance.
 
FracPad III 3.21 is available (soon on iOS, probably tomorrow when Apple will have validated it) :


    • AxeFx III firmware 10.02 compatibility
    • AxeFx III tuner display mode taken into account when displaying tuner
    • AxeFx III Per-preset and global Perform screens can now be displayed in Perform Mode
    • Old Performance mode renamed to Song mode to avoid confusion

Damn you work fast! I'll go ahead and plan to skip the trial and go straight to a purchased license!
 
By the way, I recall seeing some mentioning of the wireless Silex units along the way in this thread somewhere, but I don't recall seeing any testing or confirmation. Anyway, I am wondering if it should be possible to use FracPad on an Android phone that is wirelessly connected to an Axe III through a Silex unit. Seems like it should and should be able to test it out myself in a week or two, but wanted to ask in advance.
I've never heard anybody using this, can you point me to the company building it?
 
Oh and my previous comment about testing was misstated. langohr has confirmed elsewhere that it works with computers, but I do not recall seeing any direct confirmation for mobile devices. It is not a deal breaker for me. It would be very convenient if it worked though, and I am sure there has to be some other mobile device users that would like to have WiFi level range rather than the limitations of bluetooth.
 
FracPad III 3.21 is available (soon on iOS, probably tomorrow when Apple will have validated it) :


    • AxeFx III firmware 10.02 compatibility
    • AxeFx III tuner display mode taken into account when displaying tuner
    • AxeFx III Per-preset and global Perform screens can now be displayed in Perform Mode
    • Old Performance mode renamed to Song mode to avoid confusion
iOS 3.21 is available
 
Hello Alex,

Dont know if it is the new software version , but after installing this latest version, my android USB host is crashing in about - minutes after switching trough the presets with the MFC-101. I have to reboot my usb host to get it up and running again. Mouse and all usb features are dead and FracPad closes by itself
I have AxeFx 2 running on Android V10

Any suggestions? Can i revert back to 3.20?

Remon
 
Hello Alex,

Dont know if it is the new software version , but after installing this latest version, my android USB host is crashing in about - minutes after switching trough the presets with the MFC-101. I have to reboot my usb host to get it up and running again. Mouse and all usb features are dead and FracPad closes by itself
I have AxeFx 2 running on Android V10

Any suggestions? Can i revert back to 3.20?

Remon
Hi,
Yes but i doubt this is the culprit, no big change in latest version... Sending you the previous in pm
 
Thank you Alex... somehow i knew i could wait for a strait away answer..
I will let you know if everting to 3.20 made any diffrence.

Regards
Remon
 
I am happy to confirm that the wireless USB Device Serve from Silex worked flawlessly this weekend. In my case, I am using the DS-520AN wireless unit.

The device literally functions just like you are directly connected with a USB cable with no drop off in performance, so you can do things beyond just using FracPad wirelessly with this unit (e.g. Fractal Bot, using the Axe as a USB audio interface for recording and backing tracks, and even Axe Edit). Oh and the wireless range is as far as your wireless network will reach. I have not noticed any hiccups or lag in my limited usage so far, but I have not tried recording/software monitoring yet. Setup was super easy too (5 to 10 minutes).

I contacted Silex about Android connectivity. It does not appear like it would be possible to wirelessly connect to the Axe using an Android or IOS device at this time. However, they do have a SDK available for both IOS and Android for software developers to use to allow their apps for these mobile devices to connect to the unit. I don’t have any experience coding, so I don’t know how difficult it would be to try to integrate this into FracPad or for Silex to release their own connectivity app that would then allow other apps to recognize the wireless USB device without the USB OTG connection. I did some digging for other examples of Android devices being able to wirelessly access USB servers and came up empty handed and also did not find any obvious workarounds either.

This Silex solution is not perfect, and here are some limitations that I have deduced so far (note, I could be wrong about some of this).
  • The DS-520AN option, which is the wireless unit, only works by connecting to existing wireless networks. It does not appear to be able to broadcast its own network signal for devices to connect to it directly.
  • The manual mentioned having to factory reset the DS-520AN every time you want to connect to a different network (rather than being able to remember multiple networks), which significantly decreases its portability (although it is otherwise small and lightweight).
  • There is a cheaper option, the DS-510, which does not have wireless built in. - The DS-510 would be interesting to someone who had the ability to connect the unit via ethernet to their network.
  • Also, the DS-510 might be interesting to someone who wanted to connect this unit to a dedicated router to create a direct wireless connection to their computer (e.g. when out at a gig). If you wanted to be able to do this while also having internet access (assuming you did not have an internet connection to broadcast with this setup), you would have to do a little research on how to connect your computer to two wifi networks at the same time. It is doable and relatively easy, just an extra step. Also, this setup would require another device and power connection silex unit and small router).
  • Finally, cost is a consideration here with the wireless DS-520AN being $160 and the wired DS-510 is $89.
 
I am happy to confirm that the wireless USB Device Serve from Silex worked flawlessly this weekend. In my case, I am using the DS-520AN wireless unit.

The device literally functions just like you are directly connected with a USB cable with no drop off in performance, so you can do things beyond just using FracPad wirelessly with this unit (e.g. Fractal Bot, using the Axe as a USB audio interface for recording and backing tracks, and even Axe Edit). Oh and the wireless range is as far as your wireless network will reach. I have not noticed any hiccups or lag in my limited usage so far, but I have not tried recording/software monitoring yet. Setup was super easy too (5 to 10 minutes).

I contacted Silex about Android connectivity. It does not appear like it would be possible to wirelessly connect to the Axe using an Android or IOS device at this time. However, they do have a SDK available for both IOS and Android for software developers to use to allow their apps for these mobile devices to connect to the unit. I don’t have any experience coding, so I don’t know how difficult it would be to try to integrate this into FracPad or for Silex to release their own connectivity app that would then allow other apps to recognize the wireless USB device without the USB OTG connection. I did some digging for other examples of Android devices being able to wirelessly access USB servers and came up empty handed and also did not find any obvious workarounds either.

This Silex solution is not perfect, and here are some limitations that I have deduced so far (note, I could be wrong about some of this).
  • The DS-520AN option, which is the wireless unit, only works by connecting to existing wireless networks. It does not appear to be able to broadcast its own network signal for devices to connect to it directly.
  • The manual mentioned having to factory reset the DS-520AN every time you want to connect to a different network (rather than being able to remember multiple networks), which significantly decreases its portability (although it is otherwise small and lightweight).
  • There is a cheaper option, the DS-510, which does not have wireless built in. - The DS-510 would be interesting to someone who had the ability to connect the unit via ethernet to their network.
  • Also, the DS-510 might be interesting to someone who wanted to connect this unit to a dedicated router to create a direct wireless connection to their computer (e.g. when out at a gig). If you wanted to be able to do this while also having internet access (assuming you did not have an internet connection to broadcast with this setup), you would have to do a little research on how to connect your computer to two wifi networks at the same time. It is doable and relatively easy, just an extra step. Also, this setup would require another device and power connection silex unit and small router).
  • Finally, cost is a consideration here with the wireless DS-520AN being $160 and the wired DS-510 is $89.
If it's regular usb it should work directly on ios or Android
 
If it's regular usb it should work directly on ios or Android

I think you might be missing the link here (pun intended, you'll see). The setup is the Axe's USB connects to the Silex unit, the Silex unit connects to your wifi network, your computer connects to your wifi network, your computer runs Silex's little application that allows your computer to wirelessly access the USB device that is being served over the network via the Silex unit. There is no direct USB connection from the Axe to the computer or Android device.

It is kind of the same issue that you would face when trying to connect an Android phone to a wireless printer. In this case, you need either a dedicated app, a plugin that would work across apps, or Google Cloud Print to be able to connect and communicate with the wireless printer on your network.

This is the feedback that I got from Silex "I confirmed that we do not have a standalone application to enable device access from an Android phone. The Android SDK is for app manufacturers to embedded the capabilities into their applications."

This link explains things even more (https://www.silextechnology.com/unw...ss-ipad-and-iphone-to-usb-device-connectivity).
 
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