I need your thoughts....

I am considering picking up an MFC-101 mkII as I can find one for less than $500. I have an Axe-Fx II XL+. I know the mkII will work fine with it, but is it more worth my time to save up for the mkIII? What are the pros and cons of going with one vs. the other? The major factor for me is saving about $200.
 
I am also considering a Voodoo Labs Ground Control Pro, but I am not sure if it is compatible with scenes, and I’ve never programmed a MIDI controller before, so I like that the MFC is essentially plug and play.
 
The MkII will be an excellent controller for the XL you have. Much more so than the Voodoo Labs unit.

I wouldn’t sweat the MkII vs MkIII differences if you can get a MkII at a good price. You can add a FASLink box to take advantage of XLR connectivity and the switches are just fine in the older units.
 
I got a III because I wanted the easy capability to access scenes with the bottom row without the Reveal button.
 
Just so there's no ambiguity: you can do this with a MkI and MkII MFC as well.
I’ve been reading about the reveal function in the manual and have found in section 5.5 of the manual where it says that the reveal function only works in conjunction with the preset switches. I was under the impression that all of the foot switches could have a second function (via reveal) whether IA, preset or otherwise.
 
I’ve been reading about the reveal function in the manual and have found in section 5.5 of the manual where it says that the reveal function only works in conjunction with the preset switches. I was under the impression that all of the foot switches could have a second function (via reveal) whether IA, preset or otherwise.
The manual is correct. Reveal only works with preset switches. So you can reveal IA switches "underneath" preset switches.

But that's not what @grandinq said. I believe he was comparing the MFC to the Voodoo Labs unit when he made his statement but it read as if the MkIII had some reveal or scene access functions that the MkI and MkII do not have and that's not true.
 
I would avoid the GCP if you want to use scenes. It can be done, but it's way more complex to set up and not nearly as usable.

The FASLink capability is a great benefit. You can use the adapter box as mentioned but that isn't free... About $50.
 
The manual is correct. Reveal only works with preset switches. So you can reveal IA switches "underneath" preset switches.

But that's not what @grandinq said. I believe he was comparing the MFC to the Voodoo Labs unit when he made his statement but it read as if the MkIII had some reveal or scene access functions that the MkI and MkII do not have and that's not true.


I wasn’t referring to another brand of controller. I could be wrong, but I thought that in the MFC Mark II, you couldn’t assign the bottom row of switches to be Scenes. I know after you press Reveal you can get at scenes. I wanted to keep things simple and not have to use Reveal to get at scenes on the bottom row.
 
Well... If you set bank size to something other than 0, can you do it?
Yes. If you use reveal you can reveal scene IAs. Not a problem on any of the MFC versions.

I wasn’t referring to another brand of controller. I could be wrong, but I thought that in the MFC Mark II, you couldn’t assign the bottom row of switches to be Scenes. I know after you press Reveal you can get at scenes. I wanted to keep things simple and not have to use Reveal to get at scenes on the bottom row.
This is incorrect. Bank size works the same on all three models and this is what you would use to put IAs on the bottom row. Those IAs can control scenes just fine on the MkI and MkII.
 
I wasn’t referring to another brand of controller. I could be wrong, but I thought that in the MFC Mark II, you couldn’t assign the bottom row of switches to be Scenes. I know after you press Reveal you can get at scenes. I wanted to keep things simple and not have to use Reveal to get at scenes on the bottom row.
That's what I also thought (as I posted)... There was a whole thread here about how you can actually swap ribbon cables internally to "swap" the first 2 rows of buttons.
 
Yes. If you use reveal you can reveal scene IAs. Not a problem on any of the MFC versions.


This is incorrect. Bank size works the same on all three models and this is what you would use to put IAs on the bottom row. Those IAs can control scenes just fine on the MkI and MkII.
If you want the whole 1st row to be scenes and still have access to preset buttons, that doesn't work.
 
Yes. If you use reveal you can reveal scene IAs. Not a problem on any of the MFC versions.


This is incorrect. Bank size works the same on all three models and this is what you would use to put IAs on the bottom row. Those IAs can control scenes just fine on the MkI and MkII.

Okay, thanks for the correction. I don’t want to spread misinformation.
 
Yes it does! That is what I have been doing since day 1!
Let's step back here so we're not talking across each other: what specifically are you doing?

Edit: I stand corrected. You can rearrange the starting Preset switch in the MkIII and not on the MkI or MkII. Apparently this is only documented in the release notes. From the notes:

The MFC-101 Mark III now allows you to move the preset switch range to anywhere on the board by designating the FirstPresetSwitch. All switches below the first preset switche will be Instant Access Switches. With this, you can move the 5 default preset switches to row 2 or row 3 and use the lower rows for instant access. Parameters like Bank Size and Bank Style are unaffected. We unfortunately cannot fit this feature into original/Mk II firmware. IMPORTANT: PLEASE RE-SELECT YOUR DESIRED “BANK SIZE” AFTER INSTALLING THE UPDATE. For example, if you want BANK SIZE 5, please change to “4” and then back to “5.”

I generally treat the manual as canonical and it hasn't been updated to include this. My apologies for the confusion. @grandinq was (mostly) correct. You'd need a MkIII if you want scenes on the bottom row and preset switches on the upper rows. The right side of that sentence after the "and" is very important.

@Admin M@ can we get a manual update?
 
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Let's step back here so we're not talking across each other: what specifically are you doing?
In "preset" mode, I have IA buttons on switches 1 and 6, scene switches on buttons 2-5 and 7-10 and preset buttons on switches 11-15.

You need to set the option for "first preset switch" (as labelled in MFC-EDIT), which I am pretty certain is available only on mkIII).
 
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