Keeping two Axe-Fx III units sync’d/mirrored

[getlostinsound]

I have an Axe FX III that I keep at my church, which is where I work 4-5 days during the week and where I play on Sundays. It’s racked up with a mixer and wireless IEM transmitter. I take that rack with me any time I perform elsewhere, and also use this rack mixer for running sound for smaller events. I’ve found it much easier to just let it “live” at the church when it’s not being used elsewhere (rather than bringing it home daily), since that’s where it sees the most action.

I also have an Axe FX II that lives in my home studio, which is great for recording and for my enjoyment — it’s an incredible unit —, but I’m finding that I want to be able to pull up tones from my III when I’m at home, either for recording or for tweaking/updating/refining.

I’m considering selling the II and purchasing another III to live in my home studio. If I did this, I think it would be best for my organization (and sanity) to keep the same presets on both units. I should note that it might also be nice to be able to test newer firmwares on the “home” unit, and then upgrade the “live” unit once I’m comfortable with the new firmware.

Could you recommend from your experience what you think would be the best workflow for keeping them sync’d/mirrored? I’d think to get it going at first, a full backup of the current Axe to loaded to the new Axe would be the way to go. Should I keep doing full backup each time I want to “sync” them, or just save individual presets and load them up? Has anyone tried a cloud-based solution for this (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.)?

 

[chris]

Could you recommend from your experience what you think would be the best workflow for keeping them sync’d/mirrored? I’d think to get it going at first, a full backup of the current Axe to loaded to the new Axe would be the way to go. Should I keep doing full backup each time I want to “sync” them, or just save individual presets and load them up? Has anyone tried a cloud-based solution for this (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.)?

you can backup one or several things at a time. so if you don't change the user cabs and only focus on a few presets, you could just export those few presets after changes were made and load it on the other axe3.

do a full backup the first time of course, load that on the other axe. the files are small, so dropbox etc works like any other file.

 

[Karl Houseknecht]

I've been taking my Macbook to Wednesday rehearsal and doing any patch transfers or firmware updates there before Sunday service. Ideally, I want to get a cheap Windows tablet that will run FractalBot and use that instead.

What would be fantastic is a way to use a thumb drive with the existing USB port and some kind of adapter. Is that possible, @FractalAudio ?

 

[getlostinsound]

you can backup one or several things at a time. so if you don't change the user cabs and only focus on a few presets, you could just export those few presets after changes were made and load it on the other axe3.

do a full backup the first time of course, load that on the other axe. the files are small, so dropbox etc works like any other file.

Ok cool, that sounds like it wouldn't be too complicated. Good advice on the cabs - I rarely make user cabs, so that would save time and space in the backup process. Maybe I'll just save my backups directly to my Google Drive folder so I can snag them from anywhere. Thanks!

I've been taking my Macbook to Wednesday rehearsal and doing any patch transfers or firmware updates there before Sunday service.

Ok, cool. I pretty much always have my computer with me at church or at home, so that's probably what I would do too. Thanks.

What would be fantastic is a way to use a thumb drive with the existing USB port and some kind of adapter. Is that possible, @FractalAudio ?

That would be cool, but I don't think USB 2.0 allows a USB device to become a USB host on the same port. Here's hoping this can be a feature of the FM3 though (since it has both a host port and a device port).

 

[skunc]

I maintain several Axe IIIs. I keep one bank (say A Bank) dedicated to performance programs. When I create new programs I save off the A bank that I've created the new programs. With the Sysx stored in a few different locations I can load up the other Axe IIIs. I store my A Bank sysx and system files every session. I have the rest of the files that don't change (all the other banks, cabs, etc.) with backups of firmware, Fractal Bot, Axe Edit on a laptop, stand alone drive (thumb drive) and Dropbox. Sometimes I'll even email them to myself. As long as they are all labeled it's easy to go back if you need to find something or restore a Firmware. It may seem like a lot to go through, but it's not. Having a technical issue and no WiFi, or worse, no backups, that's a lot to go through.

 

[GuitarDojo]

Fractal Cloud Sync or Frapaccino for short


(I just made that up)

you're welcome

 

[Mark Scrivener]

....What would be fantastic is a way to use a thumb drive with the existing USB port and some kind of adapter....

Too late for the FX III, but on a future unit I'd love to see a USB A port (the type you can plug a thumb drive into) and the ability to backup and restore complete setups from a USB thumb drive. Would be great for touring and piece of mind. Prob not a huge number of users who need this, so no surprise Fractal hasn't implemented it yet.

 

[getlostinsound]

Too late for the FX III, but on a future unit I'd love to see a USB A port (the type you can plug a thumb drive into) and the ability to backup and restore complete setups from a USB thumb drive. Would be great for touring and piece of mind. Prob not a huge number of users who need this, so no surprise Fractal hasn't implemented it yet.

Well, the upcoming FM3 does have a USB-A port. Hopefully we’ll see what its capabilities are soon.

 

[Admin M@]

I use Dropbox to keep Axe-Edit's library and Fractal-Bot's receive files sync'd across computers. Works great. Just leave time to do your installs when you get to the new machine. It takes a few minutes for a preset bank to transfer.