Lag when switching presets. Can it be fixed?

CrazyBadGuitarist

CrazyBadGuitarist

Inspired
Hey guys, I tried searching the forum for this, but could not find it. Sorry if this is something that's been answered before.

I have lag when switching presets. I can't just switch instantaneously from one patch to another. Is there some setting on the axe fx that could fix this? The lag is silence, it's not like it keeps the first tone for longer, I click the button, it goes silent and then switches to the next one. There's gotta be something that can be done. I find it hard to believe that this piece of equipment that seems to do anything, would have such an irritating flaw.

Thanks!

Dan
 
Use scenes for seamless changes, its what they are meant for, you can turn effects on/off, change X/Y states of amps etc.

Really no need to change a preset in the middle of a song, and if your changing presets between songs, then a 1 second delay hardly is an issue.

Hardly a flaw IMO. Your loading a whole new amp and effects chain with each new preset. How is that supposed to be seamless ?
 
Yeah, I was just hoping it was possible. How is it supposed to be possible? I'm not sure, that's why I'm asking. Computers are fast. I have no idea how fast the Axe FX is. That's why I'm asking. It would just be nice to not be limited in any way. That being said, I've never felt limited with the Axe FX until this, and I can totally live with this, as I do use scenes :) I was just curious.
 
yeah i thought the exact same thing until i understood scenes after buying the axe FX 2 XL+ unit. YOu dont need it being real fast switching, as you simply use scenes, then everything is already loaded up and sweet, its instant then.
 
Yes, computers are fast, as is the Axe, but there are limitations. When I load some rhodes keyboard samples into my sampler, and then want to switch to a grand piano sound, its not seamless. Even using the fastest SSD's for storage the system still has to load all the samples.

Change presets and you've got a whole new order of effects blocks, different routing options, new amp model, new cabs etc. Just don't see how it could be expected to do that instantly...

Really don't understand how its limiting you either, if you already use and understand scene mode ?
 
lqdsnddist said:
Yes, computers are fast, as is the Axe, but there are limitations. When I load some rhodes keyboard samples into my sampler, and then want to switch to a grand piano sound, its not seamless. Even using the fastest SSD's for storage the system still has to load all the samples.

Change presets and you've got a whole new order of effects blocks, different routing options, new amp model, new cabs etc. Just don't see how it could be expected to do that instantly...

Really don't understand how its limiting you either, if you already use and understand scene mode ?
Click to expand...

I think my problem is that I'm still new to the Axe FX and don't quite understand complex signal chains. For example, I want to go from my crystal clear clean tone to my brutal metal tone seamlessly. As it stands, I have 2 presets for this. However these is a gap/lag in between, and I'd like it to go seamlessly. I'm using scenes to change the effects during a preset, so I don't have to tap dance the effects buttons on the MFC.
 
Ok I understand now. I can use both amp blocks for the two amps I like, the problem is, the amp for my metal tone I like, is already using both amp blocks and blending the sound together. I've never heard anything like it before. It's great. So I guess if I feel like I HAVE to keep that tone, then I have to use two presets and switch between them and deal with it?
 
I don't think you can ever have 100% seamless switching. The mere fact that a completely different set of blocks (amps, cabs, effects etc) has to be loaded means that there will be a gap.

The faster the system, the shorter the gap, but there will always be a gap.
 
What's your CPU load?

Switching between X/Y on the amp block indeed does introduce a small gap, but it should be almost unnoticable.
 
Just asking, you wouldn't happen to be connected to Axe Edit while your switching would you? I know that running AE adds quite a bit of lag during switching scenes and presets.
 
Lag when changing between presets cannot be fixed.
Lag when changing between amp x/y also can't be fixed.

Use scenes and multiple amp blocks. Then you will be seamless.

Btw, One thing i find weird is that changing presets via midi (In my case via DAW) creates lag, but changing on the front panel doesn't (Or at least it doesn't seem noticeable). Could it be a programming issue?
 
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FreeMind said:
Lag when changing between presets cannot be fixed.
Lag when changing between amp x/y also can't be fixed.

Use scenes and multiple amp blocks. Then you will be seamless.

Btw, One thing i find weird is that changing presets via midi (In my case via DAW) creates lag, but changing on the front panel doesn't (Or at least it doesn't seem noticeable). Could it be a programming issue?
Click to expand...


I think it works faster with ordinairy midi than with FCB eternet cable. At least what I can remember. Maybe because of the two direction communication.
 
Not sure if this is the case here, but don't forget that having AxeEdit hooked up and open whilst programming creates considerable, additional lag too
 
Alright, thanks for the feedback everybody. Appreciated. I will have to learn how to design a signal chain much better. The problem I'm having with this, is my main tone for gain is a combination between two amps. An Engl and a Mesa. So I need both amp blocks for this. I'd like to be able to go from a clean tone that I've designed, to my gain tone without gaps. I guess I'm out of luck with this if I want to keep my gain tone. Most of my gain tone is coming from one of the amps, and the other is just colouring it slightly, but it's noticeable when I bypass that block. I mean, I'd have to be REALLY fussy to not be able to find ONE more tone I'm satisfied with, when I have all these amps at my disposal hahaha.

Thanks everybody, I'm sure I can figure this out :)
 
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Jan Geerts said:
I have lags when using scenes two when changing the xy state of two amps.
Click to expand...

This is normal because the Axe Fx has to dump the current amp information and load the new amp information.
You can minimise this by using the same amp for X and Y states and just varying the parameters, but I realise that doesn't work for everyone.

The less information that is changed between X and Y states, the more seamless it is.
 
CrazyBadGuitarist said:
The problem I'm having with this, is my main tone for gain is a combination between two amps. An Engl and a Mesa. So I need both amp blocks for this. I'd like to be able to go from a clean tone that I've designed, to my gain tone without gaps.
Click to expand...

You can assign a scene controller to the Gain and Master on the amps and have it be low gain for one scene then regular/high gain on another. There's no real latency or dropouts that I've noticed for those type of adjustments.
 
I brought out my high speed video recorder and Nuclear driven clock to check out exactly how much time it takes to change presets.
Spent about two full days recording, measuring, and rechecking all my data.
.
I found that the time it takes me to move my foot up and down to change the preset was over three times what it takes for the AFX to change presets.
I will be spending the next six months doing extensive foot speed tapping, then foot arpeggios, then foot sweeping. I realized, foot speed is where it's at!
.
I am sure with the new speed that I will have in my toes, my tones will be brutalz!
 
Hellbat said:
You can assign a scene controller to the Gain and Master on the amps and have it be low gain for one scene then regular/high gain on another. There's no real latency or dropouts that I've noticed for those type of adjustments.
Click to expand...

Nope, using scene controllers is 100% seamless
 
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