MFC-101... is it worth the money?

L

luke1

New Member
Here in Australia the MFC-101 Mk III is $999 new. Does anyone think it's worth the money? Or do you think it's maybe better off getting a different controller?
 
All depends... of course

MFC is pretty much "tailor made" for the AXE-FX, worth every cent in my book.

on the other side of the money scale, you have the Behringer 1010. Lots of people are happy with that as a budget solution especially with the installed chip which gives it more features
 
Try and find one second hand. I'm in Aus too and got one for $450 used.
Having owned it now, I would pay rrp for it; it is absolutely worth the money.
The simplicity in programming is second to none.
 
dbun said:
Try and find one second hand. I'm in Aus too and got one for $450 used.
Having owned it now, I would pay rrp for it; it is absolutely worth the money.
The simplicity in programming is second to none.
Click to expand...

This. It's a good controller and Axe-FX mode is pretty cool. There's no better option if you want plug-and-play simplicity. There ARE better options if you want really deep functionality and control. That said, I'd never drop enough money on it to buy one new. It's not hard to find a good deal on a used one.
 
I tried the Ground Control Pro for a while and it worked OK, but eventually broke down and got the MFC-101, and I'm glad I did.
 
I love my MFC 101 .. it was expensive .but it is just working perfect, and I love to have something that are designed to complement my axe fx II ..
imho it's the perfect extension for the axe fx II .. and you don't have to work around incompatibility issues .

And I expect to use it for many years to come
 
I think it’s just the cost of living in paradise, isn’t it :)

I bought the MFC in Australia but have since sold it (AU$760 on eBay so definitely hold it’s value well) and bought a MMGT/16.

Value is obviously relative. I had a bit of cash to spare and loving my MMGT/16. Different controllers have different pros and cons. If you want to get the most integrated controller, the MFC is definitely the way to go.
 
I gotta say out of all my purchases, I think the MFC "paid back" the least for me, as I ended up only using preset up/down and scene selection.
Obviously, the MFC is the best "plug and play" solution, but if you can afford the extra minutes to learn how MIDI works, you can make every board work just fine.

I never used the IA switches or the tuner display. The preset name feedback is nice, make no mistake, but it can also be done manually in about every other MIDI board. And since I always have the Axe near me (as I said, the tuner just didn't work for me), I can always turn towards the Axe to see the preset names anyway.


In hindsight, I'd probably buy a smaller, cheaper midi board with expression pedals directly built-in. The Behringer has a problem though, that it can't send Midi messages for other states than 0 and 127 - which kind of prevents you from switching scenes. You need a different firmware chip to do that (like the UNO). Those are inexpensive, but it's still worth mentioning.
 
Depends on how you use it. If you're only using it for basic functions like presets, scenes, tap tempo, tuner, volume/wah expression pedals, etc., the Behringer FCB1010 is perfect. There's a walkthrough on the forum somewhere that explains exactly how to program the FCB to perform those functions. The first time you program it, it might take about an hour to program it. For me, the 2nd time I did a complete re-program, it took less than 15 minutes. Learning MIDI is easier than you think.

I can't fathom any scenario in which I pay full price, or even half price, for an MFC, but that's because I don't need it's full functionality. YMMV
 
To sum it up: The MFC allows for bi-directional communication, whereas 3rd party MIDI boards only provide one-directional communication.
It's up to you if you actually need the visible feedback on block states or preset names. I know I don't.
 
To me, it's worth it, and useful, when I gig out, although I'd really try to find a used on, if they go for that much over there.

If I'm just doing bedroom studio workouts, I hardly ever hook it up - so if that's your situation, I'd say, "No, not necessary".

I tried the FCB1010 and GCP - both required a pretty extensive bit of programming to make them useful, and you don't get tuning or name functionality. You "can" program in a preset name with either of these, but if you change a preset on the AxeFx, it still stays the same name you programmed in on the FCB1010 and GCP. With the Fractal MFC101 it's ready to go - if you change a name, or a block function or state, it automatically updates, and shows the state. The first two pedals had some functionality, and weren't entirely useless, but the MFC101 was made for the AxeFx.
 
api4u said:
With the Fractal MFC101 it's ready to go - if you change a name, or a block function or state, it automatically updates, and shows the state. The first two pedals had some functionality, and weren't entirely useless, but the MFC101 was made for the AxeFx.
Click to expand...

This is one thing I love about the MFC. I rarely hook it up apart from when I'm gigging, but I can tweak presets on the Axe Fx; upload, move and shift presets around to reflect my setlist; save effect blocks in whatever state I need; and when I plug everything in at the gig the MFC syncs perfectly and reflects everything 'as-is' on the Axe Fx.
 
I used both a FCB1010 and a LiquidFoot Pro. To me, the ground controller was a lot more important before Fractal introduced Scenes and the amp modeling got so good, so plug and play. I pretty much only use my controller to change presets and scenes or maybe turn a drive on and off now and then. I think you can do that with the cheap ones, too.

On the other, it is a real pain in the rear to program these things if you haven't done it before. So if you have your retirement plan on track, avoiding that is easily worth a $1,000.
 
Yes, it is worth it. Everything else seems to be making do... very much out of step with the idea of using an Axe Fx to start with to my mind.
 
Totes worth it! Ease of use aside, it looks so cool. Of all the folk that i have shown my fractal setup, people seem to be more interested in the MFC (the people who dont know what an Axe Fx is of course, and there are still a few); which is cool, it keeps their mits off the other stuff.
 
"Does anyone think it's worth the money? Or do you think it's maybe better off getting a different controller?"

No its probably not worth it (unless you have an Axe FX)
 
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