thegrindcorps
Member
I Have been using the FCB1010 with uno I got for $90 and it has been nothing but hell for me and my band. Programming it manually is abominable. Using uno editing software has been nothing but glitches. While I am able to get by with it, a major concern is that my band is not adept at midi as I am and it is destroying our songwriting, performance and sound creation workflow to have that or no midi controller at all since it might as well be chinese to them. It wouldn't be a big issue except for the fact in this band I'm THE DRUMMER! We play psychedelic technical death metal. Lots of high gain magic but also we use alot of ambient soundscape type stuff and switch around between drastically different sounds withing songs and within our band as a whole.
Our guitarist had been using a pod hd500 before I got axe fxII for myself and our band for studio and particularly live applications. We tried using the pod as a midi controller and it has also been less than satisfactory and even though I don't know the pod I'm the only one with any idea of how to use its midi capabilities to harness the so many of the things that make the axe fx great. We write songs together but our guitarist is very creative when it comes to shaping cool tones. However with the axe so far this has been hindered by not having a proper midi foot board obviously. I make presets and Ideas for him as well but like I said the lack of midi control live, and in rehearsal/writing is destroying his workflow and really making it hard for his awesome creativity to come through with the AXE. An especially sad fact considering I haven't heard too many people get more out of their pod than him.
So very soon I am looking to buy a high end midi foot board. A few things i'm considering in making a decision are price, flexibility, intuitive ease of use(particularly for my band) and availability. we would like to be able to group presets by songs and sets and then use scenes within these to switch between bypass states of effects in our presets etc... vs having certain buttons dedicated to switching on and off particular blocks due to the fact that we use diverse arrangements of blocks and the fact that to do some of the stuff we do it seems having one button dedicated soley to say bypass reverb and one to bypass peq among all the other crazy configurations we have could lead to some difficult tap dancing, particularly live when we are playing at 300bpm and beyond.
Availability was a large issue until I found out the mfc-101 mkIII is now in stock. I talked to gordius last week about getting one of their big little giants and they are moving and indefinitely on hiatus for fulfilling orders. Not to mention when considering the options with my band the gordius may be a little to complex for their creative workflow which is very important.
The last option i've been looking into is the RJM GT/22 Mastermind. It looks amazing and fairly intuitive to use as well but the price is quite up there. The one thing I like about that is it seems very flexible controlling things outside of axe fx, the displays make navigating the footboard easier and it offers fairly easy programming from the pedal itself as well as software editor. I could see myself using this to control all other sorts of midi devices including live performances of electronic music quite easily and it seems to be up to any future challenges something like axe-fx III or some other type device might offer years down the road.... But the price. And i'm not sure about the simplicity factor for my guitarist who would much rather be creative and make music(i can't blame him) than worry about programming midi.
That said do you think the best bet is to go for the mfc-mkIII in terms of easy integration with fractal axe fx II and intuitive workflow for my band and others who also use my axe fx? Or is there something that would make the GT/22 worth the extra 1k. Something down the road or something it does better with axe fx?
Any experience and opinions would be appreciated. I'm leaning toward ordering the MFC within the next few days, maybe even today before it goes out of stock knowing its a solid product with great integrability, solid work flow and I'm sure its no slouch in midi applications beyond simply working with Axe-Fx.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
One more question. I know the gordius little giant can be used to control and make slave the fcb1010, does it have a similar capability with the mfc?
Our guitarist had been using a pod hd500 before I got axe fxII for myself and our band for studio and particularly live applications. We tried using the pod as a midi controller and it has also been less than satisfactory and even though I don't know the pod I'm the only one with any idea of how to use its midi capabilities to harness the so many of the things that make the axe fx great. We write songs together but our guitarist is very creative when it comes to shaping cool tones. However with the axe so far this has been hindered by not having a proper midi foot board obviously. I make presets and Ideas for him as well but like I said the lack of midi control live, and in rehearsal/writing is destroying his workflow and really making it hard for his awesome creativity to come through with the AXE. An especially sad fact considering I haven't heard too many people get more out of their pod than him.
So very soon I am looking to buy a high end midi foot board. A few things i'm considering in making a decision are price, flexibility, intuitive ease of use(particularly for my band) and availability. we would like to be able to group presets by songs and sets and then use scenes within these to switch between bypass states of effects in our presets etc... vs having certain buttons dedicated to switching on and off particular blocks due to the fact that we use diverse arrangements of blocks and the fact that to do some of the stuff we do it seems having one button dedicated soley to say bypass reverb and one to bypass peq among all the other crazy configurations we have could lead to some difficult tap dancing, particularly live when we are playing at 300bpm and beyond.
Availability was a large issue until I found out the mfc-101 mkIII is now in stock. I talked to gordius last week about getting one of their big little giants and they are moving and indefinitely on hiatus for fulfilling orders. Not to mention when considering the options with my band the gordius may be a little to complex for their creative workflow which is very important.
The last option i've been looking into is the RJM GT/22 Mastermind. It looks amazing and fairly intuitive to use as well but the price is quite up there. The one thing I like about that is it seems very flexible controlling things outside of axe fx, the displays make navigating the footboard easier and it offers fairly easy programming from the pedal itself as well as software editor. I could see myself using this to control all other sorts of midi devices including live performances of electronic music quite easily and it seems to be up to any future challenges something like axe-fx III or some other type device might offer years down the road.... But the price. And i'm not sure about the simplicity factor for my guitarist who would much rather be creative and make music(i can't blame him) than worry about programming midi.
That said do you think the best bet is to go for the mfc-mkIII in terms of easy integration with fractal axe fx II and intuitive workflow for my band and others who also use my axe fx? Or is there something that would make the GT/22 worth the extra 1k. Something down the road or something it does better with axe fx?
Any experience and opinions would be appreciated. I'm leaning toward ordering the MFC within the next few days, maybe even today before it goes out of stock knowing its a solid product with great integrability, solid work flow and I'm sure its no slouch in midi applications beyond simply working with Axe-Fx.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
One more question. I know the gordius little giant can be used to control and make slave the fcb1010, does it have a similar capability with the mfc?