New AX8 Owner, am I doing something wrong?

calleballe11

calleballe11

Experienced
Hi guys,

Got my AX8 a couple of days and spent the first few hours running through the factory presets.

It sounds awesome BUT.... I'm now trying to create my first patches, and I can't begin to fill the grid with effects (FX ONLY) before the CPU is full? Adding just a drive and a plate reverb takes up 50 (50!!)% of the CPU. Adding the other stuff I would need for a upcoming gig like chorus/trem and a stacked drive OR some multitap-delay settings is out of the question...I know you can save CPU by switching to a Spring reverb but come on?? Why do they call it AX8 if you can only use 4 FX blocks before you start compromising your own tone??

It sounds incredible as a studio unit though! But maybe I'm just missing a setting or something...
 
Last edited:
I got mine a couple of days ago too and think it is under powered , heck people were even complaining about the cpu limit on the axefx 2 when running the new hi res reverbs. Its a shame because I love the form factor and think its a well put together piece of kit.
 
If you can live with Spring reverb, that saves a lot of CPU. Try not to create "kitchen sink" presets and use normal quality reverb.

If you can't live with normal quality and spring reverb, then you may have to make more presets that have specific groups of effects and not every effect that you might need.

Need more power and want Fractal amp and effects? Get an AxeFX.

I just created this using default settings for everything except the reverb. It's at 73%.

AX8Sample.jpg
 
Last edited:
Yeah but I'm not even using the amps...For live purposes i mean. Why are people so easily offended when people point out faults in Fractal units?
 
For the most part I see helpful posts offering suggestions. Of course the AX8 has faults, no piece of gear is perfect.

Plus, the amp block uses it's own chip and the cab block uses a hardware accelerator. Adding those in does not take much of the overall CPU.

I just created another test with only an amp block and a cab block. It's at 17% CPU.
 
Last edited:
Don't use high res on the verbs, you won't hear the difference. Also back off the density a bit. That'll save quite a bit. Plus, you're talking about some of the more cpu intensive blocks. Why not try and finish building out the patch and see where you are? Seems a little early in your experience with the unit to be upset about to.
 
jlynnb1 said:
Don't use high res on the verbs, you won't hear the difference. Also back off the density a bit. That'll save quite a bit. Plus, you're talking about some of the more cpu intensive blocks. Why not try and finish building out the patch and see where you are? Seems a little early in your experience with the unit to be upset about to.
Click to expand...

YOURE THE MAN!!! Lowering density went from 100% CPU usage to 73. Love this forum :)
EDIT: Nope. Went back to not working..

I think I sound more upset than i am. I LOVE the unit into monitors. But there's always disappointment when you sit down with something the first time and it does half of what my ultra did. What is Echo Density anyway??

I also ran into a few bugs, where do I go to help fractal with them?
 
Post any bugs you find in this forum, and they will be noticed.

Note that Spring Reverb doesn't differentiate between High and Normal Quality. There isn't an audible difference and CPU stays the same.

The AX8 manual provides CPU-saving tips. Also look here:
http://wiki.fractalaudio.com/axefx2...et_size#How_to_decrease_or_increase_CPU_usage

With smart programming you can have presets that provide a lot of functionality, within CPU limits.

Echo Density is explained in the (Axe-Fx) manual:

Controls the initial density of the reverb tail. Higher values give a smoother sound. Lower values allow the individual repeats to be more easily discerned. This determines the overall smoothness of the tail (along with the DIFFUSION and SIZE parameters.) Large SIZE values will make the individual echoes more apparent, as will lower values of DIFFUSION. For legato sounds, a low DENSITY value may be more suitable. For short, percussive sounds, a higher value may be more desirable as the reverb tail will be smoother.​
 
I suppose you could look at it like:

normal operation is low res, low density verb, but with the 'option' to tweak the verb, (at the expense of other effects). Because, it sure looks like verb is the culprit here

Which would just mean basically, that the factory presets could be adjusted, which actually is my experience in general.
 
Last edited:
I hope they find a way to reduce CPU load from the reverbs, or the ability to "downgrade" them further, that would make me a hugely happier customer...
 
The Reverb block can be a pig. Our philosophy was to give the user the option to use it in all it's high-quality glory rather than give them the typical grainy, cheesy sounding reverbs in similar products. Using Normal Quality mode and reducing the echo density will reduce the CPU usage (at the expense of sound quality).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom