New to Fractal and inspired!

RevDrucifer

Fractal Fanatic
I’ve been following Fractal Audio ever since the very start of the company, I’m not even sure if the units were in production yet when Cliff started discussing it on the forum we were on. I’ve never been opposed to technology working it’s way into the guitar world and very much welcome it with open arms, so when I first heard the sound samples on the first incarnation of Fractal’s website, I was blown away and anxiously anticipating a purchase.

Life, however, had to play some catch-up. I wasn’t in the financial situation to purchase an AxeFX for quite some time. For the last decade I’ve followed the company, the AxeFX and other products from the sidelines, with a gleam in my eye, anxiously awaiting to get myself together enough to finally buy something. (I almost had an AX8 in my hands a couple years back, but decided an engagement ring was going to have to take priority!) For that entire decade, any grocery list my wife would make, I would add “AxeFX” to it. I tried sneaking one onto our wedding registry but was shot down. :D

Finally, the time came where I could order an AxeFX III. I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase the FC-6 as well. I took half a day off from work to ensure I was home to accept the delivery and was practically shaking with excitement when UPS knocked on my door. I immediately set it up in my studio and replaced my Focusrite Scarlet Solo with the AxeFX III as an interface. It was a seamless change in every aspect, I just have a lot more options now.
I’m using a 2012 MacBook Pro, running High Sierra and use Logic Pro X as my DAW. I’m running the AxeFX III into a small mixer which sends the audio to a pair of Yamaha HS-5’s. I’ve also got a random subwoofer being fed from the mixer as the HS-5’s don’t really put out the bass response I find necessary.

Initially, I just wanted to run through all the presets in the III to hear what I’ve been missing out on all these years. I ran a USB from my MacBook into the III so I could open Axe Edit and see what was going on without leaning over and going through the front panel on the III. Again, another seamless task. As I scrolled through the presets and tested them out, time after time I was blown away by the sound coming out of my monitors. It’s something that must be experienced as reading about it on a forum or article does not full express the punch and dynamics coming from the III. Over the last few years I’ve been tracking music using various plug-ins and amp sims, as well as the traditional way of mic’ing a speaker cabinet. I’ve often found that even the best of plug-ins require me to adjust my playing slightly to track properly. It’s not a latency issue, it’s just in the way they feel. This is not the case with the III. I feel like I’m plugged into an amp. Period.

After an hour or two of non-stop playing, I decided to plug in my FC-6 to see how easy it was to start programming. Due to the features and capabilities of the FC series, I was concerned it would take me a while to figure it out, but that was not the case. I think within 2-3 minutes I set up the FC-6 to scroll through the presets and scenes. Amazingly intuitive.

I took a break from checking out the presets and wanted to track some guitars to get an idea of how I was going to go about it in the future. The only thing I had to do in Logic was set the AxeFX as my Input and Output, after that, it was as easy as creating a track, selecting the input and pressing the R button to start recording. I had zero latency issues, thanks to the ability to monitor the AxeFX through the speakers without Logic’s assistance. Exactly what was already coming out of the speakers is exactly what was getting recorded. Being able to tweak the tones via Axe Edit and not having to lean over to the front panel made adjustments so much faster. Within 3 hours of setting up the unit, I was already tracking guitars.

I’ve never re-amped guitar tones before, but again, the III made this so simple, I learned the process in a matter of minutes and was already going through the process to audition different tones.

It will take me a while to discover all the capabilities of the III. So far, I haven’t played with much else aside from the basic amp controls/speaker cabinets because that’s all I’ve needed to get the tones I was looking for. I hear a lot of people saying “I don’t want to spend forever pushing buttons and turning knobs to get my tone.” Well, you don’t have to. Of course, the option is there and you can go to town doing so, but you can also plug it in, make 3-4 EQ/Drive adjustments and be on your way.

This is everything I hoped it would be and more. My wife is now referring to it as “The Homewrecker” as I did not leave my studio for about 10 hours straight my first night with it. I’m sitting at work daydreaming of getting out so I go home and start playing again. After years of playing through the same gear, while it always worked for me, this is a whole new territory where there are zero compromises. Having a vehicle to bring you to this place is something I could only wish all musicians could experience.
 
You made the right purchase! I've used the Kemper and Helix for many years and after buying the III sold them all plus most of my pedals accept a KLON copy.

Congrats!!
 
You wrote all this at work? LOL

It pays to be the boss sometimes! That said, I spent every other day this week being so busy and flooded with work that by the time I got home I couldn’t even think of picking up a guitar. Just the nature of the business I’m in (property management). One day you’ve got nothing going on, the next day the roofers don’t seal a drain properly during a roof replacement and flood 2 floors after it rains.
 
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