Platforms for MIDI control of Axe Fx III

R

raybdoc

Member
What are the most reliable and user-friendly platforms for playing backing tracks and controlling the Axe FX III via MIDI for live performance? I’ve searched this many ways and see the various problems that come up but don’t have a sense that there’s some go-to setup that people are endorsing. Ableton comes up a lot and I was about to get it but managing set lists and changing them at the gig if needed all sounds complex. What would you get if you want backing tracks behind a band with gtr/bass/drums/vocals, automated changes to the axe fx through MIDI, and a simple way to control these machines in the heat of battle?
 
Qlab without a doubt!

Runs most of the big shows and almost all of Broadway.

It runs my tracks, mixing board, video output, syncs all my lights to the music and runs my AxeFx for all my patch and volume changes. It also sets delay times on delays to sync with each song.

Turns on my vocal fx and and turns off everything between songs.

I haven’t stepped on a single button or volume pedal for 2 years!

 
Hey, strong playing, and there’s a lot going on in that video. How do you control when to start and stop songs, and how would you call up a tune that’s out of order from the set list?
 
I run backing tracks through logic which also does my preset changes. Additionally I have a RJM midi controller that controls both logic via midi over USB and the Axe FX via regular midi.

This setup also does a multi-track recording of the show directly from our digital mixer.
 
Have been using ShowBuddy for 10 years (or more) controlling all of our lights, fog, mixer volumes, (2) Axe III's, Eventide digital delay, VoiceLive harmonizer and other devices to our backing tracks. Very solid.
 
Thge thing about Digital Performer is that it does everything all the others do, plus it's a state of the art DAW, so you can create all your tracks and MIDI, then simply create your show and medleys etc via the Chunks window (I know LOL!), and if you prefer to run Clips like Ableton LIVE, there's the Clips window etc. It's an all-in-one solution.

We use Ableton LIVE which is a PITA when you're using full tracks from Pro Tools like we do, as LIVE really wants to work with clips rather than full song length multi-tracks, though with some additional software or scripts in our case, it will work. Digital Performer is just fuller featured and easier to use than all these others, assuming you want to create all of your audio and MIDI in the same application you use for performance (which is great when editing etc!).

We have LIVE in any case, and it performs backing tracks, click track, cue, some vocal FX, sync'd/quantized guitar looping, song loops for extended solos/out choruses etc, lights via MIDI and a DMX Controller, Preset/Scene/Channel/Harmonizer automation for all instruments, audio fades and instrument cross-fades, plus a Teleprompter for lyrics, and it works well as once you get it all set up with custom scripts or third-party add-ons, though editing on it is a PITA.

We've been using LIVE for years so we're kind of stuck with it as we don't want to redo all the work, but if I was starting now I'd definitely go with Digital Performer.
 
I've had years of good experience with BandHelper, running on iPads, playing backing tracks sync'ed with MIDI tracks that control all Axe, keyboard, and mixer changes, as well as lights (via MIDI->DMX). It includes tools for performance (e.g. automated scrolling lyrics) as well as setlist / gig management.
 
Cymatic Audio's LP-16 and uTrack 24 are good standalone platforms if you don't wanna bring a laptop to the gig.
 
Xrocker said:
If I open a song file it shows all my AxeFx volume patch and tempo changes, and vocal Fx cues.
View attachment 97560

Scroll down to my lighting cues and the times they fire.View attachment 97560View attachment 97560View attachment 97561
Click to expand...
Xrocker said:
I have nearly 400 songs in my show. I put table tents out that have a QR code that goes to my song list. Someone picks a song, adds a tip and I get notified onstage.

All I do is select the song in Qlab and hit go. Everything is automated.

View attachment 97559
Click to expand...
This looks great. Do you select the song with a computer keyboard on stage, or do you have some kind of MIDI controller?
 
I have finally settled on controlling my setlist via the setlist function of an RJM GT/22. The GT22 then loads the appropriate presets for thr Axe-Fx III, Whammy DT, DD500, & RV500. It also touches off the backing tracks in Ableton Live and finally loads up sheet/tab in MobileSheets if for rehearsal. It was a bit of a challenge to get all this working seemlessly, but now that it is, I couldn't be happier.
 
HereToday said:
I have finally settled on controlling my setlist via the setlist function of an RJM GT/22. The GT22 then loads the appropriate presets for thr Axe-Fx III, Whammy DT, DD500, & RV500. It also touches off the backing tracks in Ableton Live and finally loads up sheet/tab in MobileSheets if for rehearsal. It was a bit of a challenge to get all this working seemlessly, but now that it is, I couldn't be happier.
Click to expand...
What is the path of MIDI? Does it go directly out of the GT22 independently to each of those devices, or are you using some kind of MIDI thru? Also, how do you map the GT22 to tell Ableton which track you need?
 
raybdoc said:
What is the path of MIDI? Does it go directly out of the GT22 independently to each of those devices, or are you using some kind of MIDI thru? Also, how do you map the GT22 to tell Ableton which track you need?
Click to expand...

I use a couple of Thru 5's and a Merge4 by Kenton. I like Kenton's stuff with the exception that the polarity is reversed on the power supply.

The below diagram shows my MIDI signal chain:

1652534406602.png
 
I can second the BandHelper stuff, the nice part is you can run it on simple hardware (iPad) that you can easily replace. We have a master iPad that is normally running the show, and we have tables for each member (showing lyrics, notes, song list, etc). If we happened to have an issue with the primary ipad all the settings are on the other tablets and we could just swap them out. We use an iRig midi device to get midi out to our 2 Axe-FX III's and it also controls our lighting. Our backing tracks are just stereo MP3's (left click, right pre-mixed tracks), we make all the tracks in Reaper and just export the mp3 and midi track and pull them into BH. We also use it for booking, finances, set list management and have our website integrated and pulling our calendar from there.
 
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