I had looked prior to buying this but didn't see any mention of it here so I thought I'd give a little spiel on the unit.
For your reference here's a picture of a V2 unit (identifiable by the extra lettering just to the left of the 3 digit display):
Manual is here.
On the rear of the unit you've got power in for 9VAC, MIDI In, Out, and Thru connections. A connection for an expression switch (either latching or momentary can be used), a connection for an expression pedal (or you can use this with a TRS Y-cable to add two more switches if you so desire), a relay control jack (there are two internal relays you can toggle) and the recessed button that puts it in setup (they call it EDIT mode) or run mode.
I set mine up with a Boss FV-500L attached to the expression pedal input and an old Yamaha momentar I had kicking around from an ancient keyboard in the expression switch jack.
The unit is capable of accessing both bank A and B on my AFx Standard. It might even be able to access bank C. I know it'll do 30 banks of 10 patches but I set it up to stop at bank 25 because I'm not sure the AFx supports accessing Bank C via MIDI. Maybe I'm wrong there. I'll try it later. But for now: it has no problems accessing patch 1 through 256.
It can be configured to operate a couple of different ways. I went with Bank/Direct mode. This means, when the FX switch light is off, the unit's 10 numbered switches each access a patch in the current bank, BANK UP and DOWN move you through the banks. Tap the FX switch quickly to turn the FX light on and now each of the 10 numbered switches are IA switches, BANK UP and DOWN move you through the patches. Hold down the FX switch for 3 seconds and you're in direct access mode. In this mode the 10 numbered switches can be used to enter a bank/patch number to skip directly to.
So that means 10 patches plus 10 IA switches plus a couple of other utility switches. There's a latching switch under the toe of the built in expression pedal. There's a latching A/B switch that can send CC or SysEx messages on two channels at the same time. There's a TAP switch that's not configurable -- it always send CC values on CC#119. And there's a BYPASS switch that's configurable. So that's 3 fully configurable extra switches plus a TAP tempo switch available always in all RUN modes.
The IA mode available when the FX switch is tapped does not, unfortunately, sync to the state of the effects that the IAs are bound to in the AFx. I'm actually wondering: do other controllers sync up? So if I have an IA sending on CC#10 and then I bind that CC to DRIVE1 bypass in the AFx, when I switch to a patch that has a DRIVE1 block and it's enabled does the IA switch light up on the controller? And when I switch to a patch that doesn't have DRIVE1 does or has DRIVE1 disabled does that IA switch turn off on the controller? I had the MIDI out from the AFx run to the MIDI in on the R1 just in case the AFx was sending some messages on patch change that the R1 could do something with, but no luck. The IAs stay in what ever state you last had them in. Bit of a pain but not the end of the world. It means if you last turned DRIVE1 on with an IA and now, in a new patch, want to use to turn DRIVE1 on because it's off you'll have to tap it twice -- once to send the CC value of 0 (which does nothing in your patch because DRIVE1 is already bypassed) and a second time to send the CC value of 127 to un-bypass the DRIVE1 block.
I've not go much experience with other controllers so I'd really like to know if the above scenario is common to all controllers, just the R1 or what.
The A/B switch is pretty cool. I bound it to GLOBAL BYPASS on the AFx so it functions as a handy "rhythm or lead" type switch. If a patch has bypassed blocks in it pressing A/B to change the unit to "B" mode will unbypass all the bypassed blocks. Switching back to "A" mode bypasses those blocks again. Pretty cool. Like the IA switches it can get out-of-sync with the AFx but a double tap corrects the problem.
I bound the latching switch under the expression pedal to WAH1 bypass. Works great. The built-in expression pedal itself is really light. It just barely holds its place when you set it half-cocked. But it's got the right throw for wah-wah work. I prefer it to the FV-500H which always felt clunky when trying to wah fast.
The BYPASS switch I bound to TUNER. Handy.
At this point the external controllers feel gratuitous. I'm sure I'll figure out what I want them to do in due time. But right now there's enough switches on the R1 and the built-in expression pedal is sufficient to cover my needs. Which is cool. That means, with a 7-pin MIDI cable, I should be ready to rock with just the R1 at my feet. I'll pick up a 7-pin cable this weekend to see if it works. The manual intimates it should be fine, with power expected on pins 6-7. And the wall wart for it fits the phantom power jack on the AFx. Rock and roll.
My only gripe with this 8-year-old unit is the switches are starting to flake. They sometimes don't engage. I'm not really going to complain too much about this because:
a) It's a known deficiency with these units that the switches die and the replacements can be had from Lexicon or Mouser for cheap. There's even a more durable drop-in from the same switch manufacturer; and
b) I paid so little for it (under $100 before shipping) that a little repair work doesn't bother me. It was a steal.
I'll crack it open tomorrow night to asses the switch replacement situation. I'm actually wondering if I can replace them with something nicer. Some nice momentary Carlings perhaps? I'm all up for that. And honestly: it think it'd be pretty cool to bring my DIY skills over to the Axe-Fx. I figured my days of building and modding pedals might be numbered when this thing landed on my door but no, I'm just going to start making and modding my own MIDI pedals.
If anyone wants to quickly get an R1 up and running with the Axe-Fx here's my SysEx dump for my unit. It's setup as above. You'll probably have to do your own expression pedal calibration still. You can get the sysex file here: http://files.getdropbox.com/u/870088/Ax ... _Setup.syx
For your reference here's a picture of a V2 unit (identifiable by the extra lettering just to the left of the 3 digit display):
Manual is here.
On the rear of the unit you've got power in for 9VAC, MIDI In, Out, and Thru connections. A connection for an expression switch (either latching or momentary can be used), a connection for an expression pedal (or you can use this with a TRS Y-cable to add two more switches if you so desire), a relay control jack (there are two internal relays you can toggle) and the recessed button that puts it in setup (they call it EDIT mode) or run mode.
I set mine up with a Boss FV-500L attached to the expression pedal input and an old Yamaha momentar I had kicking around from an ancient keyboard in the expression switch jack.
The unit is capable of accessing both bank A and B on my AFx Standard. It might even be able to access bank C. I know it'll do 30 banks of 10 patches but I set it up to stop at bank 25 because I'm not sure the AFx supports accessing Bank C via MIDI. Maybe I'm wrong there. I'll try it later. But for now: it has no problems accessing patch 1 through 256.
It can be configured to operate a couple of different ways. I went with Bank/Direct mode. This means, when the FX switch light is off, the unit's 10 numbered switches each access a patch in the current bank, BANK UP and DOWN move you through the banks. Tap the FX switch quickly to turn the FX light on and now each of the 10 numbered switches are IA switches, BANK UP and DOWN move you through the patches. Hold down the FX switch for 3 seconds and you're in direct access mode. In this mode the 10 numbered switches can be used to enter a bank/patch number to skip directly to.
So that means 10 patches plus 10 IA switches plus a couple of other utility switches. There's a latching switch under the toe of the built in expression pedal. There's a latching A/B switch that can send CC or SysEx messages on two channels at the same time. There's a TAP switch that's not configurable -- it always send CC values on CC#119. And there's a BYPASS switch that's configurable. So that's 3 fully configurable extra switches plus a TAP tempo switch available always in all RUN modes.
The IA mode available when the FX switch is tapped does not, unfortunately, sync to the state of the effects that the IAs are bound to in the AFx. I'm actually wondering: do other controllers sync up? So if I have an IA sending on CC#10 and then I bind that CC to DRIVE1 bypass in the AFx, when I switch to a patch that has a DRIVE1 block and it's enabled does the IA switch light up on the controller? And when I switch to a patch that doesn't have DRIVE1 does or has DRIVE1 disabled does that IA switch turn off on the controller? I had the MIDI out from the AFx run to the MIDI in on the R1 just in case the AFx was sending some messages on patch change that the R1 could do something with, but no luck. The IAs stay in what ever state you last had them in. Bit of a pain but not the end of the world. It means if you last turned DRIVE1 on with an IA and now, in a new patch, want to use to turn DRIVE1 on because it's off you'll have to tap it twice -- once to send the CC value of 0 (which does nothing in your patch because DRIVE1 is already bypassed) and a second time to send the CC value of 127 to un-bypass the DRIVE1 block.
I've not go much experience with other controllers so I'd really like to know if the above scenario is common to all controllers, just the R1 or what.
The A/B switch is pretty cool. I bound it to GLOBAL BYPASS on the AFx so it functions as a handy "rhythm or lead" type switch. If a patch has bypassed blocks in it pressing A/B to change the unit to "B" mode will unbypass all the bypassed blocks. Switching back to "A" mode bypasses those blocks again. Pretty cool. Like the IA switches it can get out-of-sync with the AFx but a double tap corrects the problem.
I bound the latching switch under the expression pedal to WAH1 bypass. Works great. The built-in expression pedal itself is really light. It just barely holds its place when you set it half-cocked. But it's got the right throw for wah-wah work. I prefer it to the FV-500H which always felt clunky when trying to wah fast.
The BYPASS switch I bound to TUNER. Handy.
At this point the external controllers feel gratuitous. I'm sure I'll figure out what I want them to do in due time. But right now there's enough switches on the R1 and the built-in expression pedal is sufficient to cover my needs. Which is cool. That means, with a 7-pin MIDI cable, I should be ready to rock with just the R1 at my feet. I'll pick up a 7-pin cable this weekend to see if it works. The manual intimates it should be fine, with power expected on pins 6-7. And the wall wart for it fits the phantom power jack on the AFx. Rock and roll.
My only gripe with this 8-year-old unit is the switches are starting to flake. They sometimes don't engage. I'm not really going to complain too much about this because:
a) It's a known deficiency with these units that the switches die and the replacements can be had from Lexicon or Mouser for cheap. There's even a more durable drop-in from the same switch manufacturer; and
b) I paid so little for it (under $100 before shipping) that a little repair work doesn't bother me. It was a steal.
I'll crack it open tomorrow night to asses the switch replacement situation. I'm actually wondering if I can replace them with something nicer. Some nice momentary Carlings perhaps? I'm all up for that. And honestly: it think it'd be pretty cool to bring my DIY skills over to the Axe-Fx. I figured my days of building and modding pedals might be numbered when this thing landed on my door but no, I'm just going to start making and modding my own MIDI pedals.
If anyone wants to quickly get an R1 up and running with the Axe-Fx here's my SysEx dump for my unit. It's setup as above. You'll probably have to do your own expression pedal calibration still. You can get the sysex file here: http://files.getdropbox.com/u/870088/Ax ... _Setup.syx