Should I send my Axe FX II through my RME Daw or not?

H

Hansen

Experienced
When recording in Cubase I have usually used my Axe FX II as Audio interface and had projects in 48 khz. I have recorded wet and dry tracks simountaneously with my Axe. When recording vocals in the same project I have used my old Audio interface and switched the khz to 44,1.

I have recently bought a new RME Fireface UFX II and my questions is whether I should send my AXE FX II through my RME Fireface UFX II or not? If I send the AXE through my RME I will avoid having to switch the project back and forth between 44,1 and 48 khz. If I record via RME, will I still be able to record wet and dry tracks simountaneously?
 
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DAW means Digital Audio Workstation. Cubase is your DAW, you are using the RME/Axe as an AD/DA converter or audio interface or sound card not a DAW.
Anywho, you could use either the Axe FX II or the RME. The RME might be easier from a workflow standpoint but using the Axe FX would eliminate two conversion between digital and analog. I'm not sure if you could hear the difference or not. From a physics perspective the Axe would be better because you will lose less data in the conversion process but I would make a recording using both methods and see which one you like better.
 
SPDIF/AES digital I/O on the Axe II is only two channels, so you'd have to keep your wet track mono and use the other side to capture the dry. Once you have the dry recorded, you could pan the wet output back to full stereo for reamping though.
 
lwknives said:
DAW means Digital Audio Workstation. Cubase is your DAW, you are using the RME/Axe as an AD/DA converter or audio interface or sound card not a DAW.
Anywho, you could use either the Axe FX II or the RME. The RME might be easier from a workflow standpoint but using the Axe FX would eliminate two conversion between digital and analog. I'm not sure if you could hear the difference or not. From a physics perspective the Axe would be better because you will lose less data in the conversion process but I would make a recording using both methods and see which one you like better.
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Thanks. Sorry, I mixed up the terms.
 
So the alternatives are:

1. Record guitars directly with Axe FX II only. Pro: Less data will be lost. Con: I will need to switch my projects back and forth from 44,1 to 48 khz. Is that very bad?
2. Record everything through the RME. Pros: Keep the project in 44,1 all the time. Con: Will lose more data?
 
or you could just do all your recording at 48Khz. Use the Axe Fx for guitar recording via USB. Use the RME for other stuff. Are you on Mac or PC?
 
bondsong said:
or you could just do all your recording at 48Khz. Use the Axe Fx for guitar recording via USB. Use the RME for other stuff. Are you on Mac or PC?
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I doubt RME runs on 48 khz? Does not most AI run on 44,1 and is not Axe FX kind of special in that it runs on 48?

I am using PC.
 
RME website says the Fireface UFX II can support 28 kHz through 200 kHz sampling rates. 48 kHz should be no problem. Probably just need to select it somewhere in the RME's driver settings.
 
I don't know of any audio interfaces besides the Axe FX that don't allow you to choose your sample rate. The Axe FX is "special" in that sense. I know there's a technical reason why the Axe FX was limited to 48Khz only.
 
yeah general purpose audio interfaces almost always support multiple sample rates. Keep in mind the Axe II is an FX processor with USB I/O capabilities, not a general purpose audio interface. FX processor units almost always have a fixed internal sample rate.
 
bondsong said:
I know there's a technical reason why the Axe FX was limited to 48Khz only.
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48 KHz sampling lets you use an antialiasing filter with a gentler slope that what you'd need with 44.1 KHz sampling. That means fewer artifacts (unwanted filter responses) at or near the cutoff frequency.

On the other hand, 96 KHz sampling requires twice as much CPU as 48 KHz, with no audible benefit.

In light of this, I think 48KHz was a good choice.
 
I have a RME ufx + which is the same as what you have except mine also had usb3 and thunderbolt connections. You have two digital options you can select to use the with AXE. You can use aes and spdif. Aes has in and out just use xlr cables and make sure the setting in total mix is 48khx or you can do it spidf on adat 1 . you cant use aes and adat 1 at the same time. Adat one can be used as adat or spdif so you can flip it anytime you want. For example I have both my axe and my keyboard connected digitally aes for the axe and adat/spdif for the keyboard i just change the setting on which to use. Hope that helps.
 
Metal1993 said:
I have a RME ufx + which is the same as what you have except mine also had usb3 and thunderbolt connections. You have two digital options you can select to use the with AXE. You can use aes and spdif. Aes has in and out just use xlr cables and make sure the setting in total mix is 48khx or you can do it spidf on adat 1 . you cant use aes and adat 1 at the same time. Adat one can be used as adat or spdif so you can flip it anytime you want. For example I have both my axe and my keyboard connected digitally aes for the axe and adat/spdif for the keyboard i just change the setting on which to use. Hope that helps.
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Thanks a lot! I am totally new to the UFX and have not set it up yet. What are the pros and cons with AES and SPIDF? So are you setting up all your projects in 48 khz, e.g. are you even recording vocals via RME and set the project to 48 khz?
 
I've got rme ufx boxes and I use the analog outputs of the axe exclusively.
One of the reasons for choosing an expensive box like the rme was to leverage simpler setups.
Maybe others can but I cannot tell the difference between the anaolog and digital connections with this box.
And it has made my life much simpler. Thank you RME!
 
200man said:
I've got rme ufx boxes and I use the analog outputs of the axe exclusively.
One of the reasons for choosing an expensive box like the rme was to leverage simpler setups.
Maybe others can but I cannot tell the difference between the anaolog and digital connections with this box.
And it has made my life much simpler. Thank you RME!
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So how do you set it up with the Axe FX II?
 
I use my Axe-FX II with an RME Fireface with the analog I/O. I was considering connecting it via SPDIF but I was convinced otherwise by someone that knows way more than me. The RME and the Axe both have very high quality converters so there's really no reason not to use it with the RME. Keep it simple!
 
The other thing you could do is aggregate both audio devices. That way you can take advantage of keeping the wet/dry channels available in the axe interface and use the RME for whatever else you need?

Only downsides might be:
a) possible latency penalty but worth trying maybe?
b) using the axe as an audio interface consumes some cpu. so the wet/dry via usb is great but comes at a cost.

As suggested above, in your RME and DAW standardise on 48kHz sample rate. Why not?

I'm currently weighing up whether to add an external interface (because cpu is precious) my current thinking (which I think is kind of your original question I think) is that for most recording/monitoring I'd record stereo wet signals via AES/SPdif. If I desperately needed to reamp, I'd switch the AES to mirror the input signal and monitor the wet signal via a pair of analogue inputs into the interface. Bit messy and would be interested to hear others views.
 
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