Sigh... gig failure.

Pinkycramps

Pinkycramps

Experienced
You know, I have been here for a little while now, not as long as some guys, but a few years now, and I am a big fan of this forum, the Axe FX, and of Fractal Audio. Huge fan actually.

Over the years, I have had many questions, gotten many answers, and I myself have tried to help others along the way too. The AXE FX really is a very cool piece of equipment. I have developed my "AXE Program", tones, presets, and use of the rig continuously. It offers so many options and so much flexibility, which has been the major appeal for me.

That said, now, I could be approaching a crossroads. I don't think I am ready to sell my AXE FX, I'm not there yet, but I definitely am having a series of issues that are causing me to have a lot of thoughts. For me, it's not so much the sound, as it is for another guy who is posting about "moving on" but I have had reliability issues with my AXE FX for a long time. Since day 1 actually. Not daily... but here and there.

The thing is, and has always been...for me... a little bit glitchy. Last night, it betrayed me at a gig- 4 times in one night, and it about ruined the show for me. In fact, It's not the first, or the second time this has happened to me. It has happened way too many times in the last 2 years for me to be ok with it. I can think of 3 gigs and about 2 dozen practices that I have had crashes or problems at. I can also think of a blown audition last summer for a tribute band where i had some problems with the MFC 101/Axe combo.

Over the years, I have had issues like the dreaded NAME TIMEOUT, or Random preset changes to the middle of nowhere (like your on preset 20, and then suddenly your on 313... whaaaaat?), or loss of audio output, and other random things that go wrong. Some of those problems kind of went away once I realized the FASLink jack is very fussy - mine only likes Neutrik connectors (in my personal experience - The jack is kind of loose, and I need a fat, tight fitting XLR connector - if I have that... I'm ok). So .. ok... got that fixed, but now more recently, I get random issues where I just lose audio out, and my rig goes silent. I have to shut down and reboot my rig. That happened to me twice in the middle of a show last night.

I can't stand "excuse me" notes, or any sound before a song launches. So I don't do "checks" to see "is this thing on?" between songs. I figure I just played a song, so the next songs should be fine too, right? We end a song, and the lights go down as the last notes fade away... the stage is going silent and lit with dim moody light, and then BAM! Lights and music blow up the silent darkness. Except when I go to smash a chord and I get nothing out of the newly selected preset. Crap. Drums and bass going along - without me - looking at me like WTF? I shut down, - big pop in the PA, reboot, another big pop wait a few really long awkward seconds, and then join the song in the middle of the first verse.

Then, on two other songs, I lost audio again when I switched scenes in the middle of the song. I go from scene 1 to scene 4... and splat. No sound. Back to scene 1, no sound. Change preset up to next preset... all is good, switch back to the original preset for the song... and it works. Hit scene 4, and it works. BUT... now the solo is over and I missed it. The audience was treated to 10 seconds of very awkward guitar silence where a cool solo was supposed to be, and I look like a dumb ass. I just can't take that kind of thing. I have reinstalled firmware, and done all of that stuff. I know better than to ever be connected to a computer when playing live. But this thing is just a computer, and computers glitch. It's just a reality of things. I'm not sure I am comfortable with that anymore. We played 40 songs last night, and on 4 of them I was left looking just stupid.

What I don't understand is, guys who are on here for years who are big time users and supporters of the AXE... I've never seen them mention things like this. I have seen plenty of other guys talk about issue like this, but you never see it with the well known guys. Guys like Mikko (Clark Kent), Yek, Chris, Scott P, Tyler Grund, Cooper, I could go on...but you know the names. These are guys we all know and respect for their AXE knowledge. My curiosity is...(and I'm asking you guys directly) does this ever happen to any of you guys?
Or are you just so vested in this gear, and protective of your Fractal credibility that you just don't speak about it here on the forum? Hey, I get that.. some of you have actual business that revolve around your expertise of this gear, so I can see why you would never go public with an issue you had. Makes total sense to me.
But I wonder if you have ever had these issues? Is this more common than we here about, or am I living with an issue that should not be happening?

(What I mean is, we all use laptops, and we all know from time to time they glitch or crash. Hopefully rarely. But, my AXE crashes from time to time. Is that normal like it is with a laptop? - because it is for me.)

I ask because I want this system to work for me long term. Right now, it's not working. I can't have these issues on stage anymore. The issues are intermittent, and somewhat rare, but not rare enough. They are nearly impossible to troubleshoot, and completely unpredictable. Could I have a bad unit? I would (should) contact support (and now I think I will) but it's hard to ask to fix an issue I can't reproduce on command. I might go 2 hours without a glitch. I might go a whole night... but every so often it happens. It's making a 100% analog rig more appealing to me again.

I also wonder ( a little) that if this has anything to do with why the big Fractal artists (J.P, Satch, Vai, on and on...) use these for effects, but still go with real amps. It's not like the tone can't be had, and it's not like they need stage volume or "amp in the room" . These guys run on IEMs, and direct would make sense. But a glitch at a Dream Theater show (or pick another band) would be unacceptable. I know Metallica and some metal bands use them without amps though.. so maybe this point is not valid.

So.... am I on an island, or has everyone had at least SOME trouble from time to time?
 
The only issue I have ever had with an axe fx or axe fx xl was the mfc connection. with the xl I learned to ohm read the cables and since have had no trouble. I had an issue with the AX-8 and Fractal sent me a replacement unit with in the week( no complaints there) my sons AX-8 has had no issues. Sorry to hear you have had such trouble!
 
Ive been using the Axefx II XL for over two years mostly with a cover band playing all night 45+ songs a show. I have had 3 problems.
1. MFC Timeout once
2. MFC Cat 5 was kicked out and broke the input connector
3. 1 frozen screen I rebooted the system and it worked fine

While I have had WAY more issues with amps from blown fuses, tubes crapping out and other assorted issues I am scared all the time that the axe will stop working during a show. I am sure it is just due to my first time relying on this type of technology. Once it gets going my fears drift aside and 99.9% of the time it has been issue free.
 
I've had a couple of issues with occasional loss off sound and traced it to patches that were complex and exceeding the limit of settings in a patch. This is NOT The same as CPU usage, and there is no warning for these patches. This is for the Axe-FX II, I don't think this is a problem for the XL models. What was happening was that not all patch settings were being saved.

You also mentioned the "dreaded NAME TIMOUT" issue. I don't use the MFC-101 but I'm not sure why this should be an issue. I design my own MFC firmware and the way I manage Axe-FX preset names is to display a patch *number* immediately when selected from the MFC. Then when (or if) a name is sent from the Axe-FX, I display that on the MFC.
 
Maybe you have a defective unit. I have been playing almost every weekend since this year and have not had any trouble with dropouts or switching between presets/scenes.
 
I've had issues too. Presets switching automatically. Once at a gig the MFC starting scrolling through all the presets; I had to shut it down in the middle of a song.

I've had the AFx 2xl plus for seven months without daily use and I worry this will happen at a gig all the time.

I don't reproduce the problem on command either and I've found the help from Fractal to be less than admirable. I think they expect every issue to be solved here on the forum to avoid a fully staffed customer service.
 
Sorry to hear about your continued trouble.
I purchased a new AXE-FX II XL+ and MFC-101.
I have owned both for 1.5 years and never ever had an issue.
I used it live 2 times a month and at least 2 times a week, every week.
I use the FASlink to connect the MFC to the XL+.

Has the same unit been giving you trouble all along?
 
I've never mentioned it because it's literally never let me down. Not in hundreds upon hundreds of hours of use. It's a bit like the weather in California. I'm used to it being sunny and 85° every day now. Well, I'm used to my AFII powering up and working perfectly every time.

You should contact support@ -- it sounds like something in your unit is failing. They can give it an overhaul.
 
GM Arts said:
You also mentioned the "dreaded NAME TIMOUT" issue. I don't use the MFC-101 but I'm not sure why this should be an issue. I design my own MFC firmware and the way I manage Axe-FX preset names is to display a patch *number* immediately when selected from the MFC. Then when (or if) a name is sent from the Axe-FX, I display that on the MFC.
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That bit has me confused ..... you don't use a MFC but you do use a MFC? Did you mean "I don't use the MFC-101 firmware but ....." ?

Sorry for going a bit off topic ......
 
cujoren said:
I've had issues too. Presets switching automatically. Once at a gig the MFC starting scrolling through all the presets; I had to shut it down in the middle of a song.

I've had the AFx 2xl plus for seven months without daily use and I worry this will happen at a gig all the time.

I don't reproduce the problem on command either and I've found the help from Fractal to be less than admirable. I think they expect every issue to be solved here on the forum to avoid a fully staffed customer service.
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have you submitted a Support ticket that mentions these issues?
 
I've submitted a support ticket. The responses were too few and far between to ever get to a solution. I've got some gigs coming up and if it happens again, I'm going to have to consider an alternative if fractal doesn't replace the unit.

And when I say "unit" I don't even know if it's the MFC, AFx, or both...
 
I also have never had problems but that does not mean they don't happen. You may have a bad unit or something in your routine is part of the problem. The connections to any electronic equipment is often a weak point, wires, cords, need to be the highest quality and handled carefully, inspected often, electrical spikes especially in poor power supply areas like clubs, outside events, ect, could be a problem. Random midi messages can happen when using midi controllers. However, I take your point and these occurrences you describe are not acceptable for live performances.
 
I have never once had a glitch during rehearsals or shows. Started with the Ultra in 2010 and now XL+. Never had an issue.

I have played in the hot hot sun too; usa alabama here. I have never seen a piece of kit more rugged in direct hot sun. We have to put space blankets on the racks but the Fractal works in pretty extreme conditions.
 
cujoren said:
I've submitted a support ticket. The responses were too few and far between to ever get to a solution.
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i see a ticket, but it only mentions expression pedals. was that issue solved after doing what Support suggested? did you have another ticket that mentions the issues you stated in this thread? if not, i'd suggest making a new ticket and describing everything that's going on. i can try to help you there, or here. your call. if here, let's make a new thread.

with any gear issues that happen "sometimes," it's really hard to suggest a specific solution. there will no doubt have to be a bit of back and forth as we suggest things to find and isolate the issue.

as for the original topic in this thread, i've personally had more gear failure from analog guitar gear (amps, tubes, speaker cables, pedals, etc.) than i've had with the Axe-Fx. the only thing that happened to me on a gig was that my Axe overheated because i covered the rack case weird one night. i powered it off, move the case and got air flow, and it was fine the rest of the night. other than that, all of my FAS gear (2 different Ultras, 2 different IIs, FX8, AX8) has performed as expected.

with any troubleshooting issue, be prepared to share your presets or other information with us so we can start to look at things and try to discover why things may be going wrong. if we use your presets etc. on our hardware without issue, then it leans towards a hardware issue. but we can't know that unless we start somewhere.
 
Chris@AxeFxTutorials said:
i see a ticket, but it only mentions expression pedals. was that issue solved after doing what Support suggested? did you have another ticket that mentions the issues you stated in this thread? if not, i'd suggest making a new ticket and describing everything that's going on. i can try to help you there, or here. your call. if here, let's make a new thread.

with any gear issues that happen "sometimes," it's really hard to suggest a specific solution. there will no doubt have to be a bit of back and forth as we suggest things to find and isolate the issue.

as for the original topic in this thread, i've personally had more gear failure from analog guitar gear (amps, tubes, speaker cables, pedals, etc.) than i've had with the Axe-Fx. the only thing that happened to me on a gig was that my Axe overheated because i covered the rack case weird one night. i powered it off, move the case and got air flow, and it was fine the rest of the night. other than that, all of my FAS gear (2 different Ultras, 2 different IIs, FX8, AX8) has performed as expected.

with any troubleshooting issue, be prepared to share your presets or other information with us so we can start to look at things and try to discover why things may be going wrong. if we use your presets etc. on our hardware without issue, then it leans towards a hardware issue. but we can't know that unless we start somewhere.
Click to expand...
Yeah,

That was another thing- my expression pedals would stop working. I reset both the AFx and MFC and stopped using AxeEdit at the same time and haven't replicated that problem again. But the scrolling through presets is an entirely different animal. Again, hard to replicate the problem for the support ticket. I'll try creating another but again, was disappointed with the responses, which sometimes came a day later. I think there should be someone available by phone for troubleshooting a rig that puts you over the $3k mark.
 
I don't use an MFC with my axe rig but I've never had a problem at a gig or practice in over 3 years that wasn't my fault. (Usually forgetting to change my footswitch from preset mode to pc mode.)
 
Never had a problem or glitch with daily use and fairly frequent performing. I do run a powerconditioner, and I believe that makes a huge difference.

I don't use an MFC. I run a 1010 with the eureka chip.
 
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