Studio Flow. How are you using your Fractal Audio gear in your setup?

[MirrorProfiles]

Fully maxed out the (analog) I/O of the Axe FX here and loving it.

Input 1 for guitar chains (I have a spare output from my reamp box going to the rear input, front is free if I want to plug straight in).

Input 2 L+R come from my patchbay, normalled from my converters. Makes it easy to use as a seperate stereo fx unit or to combine with other gear.

Input (and output) 3 I have a Surfy Bear reverb on the left channel and Echo Fix spring on the right. Makes it easy to patch these in via the patchbay or when doing guitars.

Input (and output) 4 are kind of like above, but so I can patch the Axe FX into the loop of my Ampete amp switcher’s FX loop, and/or my Fryette Powerstation. Makes it easy to play through a power amp and cab, or add fx to any of my amps.

Stereo Outputs 1 and 2 are on my patchbay, so they can be sent wherever is needed.

Kind of insane how many possibilities this gives without ever having to mess with cabling on the Axe FX. I could always use the digital I/O for stuff too but my main studio computer is using digital for other stuff and I quite like being able to patch and combine gear together easily as is.

 

[Moondog Wily]

Here is my scenario and question for those who may spot something I am missing.

I have the Axe FXIII MkII Turbo. I have a Tascam Model 12 mix board. I am recording with this setup in my home studio into Cubase 12 Pro.

About 8 months ago, I decided to try my Axe as my interface (previously using Model 12 board and had not problems with that other than I wanted stuff to go direct from Axe rather than out to board and into DAW from board). Things went well for a couple of months, until a forced Windows update that botched my USB settings and it took me a couple of weeks to get everything sorted back out. But now I am at a cross roads where I want one more output signal from the Axe, and I think I have hit a brick wall. Here is the current config along with what I would like to expand to (expansion would be one more channel).

Guitar -> Axe Front Input -> DAW via Axe USB 1/2 (processed stereo signal)
Guitar -> Axe Front Input -> DAW via Axe USB 5 (DI mono signal)
Vox Mic -> Avalon 737vt sp (tube preamp) -> Axe Rear Input 2L -> DAW via Axe USB 3/4 (processed stereo signal)
Vox Mic -> Avalon 737vt sp (tube preamp) -> Axe Rear Input 2L -> DAW via Axe USB 7 (DI mono signal)
Cajon Mic -> Cloud lifter -> Tascam Model 12 (for mic pre) -> Axe Rear Input 2R -> DAW via Axe USB 8 (DI mono signal)

Now that is 7 USB channels on an 8x8 (as advertised) interface. But Axe USB 6 can ONLY be used for Axe Input 1 output, neutering my ability to use that channel as far as I understand it. The only thing I can use USB 6 for is the same thing that is on USB 5. I am sure there are scenarios where someone might want two DI signals of the front input, but not allowing this pair of USB outs to be assigned to anything other than Input 1 is where my problem lay.

I am trying to add a room mic, which would be:
Room Mic -> Cloud lifter -> Tascam Model 12 (for mic pre) -> Axe Rear Input 3L -> DAW via Axe USB 6 (DI mono signal)

So regardless of how I currently have stuff routed or have proposed for my room mic, is there any way for me to get this done without combining some of these channels or going mono on the stereo channels?

Ultimately (and I know this is already asked/wished for) I would like all USB outputs to be assigned to anything that is in the Axe, but that of course is currently not the case at this point in time. Just hoping someone can shed some light on an option that I am not seeing to help me get the 8 outputs I want ;~))

If I can not do this, I think I am going to have to move back to the Tascam Model 12 as my interface (which will have it's advantages, but some disadvantages as well). All insights appreciated ;~))

 

[cbaseford]

I don’t have a crazy setup; I just have two XLR’s plugged into my Audient interface. I have it ready to go in stereo for two purposes.

1) if I need to do a stereo guitar sound; delays, reverbs, etc.

2) if I need to dual track guitars for something with the same rig in mono. I will use the cabinet block with two different IRs/mixes/mics of the same cabinet, but pan one hard left and one hard right in the cab block. Then, I just change the input on my audio track to get one IR/mic for the left, and one IR/mic for the right, which makes it very fast for left/right tracking rhythms. I find it allows for more width when double tracking the same tone, but with different IRs/mics

The other way I may start using it is leaving two more XLR’s plugged out of another output to do W/D/W. I’ve done this on one track before and it came out really great. I wanted the stereo only effects to fill up the whole stereo field, but I wanted the drier tone, which still had a little delay on it, to be able to be panned independently in the DAW. It worked out great and gave the guitar a lot of dimension and bloom.

Also, I plan to do make new Chris Baseford style/inspired presets. He has a great workflow with a lot of awesome ideas. I highly recommend checking the video out if you haven’t seen it. It is long... 3 hours haha but it’s really great. It’s about the axe fx and amp sims in general, but he goes over the ideas why he has his axe fx setup the way he does and shows example tones.

Thanks for the shoutout I'm trying to stay up to date on time-stamping my videos, so hopefully that will help getting to the spot where I go over this. I tend to get long-winded, so these simple topics quickly turn into 3 hour marathons