The course is well thought out and presented. I was skeptical about the need to spend money on a class, after spending so much on the unit itself. But as deep as Fractal products are, it's a great investment and one that can be referenced as needed, and uniquely, one that is updated as major firmware updates progress. That's pretty great!
The course is concise enough that no time is wasted on meaningless things, and it moves at a pretty rapid pace for newbies.
Or at least that's how I felt having never worked with any Fractal products, or any modelers at all up to that point.
But it doesn't move so fast that you can't keep up if you are paying attention.
I can see where a similar course for other companies could potentially be cheerleading/sales sessions for the company, but this is more functionality related and geared towards learning. Cooper quite obviously knows the gear intimately. Between Cooper and Leon, I have gleened a TON of knowledge about how the flow of the unit works, the intricacies of dialing in specific tones and where to go to make those adjustments.
But this course is definitely the place to start if you want to be "unbaffled".
The number of hours in the class is irrelevant to the goal. He could probably stretch the course out with 2 or 3 hours of jibber jabber to make it longer, but instead he gets right to the point and provides useable information and examples.
He illustrates the things outside of baseline user presets, that turn the Axe FX into a recording and performing centerpiece that is worthy of the substantial investment.
Also, because he starts from the absolute basics, you don't NEED to go through every module. And conversely, some of the modules may be too advanced for where you currently are at as a musician or with the unit. But as time goes on, I've noticed that as I stretch the limits of what I would like to do in the studio, I find myself looking for ways to do it differently, and using this course as a refresher, or as a reference has come in handy for when I'm ready for it.
I purchased the course a week after receiving the Axe FX III and found it extremely helpful in wrapping my head around the Fractal ecosystem. Having worked with the AFX3 for 4 years now, and recently picking up the FM3, the similarities between the two units as well as Axe Edit III and FM3 Edit make working between the two absolutely simple.
If you are on the fence about it. Just do it. It will make everything so much easier, and open doors you didn't know existed, as well as put context to the mysterious screens, terminology, and foggy notions that are running through your head that you can't grasp from just reading the manual.