Tutorial: Dialing Up My Delay with the Fractal Audio Axe-FX II

Love to see/hear the results Clarky!

k no probs.. when the preset is done I'll post some clips..
explaining how it works though is a bit daunting..
this one is the biggest one I've ever come up with..

the delay noodlings though weren't saved..
it was just an amp, cab, parallel delay and I was playing with fx after the delay to experiment with the impact of putting fx only on the delay and not the dry
some of it was quite interesting, especially for an ambient 'wash' of sound
the sort of stuff you'd use in an intro or some spooky mid-song breakdown..
or the sort of thing Hawkwind would use from start to finish.. lol..
even if you never you the outcome, the important thing is the experimentation..
cos it can lead you to other possibilities
 
I use it in series since Cliff changed the Mix law in the Delay block; higher mix in series does not require me to monkey with the output level settings when I turn it down. Allows me some flexibility in the routing.

This in not really true. Because with higher mix settings (in series) there is still an increase in volume with the delay block. See the discussion in the 'new delay mix law' topic.
I still have problems finding the right mix settings both with delay in series and parallel. Especially hard to keep the same volume when attaching the mix to an expression pedal.

Thanks for the video!!
 
these vids you're doing are really great, scott. had you planned on doing anything with the multi/plex delays, synth or internal controllers?

if you hadn't, i think i might go ahead and try my hand at something, if people were interested in that sort of thing. just some tips and tricks i've learned over the years for ambient stuff...
 
This in not really true. Because with higher mix settings (in series) there is still an increase in volume with the delay block. See the discussion in the 'new delay mix law' topic.
I still have problems finding the right mix settings both with delay in series and parallel. Especially hard to keep the same volume when attaching the mix to an expression pedal.

Thanks for the video!!

Up to 50% wet, yes it is true. I don't go that high, so series is perfect for me. If you do it in parallel, you can add as much or as little as you want. Do not use Mix to do it in parallel, set the mix to 100% (Bypass Mode anything other than Thru and use the LEVEL control to set your maximum level of delay - and then use the Input Gain to set your delay level).

these vids you're doing are really great, scott. had you planned on doing anything with the multi/plex delays, synth or internal controllers?

if you hadn't, i think i might go ahead and try my hand at something, if people were interested in that sort of thing. just some tips and tricks i've learned over the years for ambient stuff...

PLEASE do. I will be doing a LOT of these, but generally focused for a long time up front on more of the meat and potatoes stuff. Please share and do your sets of videos so people can learn; myself included.
 
PLEASE do. I will be doing a LOT of these, but generally focused for a long time up front on more of the meat and potatoes stuff. Please share and do your sets of videos so people can learn; myself included.

cool. we really need this "meat and potatoes" stuff, because i think the axe can be quite intimidating for new users and the ability to see and hear simple useable approaches is incredibly beneficial to a lot of people, i think. my stuff will probably appeal to fewer people, but getting a glimpse of what's possible with the magic box will hopefully inspire some to dig deeper and get creative.
i've started making notes, so as soon as i get time, i'll try and put something together.
thanks for all your hard work, scott. i'm sure everybody really appreciates what you do for us here.
 
Scott, thanks ever so much for sharing this and your reverb thoughts. I've been waiting with bated breath to start putting all my stuff together, just been waiting on the CLR arriving in the UK. Not long to go now and I can start putting all these great recommendations into practice!
 
cool. we really need this "meat and potatoes" stuff, because i think the axe can be quite intimidating for new users and the ability to see and hear simple useable approaches is incredibly beneficial to a lot of people, i think. my stuff will probably appeal to fewer people, but getting a glimpse of what's possible with the magic box will hopefully inspire some to dig deeper and get creative.
i've started making notes, so as soon as i get time, i'll try and put something together.
thanks for all your hard work, scott. i'm sure everybody really appreciates what you do for us here.

It's about adding value to community with me, community building is a big part of my life that I value and believe in. It's to everyone's benefit when we all share what we know and learn from others that share what they know. I'm sincerely looking forward to what you can do to show us insight into what you are doing.

Scott, thanks ever so much for sharing this and your reverb thoughts. I've been waiting with bated breath to start putting all my stuff together, just been waiting on the CLR arriving in the UK. Not long to go now and I can start putting all these great recommendations into practice!

Lots more to come from me, this will be a consistent thing (I'll try my best to keep it coming regularly) and as we go it'll be a good reference point for what I do at least at any given time that will be easy to search for what you want to look at. I'm hoping that (many) others do the same thing, this is just my take and there are a whole array of different approaches that all work.

You'll have fun with the CLR. I dig mine (and now, I have two of them!)
 
It's about adding value to community with me, community building is a big part of my life that I value and believe in. It's to everyone's benefit when we all share what we know and learn from others that share what they know. I'm sincerely looking forward to what you can do to show us insight into what you are doing.



Lots more to come from me, this will be a weekly thing (I'll try my best to keep it coming regularly) and as we go it'll be a good reference point for what I do at least at any given time that will be easy to search for what you want to look at. I'm hoping that (many) others do the same thing, this is just my take and there are a whole array of different approaches that all work.

You'll have fun with the CLR. I dig mine (and now, I have two of them!)

Thanks Scott.
 
cool. we really need this "meat and potatoes" stuff, because i think the axe can be quite intimidating for new users and the ability to see and hear simple useable approaches is incredibly beneficial to a lot of people, i think. my stuff will probably appeal to fewer people, but getting a glimpse of what's possible with the magic box will hopefully inspire some to dig deeper and get creative.
i've started making notes, so as soon as i get time, i'll try and put something together.
thanks for all your hard work, scott. i'm sure everybody really appreciates what you do for us here.

I couldn't agree more.
 
if you hadn't, i think i might go ahead and try my hand at something, if people were interested in that sort of thing. just some tips and tricks i've learned over the years for ambient stuff...

yes, would be great. Really interested at that!

Up to 50% wet, yes it is true. I don't go that high, so series is perfect for me. If you do it in parallel, you can add as much or as little as you want. Do not use Mix to do it in parallel, set the mix to 100% (Bypass Mode anything other than Thru and use the LEVEL control to set your maximum level of delay - and then use the Input Gain to set your delay level).

Yes, but even when having delay in parallel there is a increase of volume. With mix at 100% the higher the input gain or delay level the higher the volume. That's why it is so hard to level the delay settings when using an expression pedal.
 
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Yes, but even when having delay in parallel there is a increase of volume. With mix at 100% the higher the input gain or delay level the higher the volume. That's why it is so hard to level the delay settings when using an expression pedal.

In parallel, that is what you are doing - adding the effected signal to the dry signal. A + B = C. You end up with the sum.

In series, the issue for me isn't the added volume; it is when you turn the mix of the effect down, your volume can perceptually rise and when you turn the effect mix up, your perceived volume goes down. Using parallel removes that.

I'm NOT a big massive effects maven, effects to me are the spices you add to the soup... not the other way around.
 
Hey Scott, do you use Dotted 8th delays at all for rhythmic stuff, or do you just stick to 8ths? I personally use three delays on all my patches, a short delay, long delay and a multi delay using only two of the four delays inside it set to 1/4 and 1/8 dotted. Thats the awesome thing about the AXE-FX is the number of options that you have in one preset for using delay in different ways. You might not use every variation in one song, but when you are playing a 30 song set, I get to all of them by the end of it.

Thanks for the Video Scott, we all appreciate the effort you put in to this community. I'm just glad you're on our side instead of the other, otherwise it would have been really messy.:mrgreen

See you tomorrow.
 
You'd need to rethink my personal grid to work that way. It can be done. Yek runs that way; perhaps get a hold of him if you need help right now. I will write it down as a topic to cover in a future video.

Thanks, that would be cool....... Yes, for my preset template layout I have the same design template across the board with the FXL block and then a CAB block. What I run into is adapting these great sounding presets for my guitar cab (thus eliminating the CAB block in use and dealing only with the AMP block). I will have to examine some of Yek's presets and see if there is anything that differs etc.
 
Hey Scott, do you use Dotted 8th delays at all for rhythmic stuff, or do you just stick to 8ths? I personally use three delays on all my patches, a short delay, long delay and a multi delay using only two of the four delays inside it set to 1/4 and 1/8 dotted. Thats the awesome thing about the AXE-FX is the number of options that you have in one preset for using delay in different ways. You might not use every variation in one song, but when you are playing a 30 song set, I get to all of them by the end of it.

Thanks for the Video Scott, we all appreciate the effort you put in to this community. I'm just glad you're on our side instead of the other, otherwise it would have been really messy.:mrgreen

See you tomorrow.

You can do that with the Dual Delay or the Multidelay; it's great. Not my personal thing generally speaking. because I just do my thing on my gigs. For artists that need/want/use it - like a faithful U2 cover - it's perfect. For instance, if any band I am in needs to do that, it's pretty simple to program it and roll. No issue.

I tend to do stuff my way; just personal choice.

There are no sides; I really don't buy into that much. I don't respect the way some people handle themselves or treat other people; but that's individual and not universal. If someone is a bad guy, doesn't matter what gear they play or not play... they are still a bad guy. ;)
 
These are fantastic. If anyone who prefers spring to studio reverb, this works just as well. I run my chain in a very similar manner to Scott! The only thing I didn't change was the EQ page.

Hey Scott, are you planning on doing each block in your chain? I would definitely be interested in learning someone else's approach, especially yours. Curious to see how you dial in an amp block with FW11. Thanks again, incredibly helpful.
 
In series, the issue for me isn't the added volume; it is when you turn the mix of the effect down, your volume can perceptually rise and when you turn the effect mix up, your perceived volume goes down. Using parallel removes that.

hmm...very strange, because I experience the exact opposite! with higher mix levels (delay in series) the volume goes up. I noticed this because I had copied some presets to another preset number and only changed the delay mix level to a higher setting (not exceeding 50%) causing output clipping in the new preset (red light on).
 
These are fantastic. If anyone who prefers spring to studio reverb, this works just as well. I run my chain in a very similar manner to Scott! The only thing I didn't change was the EQ page.

Hey Scott, are you planning on doing each block in your chain? I would definitely be interested in learning someone else's approach, especially yours. Curious to see how you dial in an amp block with FW11. Thanks again, incredibly helpful.

Yes - that and much more. I plan to cover an entire range of things before I am done.

Sweet video, Scott. You should make one that details your effects routing and why you choose to run things the way you do.

I will be, you can count on it.
 
hmm...very strange, because I experience the exact opposite! with higher mix levels (delay in series) the volume goes up. I noticed this because I had copied some presets to another preset number and only changed the delay mix level to a higher setting (not exceeding 50%) causing output clipping in the new preset (red light on).

You need to look at your "Mixer" block in that effect and let me know how it is set before I can offer to help.
 
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