What am I missing? Volume variance when changing scenes/patches

SteveE9C6

SteveE9C6

Member
I've had my axe FX II XL+ for a couple of months now and I still can not figure this out. I use this in a live worship setting and usually need several different setups for each week. The problem I run into is volume. For example this week I am playing "Made New" by Lincoln Brewster. Lincoln uses a different system, but he uses modeled marshall amps as a start. The start, verses, and chorus of this song are very clean. So, I am starting with a dual verb with delay, reverb, and tremolo to capture this. The brief lead part is pure overdriven marshall tone. So, using the tube driver, I can get a good sound (dropping out tremolo). The problem is volume change with the second scene. I thought that volume could be regulated via scene.. That is one scene could have a slightly lower or higher volume using the mixer function. Nope.. When you change the master volume of one scene, it changes the volume in all scenes. There is no volume level on the distortion patches, at least none that I can figure out. I did a search here and found nothing. I read my manual. Nothing.

Now the volume level changes are not just a problem with different scenes. There is no global volume setting that actually does regulate volume across all of your patches. This is not a little issue when running into the board directly and using in ears. Yes, I bought the volume pedal to use with the MFC101. That really doesn't solve the problem. This is actually such an issue that I am going to use my prior HD500 for worship until I can figure out a way to send a consistent signal to the folks running FOH. I am not a troll. I really do like this unit, but either I am really missing something or a way of actually regulating volume across patches and scenes needs to be addressed.
 
Use the output volume at the end of the grid on the far right side. That volume is scene-dependent.
 
I think the majority of us axe-fx users have had this issue at some point or another. What I found to be the best solution is to leave the output volume at the end of the chain at 0 for ALL PATCHES and adjust the output volume at either the amp or add a volume block to the end of your chain and turn it on/off accordingly within your scenes as needed.

Another approach is to use scene controllers. You get two scene controllers per preset. I assume you have axe-edit? You can assign any parameter that has the ext. control function (any knob that has the square in the center of it). For ex. you could tell your amp block's level knob to be at specific levels for any scene automatically. Lastly make sure to use the Utility button on the front panel of the axe-fx, i believe its the 3rd and/or 4th page that you can monitor both channels output levels. Go through each scene and preset and make the necessary adjustments so that everything is consistent.

good luck
 
Yes, I am saving scenes before switching. However, if you save a volume out for one scene, it changes all of them. I just tried what was suggested above. I am inserting a volume/pan block at the end of each scene. I will see if that works. Thanks guys
 
SteveE9C6 said:
That is what the manual says and what I've tried. I must be doing something wrong.
Click to expand...

This isn't a constructive post at all, but I just wanted to say...

...it is REALLY REALLY GREAT to see new users actually reading the manual.
 
FractalAudio said:
That would be the knob on the front labeled "Output Level 1".
Click to expand...

I understand what you are saying and I may have worded it wrong. There may be wide volume differences sent out due to patch variation that are not controlled by the global setting. What I am looking to achieve is regulation of the volume sent to the global out adjustment. After the feedback here and going back and checking what I am doing, there are at least two fixes here tha are both now working for me. However, this is a manual task to set it all up correctly. I am using some mastering tools to actually set each volume to within 3 dB of each other. This is a quite deep unit that simply requires me to dig in a bit deeper. Though this post may seem otherwise, I actually am a long time gear geek with a ton of studio gear. Maybe I've gotten a bit lazy in my old age (63) ;)
 
I'm glad I read this thread. I don't know how I've missed this. I've had my Axe for well over a year now too. Now I've gotta go check that out. This might make some room in one of my patches.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
SteveE9C6 said:
I understand what you are saying and I may have worded it wrong. There may be wide volume differences sent out due to patch variation that are not controlled by the global setting. What I am looking to achieve is regulation of the volume sent to the global out adjustment. After the feedback here and going back and checking what I am doing, there are at least two fixes here tha are both now working for me. However, this is a manual task to set it all up correctly. I am using some mastering tools to actually set each volume to within 3 dB of each other. This is a quite deep unit that simply requires me to dig in a bit deeper. Though this post may seem otherwise, I actually am a long time gear geek with a ton of studio gear. Maybe I've gotten a bit lazy in my old age (63) ;)
Click to expand...

In the Utility menu there is a VU meter page. This will allow you to easily set your presets to similar volumes. On that page you can also adjust the volume of the two amp blocks without leaving the page via the 'A' and 'B' knobs.
 
Since the VU meters were introduced I haven't had volume issues at all. Once I level match via the VU meter, i rarely have to alter it when playing out; it really does get all my sounds in the same ballpark
 
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