XL+ freezes when changing preset

Owczar

Owczar

Member
Hello!
I've got two XL+ units in my rig, controlled by MFC Mark II with faslink adapter. Lately I've got constant issues when switching presets - axe fx freezes, blank screen, no sound. After few seconds on MFC appears message "Axe FX 2 name timeout". It is totally random, every time on different preset, everything could work on a soundcheck, crashes on gig... This happened every gig I played last month! Fortunately rebooting fractal helps (at least for few songs...) and it does not take too long time, so my tech can do it between songs if it happens.
It is the same on both fractals - second is backup.

First I tried connecting MFC with another XLR cable, then without adapter - via ethercon. I've tried reinstalling firmware (at the moment I have latest Ares, but this issue happened through last few moths, with older firmwares too), the same on MFC - no luck, the same story every gig. Last possibility I could think of was corrupted presets. So week ago before a gig I sat down for a few hours and did total reset - cleared all banks, cabs and system settings, and programmed it from the scratch. I don't need to say it was pain in the *** to program 1,5h show from the scratch. But... it helped! It was first gig in a month without single crash! I was sure that presets got corrupted somehow. Few days ago - freeze again... Yesterday we were playing live on radio - I decided I will check if it happens when changing presets with a knob on a front panel. It crashed once - but MFC was still connected for my scene changing and expression pedals.
Any ideas?
 
This started happening to me too lately. My rig froze up once at the last gig I played, and again a few nights ago at rehearsal. Near as I can tell it's been happening with my presets that use a higher CPU load (80%+). My working hypothesis is that the new Ares firmware needs more processing power and raised the CPU load, and some presets that worked fine before have suddenly become problematic.

Last night I tried lightening the offenders by deleting unused/unnecessary blocks from them and re-saving. I'd recommend trying this to see if it helps. If you're presets are using stereo blocks, you can lighten them by switching to mono.
 
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Thanks for reply! First time it happened, was with quantum 9, so I'm not sure if it's Ares's fault. Anyway, most of my presets are around 65% CPU usage, I've got literally two presets with usage 81% and 83% - but freezes happens even when switching from low cpu usage to another low cpu usage preset.
Right now I'm working on programming simple midi controller to check if its not a MFC fault - this is last possibility I can think of. We will see how it goes on this weekend shows.
 
Owczar said:
Thanks for reply! First time it happened, was with quantum 9, so I'm not sure if it's Ares's fault. Anyway, most of my presets are around 65% CPU usage, I've got literally two presets with usage 81% and 83% - but freezes happens even when switching from low cpu usage to another low cpu usage preset.
Right now I'm working on programming simple midi controller to check if its not a MFC fault - this is last possibility I can think of. We will see how it goes on this weekend shows.
Click to expand...

I just got my II unit a few months ago and started out with Ares, but I didn't start having problems until very recently. Not sure if this problem is related to the timeout problems with Axe-Edit... for me it seems to be; https://forum.fractalaudio.com/thre...y-loses-connection.148341/page-2#post-1763086

In any case this is a very uncool situation for these freezes to be occurring with a supposedly professional-level product.
 
Owczar said:
Hmm, I've never had problems with Axe-Edit, works fine, zero disconnects.
Click to expand...

That's interesting. I always just assumed they were part of the same problem, though I think there's a slightly different behavior. The MFC patch-change freeze completely kills the audio, where the Axe-Edit patch change problem maintains the previous patch and renders Axe-Edit software inoperable. It's also worth mentioning that my MFC is hooked up to the Axe-FX II using a midi cable and not the faslink adapter. That may rule out the possibility of it being a communication-related issue.
 
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Colorado Axeman said:
What's that supposed to mean, and is it useful to this discussion?
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You were saying you got your axe fx 2with Ares installed a few months ago but we have had Ares for about 2 weeks only. Just trying to figure where you are coming from to make it easier to trouble shoot or try to draw some conclusion.
 
Decimator said:
You were saying you got your axe fx 2with Ares installed a few months ago but we have had Ares for about 2 weeks only. Just trying to figure where you are coming from to make it easier to trouble shoot or try to draw some conclusion.
Click to expand...

The Ares beta has been available since January.
 
Try this - disconnect everything from the axe and do your switching from the front panel only....just keep switching it up over and over and see if anything happens. Make sure everything is disconnected-every adapter, every cable except the guitar cable, the power cable and possibly your xlr or 1/4 caes going to your monitors.

If nothing happens, try connecting just the adapter and repeat the process and see if it crashes....just keep cycling through presets and changing everything from the front panel.....

If nothing happens, connect the MFC and see if it happens, again using the front panel ONLY

At least this will help narrow down where the problem is coming from. I'm guessing not the axe as most people have not had this problem.....it may be the mfc from the looks of it, but you'll have to see for yourself by testing it out to see who the culprit is.
 
For last gigs I've tried using 3rd party midi controller, it is the same situation, random freezes when changing presets. 3-4 times during 90min show. There was one moment when it crashed twice in a row, just after the reboot when changing to next preset, after second reboot everything was fine. I double checked that I wasn't sending any "crap midi messages" - just PCs, and CC34 for scenes. I've tried changing stuff from the front panel, without mfc connected - cycled through all my presets and scenes few times and it was fine - but I'm not sure it wouldn't freeze after longer time. Unfortunately I don't have time for sitting for an hour and changing presets...
So I've programmed simple midi loop in cubase - it changes my presets and scenes for more than an hour already and guess what... Still no crash. I'm totally tired of this.
 
My axe edit started crashing on me last night for the first time. It happened while tweaking the amp while running the looper. I have latest firmware for XL+ and latest Axe Edit.
 
Last night at rehearsal I had one preset freeze up on me three times. Once it happened twice in a row as soon as I rebooted it. Aside from that I had no other problems. I'm going to start deleting the offending presets carte blanche when I get a freeze because it seems to be preset specific and isolated to just a few of them. I'm guessing they got corrupted somehow.
 
Still trying to find out what exactly cause issues. When switching presets quite fast - either as fast as I can, or waiting few seconds after each change - it can work for hours without a single crash. It crashes only when switching to certain preset after spending some more time on previous one - doesn't matter if I'm switching scenes, moving expression pedals etc.

I've isolated few situations that cause issues. For example I have presets called "Toxic" and "WWW". There is huge chance (it's not happening always) for crash when I stay on "Toxic" for 5 minutes or so, and then switch to "WWW". I've copied these two somewhere else, and crash happen as long as these two presets are one after another. But it works good when switching to WWW from some other preset.

I'm attaching these two presets, it would be great if somebody could check them out.
Thanks in advance!
 

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  • 7 Toxic.syx
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  • LP WWW.syx
    12.6 KB · Views: 2
I attempted to load your presets last night, but since I have a Mk1 I had to convert them. I'll try giving the converted presets a try to see if I can reproduce it.
 
Not sure if this helps but I have run in to problems when my own computer memory or CPU overrunning and caused a freezup
 
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