Posted by Slim on 6/16/2008, 9:52 am, in reply to "Re: Honeymoon IS OVER"

I haven't had any trouble out of my Knight PA head --Previous Message-- : Well, here is a copy of my letter to Fractal : Audio:Dear Fractal Audio: : : I received my AXE-FX Friday and it is now : Sunday night at 10:15PM. I have been trying : to get the editing software to work for the : past 8 hours and I cannot seem to make that : happen. I bought a midi interface, : downloaded all of the recommended software, : connected and re-connected the cables, read : many posts and answers for hours and finally : gave up. Here is a copy and paste from your : forum: : : "Java MIDI sucks. It will either work, : or it won't. There are NO parameters to : tweak, if it doesn't work then you are : basically SOL." : : That is pretty hard to take after spending : all of this time, money and energy. Would it : be possible to have someone call me and walk : me through the set up process on the editing : program? I have a brand new iMac with the : latest operating system. : Thanks, Norm : : We will see how good the customer support is : now. I know there is a learning curve with : any equipment. But IMHO the amount they are : ahead in sonic quality with respect to Line6 : is negated by how far they are behind Line6 : in the ease of use category. My POD XT Live : has a USB port that you just plug into the : computer. You download the Line6 software : one time, the software sees your POD and : everybody says hello. From then on you are : editing. This thing has no USB port or : headphone jack or midi interface. SO you : have to go buy those things as accessories. : Plus the different components do not just : see each other. : : For instance, there are a couple of other : programs that you have to get in order for : the midi to communicate with the MAC. The : Fractal Editor itself has been very finicky. : It comes up on the screen then it doesn't. I : tried to uninstall it and then reinstall it : but the uninstall doesn't seem to work. The : editor asks you to configure the software : but the version in my machine isn't : available in the editor. (too new?) You have : to buy a midi interface just to get things : started. The forums are full of different : opinions about what works and what doesn't : work. Some of the people are computer geeks : that know all of the lingo and talk over my : head and some of them are scratching their : heads just trying to figure out what to ask : to make this editor work. There is nothing : in the manual about any of this. No : recommendations about midi interfaces or : explanations of the editor. There is a user : on YouTube that does a tutorial but there is : nothing like that from the company itself. : BTW Jason, thanks for the info on the : headphone/mixer, another problem for a user : to figure out on their own. : : So far this has been a lesson in discipline : for me. I am sure it will work out : eventually but I have wasted at least one : day of my life on something that I think : should just work right and easily from the : beginning. : : The next step will be trying to get a : generic midi foot controller to work with : this because they are still developing the : proprietary one. My overall impression at : this point is that I think that they jumped : the gun releasing this unit before they : figured out the contingent issues. : : Stay tuned, more to follow. : : --Previous Message-- : Thanks for your insights. I think it's : great : that the possibility for the "crazy : sounding" stuff is there as long as : it's also possible to find some simpler and : useful tones. Would love to hear more from : you as you explore it. : : If the effects are on par, as you say, with : brands such as Lexicon, then that's a : promising aspect. : : One idea regarding the headphones...without : looking at the unit, I would venture to : guess you could feed the outputs of the : Axe-Fx to a compact mixer and use your : headphones through that (or certainly : through any mixer that you might have). If : I might make a recommendation, you could get : one of those new Mackie 402 VLZ3s for under : $100 at your basic Guitar Center, etc...it's : a pretty cool little device. I have one and : it has come in very handy for a variety of : light-duty applications. : : http://www.mackie.com/products/402vlz3/ : : JB : : : : --Previous Message-- : Tried it out last night, didn't read the : manual but just went through the presets. As : always there is a bunch of stuff in the : presets to show off the many effects. Lots : of crazy sounding patches that you would : never use unless you were doing a sound : track for a cartoon. Of the 128 presets : there are about 20 that are usable and 5 of : them that really kicked. That is good for me : because I only found 2 or 3 on the Line6 POD : XT Live. : : The digital fizz is pretty much absent. One : thing that I don't like is that there is no : headphone jack. WTF? That is part of the : reason for messing with these for me. Late : night /early morning jams with big Marshall : stacks in my music room where only I hear : what is going on. For that matter, I want to : be able to practice with headphones whenever : I want to. : : Here is my overall take on this unit. It is : definitely a step or two above anything : Line6 has to offer. It is kind of like a : "boutique" : digital processor. It has great : possibilities but it is not a plug in and : play toy. Many, many things to tweak. But : the difference is that you start on a great : canvas with the best supply of vibrant : colors instead of a peace of paper with a : box of 8 crayola crayons. It looks like it : is geared towards live applications, hence : no phone jacks. So you have to figure out : how you are going to set it up and what you : are going to use it with first and then : tweak it. The effects are on par with studio : quality gear ie. Lexicon, Eventide, TC etc. : So if you have the time to tweak, I believe : you can get very, very close to the tones : you are trying to emulate. : : They do not have a proprietary foot switch : controller out yet. I am on the waiting list : for that too. It should be out by the end of : the summer. For now, you have to get a : compatible midi foot switch and use that. : Also, no USB port. I think you have to buy : some type of midi interface device to take : advantage of the computer software available : on their website. I guess I have to break : down and read the manual. This is a young : company with some great ideas and this is : the next step in the evolution of guitar : processors. I noticed that they did not have : the Handsome Devil or the Knight PA head : models in this unit yet so they still have : much work to do! : : --Previous Message-- : Great news. Please report back after you've : played it for 30 seconds : : I want the honeymoon report! : : : --Previous Message-- : JASON, I JUST GOT CONFIRMATION ON MY ORDER : 5-7 : DAYS GROUND SHIPPING. I didn't buy the : ULTRA. The regular version looked like it : had so much on there that it was over-kill : unless you were putting it in a studio. They : are supposed to have a proprietary midi : footswitcher coming out later in the summer. : Until then, you have to get a compatible : midi switcher. First impressions coming : soon! Still don't have my Trainwreck clone. : : : : : : : : :