Individual effects can be bypassed, and there are dedicated buttons to access the Global settings page, tuner display, I/O configuration and Utility menu. The Control button accesses the menu for the internal controllers, including a tempo setting, two LFOs, two ADSR envelopes and an envelope follower. Tabs at the top of the edit windows show you which page you are on, and the Layout button is used to place processing blocks into the grid and to access the routing menu. Exit cancels the current step, the four cursor buttons allow you to move around inside a page or screen, and the page buttons move forwards or backwards through the available pages. The value dial is used to adjust parameters, while Enter confirms an activity. The process of editing Axe‑FX patches will be familiar to anyone who's used a typical rackmount effects unit. The Axe‑FX Ultra's dual‑core floating‑point processor gives the unit enough power to run two different rigs at the same time, as some software plug‑ins now also allow, and is claimed to have enough horsepower to give some of today's desktop computers a run for their money. The maximum analogue output level from the unit is around +18 dBu. Analog Devices op‑amps are used in the analogue sections and a noise floor of better than ‑105 dB is quoted. They use 24‑bit Cirrus Logic converters, and their analogue front-end and output‑stage circuitry employs no electrolytic capacitors in the signal path. However, the designers also point out that many of their modelled effect devices are designed for optimum playability rather than as copies of specific devices - some users will view this as an improvement, while others may feel differently! There are also sophisticated features such as intelligent harmony generation and the ability to swap tone stacks between amp models.įractal Audio Systems are also keen to point out that they take the technical sound quality of the unit very seriously. They've gone into this level of detail for over 50 amplifier types teamed with 39 speakers, 10 microphone types and a host of stomp‑boxes and rack effects. Power‑amp damping, rectifier sag and transformer characteristics are all modelled and can be adjusted by the user. The Axe‑FX's cabinet emulations are based on Impulse Responses, or IRs, taken from real speaker and mic setups, a technique that generally produces very accurate results, and Fractal Audio say that their tube amp algorithms model aspects of the original circuit down to the component level, reproducing the dynamic way in which the frequency response of the amp being modelled varies under playing conditions. Power amp, microphone and cabinet simulations may be enabled or disabled on a per‑patch basis, so the user can set up some patches for live performance and others for studio use. There's a reasonably large display window, which shows both values and graphical control panels, and navigation is accomplished by the now familiar matrix of dedicated buttons, cursor and page buttons and a data wheel. Its black front‑panel design is somewhat utilitarian, but the rear view reveals a comprehensive range of I/O options to meet both stage and studio requirements. Like the standard version, the Axe‑FX Ultra is packaged in a 2U steel case and is powered directly from the mains. My first impression is that if the designers of the Lexicon PCM80, Peavey's ReValver and the Line 6 Pod X3 got together with no budget restrictions, this is somewhere close to what they'd come up with. The Ultra also includes additional effect algorithms, enabling it to create more abstract guitar sounds, including an arpeggiator, synth effects, vocoder, looper, multi‑band compressor, ring modulator, quad chorus, diffuser, resonators, crossovers, and more sophisticated delay and pitch‑based effects. The Axe‑FX Ultra and standard Axe‑FX are similar but the former, reviewed here, has a faster processor and more memory, which equates to the ability to run more effect models at the same time. This is the first product I've tried from Fractal Audio Systems, and it's one of a pair of guitar amp and effect simulators built by the company. Fractal Audio's Axe‑FX is the guitar processor with '80s looks and 21st‑century power!
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