Axe-Fx... Awesome Synth-Y Sounds Without Midi Conversion?

Off-Topic
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saw this on another forum. d. zappa plays a cello-y sounding patch on his axe-fx digital amp modeler. now, i’ve known that this is a great piece of hardware (and expensive, heh) for simulating tube amps but this looks way cool! there are oscillators in it so i bet one could do really awesome synth-y stuff. http://www.fractalaudio.com/products-fa-axefx.html

of course, one can input any audio signal into it, not only guitars. vocals might be particularly interesting is my guess.

here’s the vid (hand cam mic tho, unfortunately): http://www.dweezilzappaworld.com/videos/288

edit: sounds more like some indian bow instrument now that i listen to it again.

2

The Axe-Fx is great piece of gear. I have the Standard version which doesn’t have the dedicated synth blocks but you still can get a lot of noise out of the FX blocks. :)

I use it exclusively for traditional guitar sounds most of the time but I created this small tune as an experiment when I got my Axe-Fx back in 2007. It’s not what I’d call a real song, it’s more like a proof of concept. 100% Ibanez RG670 and Axe-Fx.

The Axe-Fx Ultra offers additional possibilities like oscillators, vocoder and more overall power but costs a lot more too. I don’t need these for guitar so a standard fits my needs nicely.

3

hey, i envy you! :) would love one of the standards too! nice little tune there!

i hope they will drop in price (or that competitors come closer) as it is now i play my ibby without amplification in my apt. i’m quite excited about this though! wonder where modeling will be in 5 years?!