Axon AX-100 MkII

[mcgraham]

Hi all,

I'm not if many or any of you have seen the video on bassplayer.tv where a Terratec rep. fiddles with their Axon AX-100 MkII guitar pitch-to-MIDI convertor, but it's more or less persuaded me to look out for a good MIDI system.

My musical background is gospel and worship, and I am always envious or at least amazed at the versatility offered by advanced keyboards such as the Roland RD 700 or 700 SX (several of my previous bandmembers have used them). The variety of sounds achieved by them is astounding. Artists such as Israel Houghton also seem to employ a multitude of keys players that synthesise horn parts when necessary, which saves touring with those fussy saxophonists In short, I REALLY want and have always wanted that ability on at least one of my instruments, for performance, arrangement and transcription purposes.

After doing some reading, mainly TalkBass based reviews, it seems it's not great at tracking on bass. Disappointing, but understandable. So I will likely spill out on the necessary aftermarket pickup for both bass AND guitar so as not to lose out on what it offers. I'll decide sometime this week whether or not I will pull the trigger on ordering the necessary bits and pieces, and when I am likely to do this.

So why am I posting here? I was hoping that someone out there may have had experience with such MIDI systems, particularly this one, or
perhaps even the Roland GI-20. If you know any info that would be useful to consider before deciding to shell out a couple of hundred quid
for a MIDI setup, it'd be much appreciated.

Either way I'll hopefully be posting in a week or so (hopefully not much more!) and let you know all whether it's any good.

Mark

[Kiwi]

This guy doesn't seem to be having any problems. The unit needs about half an hour to set up properly to respond to an individuals playing nuances, so I understand. I've been looking at getting one for the MIDI bass that Jon Shuker is building for me.

I suspect you are likely to face paying more than a couple of hundred quid for the full set up though, if you're going for the easier to update MkII version.

[mcgraham]

Thanks for the response Kiwi, I was hoping you'd give your input seeing as you're having a MIDI bass built!

I'm willing to pay the cost I've totalled up from Thomann and various places as it is a tool I would definitely use. As I've said above, it's not for the novelty purpose, it's so that I can do exactly what keyboardists can do from a native instrument. However if it isn't up to scratch on bass, I will do it on guitar as I do most of my complex arranging and transcription on there.

That video is pretty good, but not really what I'm looking to do with it. From the sound and his description it sounds like he's mixed the normal bass sound with the MIDI; I'd be primarily looking to 'play another instrument' using my bass/guitar rather than trigger samples or mix two sounds together ala an effected sound.

Have you managed to acquire an Axon unit yet? Or are you still on the lookout?

Mark

[Kiwi]

I'm still looking, I was in on an ebay auction today in fact but bids spiralled way beyond what I thought was a reasonable price for a used unit - even one in superb condition. Ironically, there were loads of them around about 2 years ago but not at the moment it seems.

The other thing is that its all too easy for shill bidding now that bidders identities are protected. So now its very much a case of setting your price and sticking by it regardless of whatever else is going on in the auction. You never know when someone's trying something on. At the moment I'm trying to secure a used Mk2 (preferably with updated firmware) but if one doesn't come up at a reasonable price used by the time Jon's finished with my bass, then I'll bite the bullet and get one new.

I asked Jon the same questions about the Axon and he said the manufacturer claimed it was the best thing for bass out there at the moment. I guess we'll see. TBH, I think I'm going to be fairly easy to please because I had a go on Trev's (G-77) Roland synth and it was a lot of fun, no lag that I noticed and this was a unit that was 20 years old.

[mcgraham]

I was in on that auction too. I thought that I'd like to pay 200 quid for it, what I'd be happy to pay at most for it was 230 (so I said 235, who wants to lose out because someone put in 231 pounds!) and absolute max was 255 quid. 270 was what it went for I believe. I'd much rather pay for brand new and have the option of taking it back if there's a problem with it.

After doing some more reading, I [i]may[/i] end up opting for its little brother, the AX 50 USB. Simply because it's cleaner, smaller, simpler, and I'm planning to expand to an external MIDI sound unit eventually anyway. Plus I won't be using the full power of the system, I'm going for the keyboard but on guitar route.

I'll do a bit more reading into the best option, pull the trigger sometime this week (dead cert if the AX 50 turns out to be my best choice) and mess about with it on guitar. If it turns out that it tracks well on bass, then I will possibly get Jon at some point in the future, once funds are secured for such a project, and then get a MIDI ready bridge put on my bass to make it all a bit more svelte. The guitar I plan to use it on is an acoustic though, so I wouldn't realistically be able to do the same on that.

Mark

[mcgraham]

What a pain in the ass! The system requirements for Mac are OS 10.4 and 1.25GHz G4, I have neither. Balls to it I say, balls!

Mark

[Kiwi]

Well I've just pulled the trigger on an AX100 and it arrived yesterday, but I'm still waiting for the bass!

[DanOwens]

As CK knows I've been messing about with midi bass for a good few years now. I use a terratec convertor.

Its not without its problems but you'll never be able to get a bass guitar to sound like a sine oscillator, through shed loads of routing with anything other than decent pitch-to-midi.

Dan

[mcgraham]

Well, I haven't actually got one of these yet, but I'm still on the lookout. Has anyone had any more experience with these things?

How about you CK? Have you put the Axon to use yet?

Dan, would you mind sharing your experience using the Axon? Have you developed any tips/tricks to get past the limitations of using it on bass?

Mark

[purpleblob]

I have an Axon AX 100 which I've been using with my guitar and the tracking is okay (although I suspect I could make it better as it's not quite as good as a friend has his older version set up).

I'm interested in getting a bass set up with the MIDI pickup and use through the Axon. Is anyone using the Axon with a bass and what have your experiences been with it - obviously my main interest is the tracking and how good or bad that is.

[mcgraham]

I never did this in the end. Too expensive and too many mixed opinions. Speak to CrazyKiwi about it though. He had a bass made by Jon Shuker to allow him to utilise this very unit!

Mark

[iamapirate]

wahoo I totally saw Israel Houghton live! I know what you mean. I'm looking into the same thing, and it looks like a midi pickup with a straight forward MIDI output into a mac would be the best option... and the most expensive. i reckon about... £1500 including the mac? lol