Fractal Audio Systems AXE FX III

The Most Powerful Axe-Fx Ever

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Unprecedented Power

The original Axe-Fx upended the industry by being the first device for musicians to put a military/industrial-grade DSP into a consumer product. Leveraging the power of this DSP allowed detail and realism that no other product had previously achieved. The Axe-Fx II expanded on this concept by putting two of those same DSPs to work. Continuing the legacy of this philosophy the Axe-Fx III harnesses the power of no fewer than four separate processors.

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Two 1.0 GHz, floating-point “Keystone” Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) comprise the main audio engine. These processors are the most powerful DSPs available delivering over twice the performance of the DSPs used in our previous generation products. To feed these advanced processors we coupled 4Gb of blazing fast PC1600 DDR3 memory, hundreds of MB of FLASH memory, a proprietary FPGA and a rich set of peripherals.

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The stunning colour display is controlled by a dedicated graphics processor while USB traffic and user interface tasks are handled by a 500 MHz, 16-core microcontroller providing smooth operation and robust USB performance.

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A Powerful Interface Makes the Axe-Fx III
the Most Intuitive Product We’ve Ever Created

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Dynamic Color Display

Controlling all this power requires an interface to match. A large 800×480 color display features 30 times the resolution of our previous model. Custom designed to provide more brightness and contrast than “off-the-shelf” displays, this new display is optimized for readability in the most difficult conditions.

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Driving the display is a dedicated graphics accelerator delivering dynamic, animated displays. Unlike the mostly static displays in other products, the displays in the Axe-Fx III feature moving knobs, meters, graphs and other dynamic content giving the user valuable visual feedback at a glance.

 

Sleek Front Panel

Five push-encoders plus a main encoder allow rapid data entry and parameter control. Editing is fast and easy with minimum keystrokes needed to access and edit parameters. A stack-based menu system is quick and intuitive with the most-used menus no more than a couple button pushes away. Placement of the knobs below the display gives direct access to five on-screen parameters at once, plus five “push” functions at the same time. Dialing in sounds has never been faster or easier.

 

I/O Monitoring

A front panel LED meter bridge provides instant visual status for the inputs and outputs. The effects layout grid also features an intuitive “Meters” display which shows the input and output levels of each effect block at a glance. Additionally a dedicated Meters menu shows all analog and USB I/O levels for quick and easy troubleshooting of connection mistakes.

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Abundant I/O Provides Ultimate Flexibility

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Expanded I/O

Vastly expanded input and output resources provide for ultimate flexibility. The Axe-Fx III features two instrument inputs: one on the front and one on the back with auto-switching capability. Inserting a plug into the front input jack automatically switches the unit to front input operation. Remove the plug and the unit switches to the rear input.

Connect your wireless to the rear input and then plug into the front input to tune (using the new tuner display) or make quick adjustments. Unplug and you’re back to jumping around on stage with your wireless. Both inputs feature our Auto-Z technology which simulates the input impedance and subsequent pickup loading of typical stomp boxes.

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An additional six analog inputs are available:

One pair of balanced XLR/1/4″ combo-jacks plus two pairs of balanced 1/4″ inputs.

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Analog output capabilities are similarly impressive with four fully independent stereo pairs: Output 1 features both XLR and 1/4” jacks for connection to FOH, monitors or other line level devices. Output 2 features a second set of XLR jacks and outputs 3 and 4 each offer a pair of Humbuster™ 1/4” jacks. Outputs 3 and 4 are designed for unity gain applications such as “the four cable method” or dual stereo inserts and can also be used as general-purpose outputs. Digital audio I/O is comprised of AES and SPDIF inputs and outputs.

 

Clocking options include internal or external via SPDIF/AES input.

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Two expression pedal inputs allow for expressive real-time control of parameters. Our new FASLINK II™ provides phantom power and bidirectional communications with the upcoming FC-6 and FC-12 foot controllers over standard XLR microphone cables.

 

MIDI In, Out and a dedicated Thru provide easy integration with other gear in large stage rigs. Extensive MIDI support along with a dedicated MIDI block allows the Axe-Fx III to be the central hub of a MIDI-connected setup.

 

Input & Output Blocks

Routing flexibility is enhanced by unconstrained placement of input and output blocks anywhere in the routing grid. Want to insert different outboard devices at different parts of the signal path? No problem. Simultaneously process discrete stereo output for acoustic and electric guitars? Easy. Send stereo to front-of-house, plus a true “Wet-Dry-Wet” on stage while recording a DI for re-amping later? No problem! Each output pair also has its own dedicated front panel LEVEL knob for convenient control.

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8×8 USB with Superior Performance

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The Center of your Music Workstation

A 16-core, 500 MHz microcontroller provides 16 channels of flawless USB audio (8 in, 8 out) allowing the Axe-Fx III to be the center of your music workstation.

 

The audiophile-grade signal path components and converters provide better audio performance than most dedicated USB audio interfaces. With 8×8 channels you can record multiple tracks of processed audio, DI signals, etc., while monitoring backing tracks, auditioning stereo reamps in real-time, and more.

 

A USB audio sound source can even be placed on the grid with its own dedicated block. Windows 7/8/10 drivers are included, and the Axe-Fx III requires no driver on a Mac running 10.7.4 or newer.

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Industry-Leading Amp Models, Speaker Simulation, and Effects

 

State of the Art Amp Models

The power of the Axe-Fx III provides the perfect platform for our state-of-the art amp modeling. Picking up where our Quantum™ modeling left off, our latest modeling is the most expressive, musical, and accurate we’ve ever created. The amp block has been refined and improved, with features like a new streamlined interface built around the new 5-knob color display system, a new parametric pre-EQ, and four fully independent “Channels” with instant, seamless switching.

 

As always, the preamp and power amp sections are independently modeled in painstaking detail. The results represent the next step forward in what has come to be known as “Fractal-Quality” amp modeling: a benchmark against which an entire industry measures itself.

 

Speaker Cabs Galore

The Axe-Fx III features our exclusive, proprietary UltraRes™ speaker simulations with over 2200 factory impulse responses (IRs) to choose from including all the IRs from the Axe-Fx II in a convenient “legacy bank” for easy migration. The redesigned Cabinet block features a 4-channel mixer based on our popular Cab-Lab™ software, providing the capability to mix and remix IRs on-the-fly as you would with real mics on a speaker cabinet. Factory content includes selections from the best of today’s IR producers and artists, including Fractal Audio, AustinBuddy, Celestion, ML Sound Lab, Ownhammer, John Petrucci, Chris Traynor & James Santiago, Valhallir, York Audio, Dr. Bonkers, and more.

 

An additional 2,048 “User Cab” memories allow you to load new Cab Packs or 3rd party IRs, and a built-in utility allows you to capture and save your own speaker tones (now with 16 “Scratch Pad” locations!) Our celebrated Tone Matching block is also improved, now with the impressive ability to clone the tone of an amp or recording in UltraRes™.

 

 

Astounding Effects

The Axe-Fx III is an incredibly versatile multi-FX processor able to reproduce the sound of a huge array of industry-leading stomp boxes and studio effects. Or push into new territory with the ability to design effect sounds never heard before. Most effects can be dialed in with a single knob to make all required settings, or tweaked at the deepest level.

 

We’ve expanded the number and types of effects available from our already impressive inventory. Each preset can contain, for example, four Drive blocks (each with four channels), four Delay blocks (again each with four channels), and so on.

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Not content with just repackaging our algorithms, almost all our industry-leading effects have been updated to take advantage of the increased processing power. A dedicated Plex block features up to 8 delay lines in a feedback arrangement for ethereal “shimmer” effects.

 

Our award-winning reverb algorithm has been updated and improved to provide even thicker, smoother reverbs. A new Pitch block with improved pitch detection provides whammy, double-tracking, harmony, detune and more with astounding tracking and fidelity. A new Real-Time Analyzer block provides detailed visual feedback of the audio spectrum.

 

A stereo Looper provides over five minutes of recording time at full resolution with overdub and undo capabilities. And much, much more…

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The routing grid has been expanded to six rows and 14 columns to take advantage of the increased power and effects inventory. Put up to six effects in parallel. Create four separate and independent effects chains. If you can dream it, the Axe-Fx III can do it.