X/Y switching (legacy)

X/Y switching: supported by which Fractal Audio products?

• Axe-Fx II: yes.
• MFC-101: yes.
• AX8: yes.
• FX8: yes.

About X/Y switching

• Cliff's comments:
  • "The idea behind X/Y is that people often have multiple distortion/chorus/delay/etc. pedals on their board but they rarely have more than one on at a time. So rather than creating more instances of effects, which sucks up CPU, have each instance capable of more than one sound."
• X/Y-switching occurs at block level, not at preset level.
• There's no crossfading when switching between X and Y. If you want crossfading, use Scene Controllers as an alternative to X/Y switching.

Blocks with X/Y support

• Axe-Fx II Mark I and II: Amp, Cab, Chorus, Delay, Drive, Flanger, Phaser, Pitch, Reverb, Wah.
• Axe-Fx II XL and XL+: Amp, Cab, Chorus, Compressor/Dynamics, Delay, Drive, Flanger, GEQ, Gate, Mixer, PEQ, Phaser, Pitch, Rotary, Reverb, Tremolo, Wah.
• AX8: Amp, Cab, Chorus, Compressor/Dynamics, Delay, Drive, Filter, Flanger, Gate, Multi Delay, Phaser, Pitch, Rotary, Reverb, Tremolo, Wah.
• FX8: Chorus, Compressor/Dynamics, Delay, Drive, Filter, Flanger, Gate, MIDI, Multi Delay, Phaser, Pitch, Relay, Rotary, Reverb, Tremolo, Wah.
• Cliff's comments:
  • "Any blocks that have X/Y on the XL but not on the Mark II will not import the bypass state as that is stored differently. You need to manually adjust the bypass state after import." source

X/Y switching and scenes

• The X/Y state of an effect can vary per Scene. This is one of the advantages of using preset scenes.

X/Y switching on the hardware

• Axe-Fx II:
  • Use the dedicated X/Y buttons on the front panel.
  • You can use the X/Y buttons on the front panel also as Quick-Jump buttons to quickly display the EDIT menu of specific blocks, assigned in I/O.
• FX8 and AX8:
  • Hold a switch (1-8) to alternate between X and Y. If the LED is amber lit, Y is active.
  • You can also assign one of the 3 switches at the right to "Single X/Y" or "Sticky X/Y".
  • You can adjust the switch "hold" time in the Global menu.
  • You can also switch an effect between X and Y on the grid, using a shortcut key.

X/Y switching in the software editors

• Press the "X" key on the keyboard to switch a block between X and Y in the software editor.
• The X/Y-states of the blocks are displayed in the software editor, without needing to select the block first.

X/Y indication

• The X/Y state of effects blocks is shown in the software editors.
• On the AX8 hardware the current X/Y state of the selected block is shown at the bottom of the Layout page.
• On the Axe-Fx II and FX 8 hardware the current X/Y state of the selected block is shown in an effect block's EDIT menu (not on the Layout page).

X/Y switching and CPU usage

• CPU usage is calculated using the current state of a block (X or Y). When switching an effect between X and Y, CPU usage may change.

Copying and swapping X/Y settings

• X and Y effect settings can be copied on the hardware itself (press X or Y twice quickly). To swap X and Y, use of the software editor is required.

Resetting effect parameters and X/Y settings

• Resetting an effect block on the hardware resets the parameters to their default values. This only applies to the current state: X or Y. To reset the entire block, switch to the other state and repeat the process (or use the software editor to initialize the entire block).

Modified parameters and X/Y settings

• When a controller is assigned to a parameter, it always applies to both X and Y. It's not possible to have different modifier settings for X and Y, the architecture doesn't allow for this. source

Recall Effect and X/Y settings

• Using Recall Effect on the Axe-Fx II and AX8 will always import all effect block settings: X and Y. So you can't use Recall Effect for just X or just Y. Use the software editor instead to copy and paste X-only or Y-only settings.

Using X/Y switching to compare sounds and settings

• X/Y switching offers an easy way to compare sounds when tweaking. Example:
  1. Go to an AMP block, state "X".
  2. Double-click "Y" on the front panel to copy the "X" settings into "Y".
  3. Select X or Y and adjust settings.
  4. Now alternate between X and Y to see and hear the differences.
• You can also do this in the software editor.
• This also offers an easy method to quickly see where effect settings differ from default, by resetting X or Y to default.
• An alternative approach to comparing sounds on the Axe-Fx II: save a preset as a Snapshot in the editor. Select Revert to get the original sound back. Then drag and drop the snapshot file into the editor.

X/Y switching on the MFC-101 and other MIDI controllers

• There's a dedicated MIDI CC for most blocks that offer X/Y switching. Assign this CC to a switch to alternate between X and Y.
• You can configure X/Y effect blocks to engage the effect in either X or Y mode. Example: (source)
  1. IA Switch 1, ON message: DELAY 1 ON, DELAY 1 X (CC#47:127, CC#106: 127)
  2. IA Switch 1, OFF message: DELAY 1 OFF, DELAY 1 X (CC#47:0, CC#106: 127)
  3. IA Switch 2, OFF message: DELAY 1 ON, DELAY 1 Y (CC#47:127, CC#106: 0)
  4. IA Switch 2, OFF message: DELAY 1 OFF, DELAY 1 Y (CC#47:0, CC#106: 0)
• Or use a controller's "group" or'"linked switches" feature.
• On the MFC-101 X is green, Y is red. If you prefer the default state to be green, use Y as the default state.