http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/feed/manufacturer-reviews/manufacturer_id/22 Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:12:57 +0000 Zend_Feed en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/product/12361-terratec-axon-ax-100-mk2-bundle.html/?utm_medium=rss%26utm_source%3Dreviews_terratec%26utm_campaign%3Dmanufacturer%26utm_content%3Dbest_on_the_marker_terratec_axon_ax_100_mk2_bundle User: Mike
Rating; 8/10
First just let me say the 8 out of 10 is ONLY because of the problems with the editor. This is one amazing product. I initially ordered the roland GI-20 thinking to run it through my Mac/Log setup, but changed my mind and ordered this instead having seen the demos online and wanting something I could haul around and play live. Setting up was easy. Like a kid with a new toy I immediately and very late at night, installed the pickup on my Ibanez by screwing the pickup on, since the Ibanez is pretty soft wood and wasn\\\'t worried about damaging the guitar. For those of you who would prefer to leave the shiny surface of your axe alone, the pickup comes with a huge selection of sticky pads and spacers. I would have preferred the roland pickup since that comes with a bracket for mounting to Les Paul style bridges, but screwing it on with the supplied screws and springs allowed me to alter the height of the pickup easily. Using the supplied metal bracket measuring thing I was able to get a perfect millimeter gap between pickup and strings and was good to go. The controller is easily mounted on the guitar by way of a bracket that bolts on using the strap button. Word of warning, if you have a guitar with a soft wood, this IS going to start shifting after a while. Also, for me where it\\\'s sat, I keep hitting the volume knob on the controller with my hand when playing. The controller itself feels cheaper than the roland one, which considering it\\\'s almost twice the price when bought separately is worrying. The switch to change between synth, mix and guitar is very small and fiddly, roland did it better. Overall, the process of setting up was painless and if you can maintain your own guitar, you can fit this no problem. 10 minutes and I was up and running. The box itself is a pretty sturdy rack mount affair and I had no problems with the supplied lead, although I would say that the connectors are a nightmare to unplug from the controller on the guitar itself and feel a bit cheap. I\\\'ll probably get a roland cable for live performances. I\\\'m running the box though an Edirol M-16DX and found that output from the Axon to be too low to run direct, so ended up sending the output into the mono input on the front of the box losing the benefits of the stereo output since I couldn\\\'t find any way of altering the Axon\\\'s output volume. Editing the box is a standard menu driven affair pressing buttons to move up and down values and parameters. It\\\'s pretty straightforward, but slow when choosing things like sounds. You have hundreds to choose from and scrolling through one by one takes a while. This is where the editor should have come in. A BIG word of warning for Mac users here. The editor does not work! Terratec are supposed to be working on it... but have pretty much admitted that it\\\'s not working right now. I only figured this after messing around on their forums for a few hours, trying three different and supposedly supported and tested MIDI interfaces, and every version of the software I could lay my hands on. Windows users will be delighted to know it works fine, although it seems to have been designed more from the point of view of the boxes designer than musician, and even being computer savvy ( it\\\'s my job ) I struggled with it. My solution to editing on the mac ended up using VMWare to run the editor. Playing it is a dream, the tracking is near on perfect, except when fingerpicking where you get the occasional blip. You have to clean up your playing style a bit, as unwanted bends sound awful. I ran it into Logic recording a few tracks and found very few problems with additional notes appearing. Also, I\\\'m running the guitar audio straight through as recommended and it doesn\\\'t suffer from much additional noise if you keep the box away from other equipment. I noticed the additional sound there when mounted in a rack with anything other than the mixer box. All sounds on the box are very good, a bit midi\\\'ish as always, but strings are rich, guitar sounds are great, except for distorted sounds. The orchestral stuff is fantastic and playing drums on the guitar requires a lot of practise. If you want to add more sounds to your work, compose, fill out the band when performing, tab your guitar work, working in MIDI or whatever, this box delivers. I\\\'m off to order a pickup for bass as well, but I\\\'ll be buying Roland this time. One thing to note, do not expect this to immediately sound like the instrument you\\\'re trying to emulate without changing your playing style. Think how the instrument works and play accordingly. The organ sounds are great with fast soloing, but volin or sax sounds require a change in style. Pianos sound good only when played with fingers plucking the entire chords, strumming just sounds like a bad guitar. I\\\'m using the guitar sounds to get a clean acoustic feeling. I could write for days about the nuances of this thing. Best bet is to get it, play with it and discover just how much it has to offer. It\\\'s a constant learning curve, and the results are amazing. I\\\'m just touching on the string spitting, picking position and other features after a week of solid playing.
Product Price: £560.93
Product ID: 12361
Product SKU: TT-AXON-BUNDLE ]]> Wed, 22 Apr 2009 05:30:00 +0000 http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/product/4414-terratec-phase-88r-firewire.html/?utm_medium=rss%26utm_source%3Dreviews_terratec%26utm_campaign%3Dmanufacturer%26utm_content%3Dportable_god%3B_terratec_phase_88r_firewire User: craig shimmon
Rating; 8/10
I got one of these not long ago for a portable recording solution... and thats what it has been... a solution! Similar to the MAUDIO DELTA1010 this has 8 i/os (including an optional pair of +48v XLRs). The only problem I found was when I tried to daisy chain it to my existing Phasee88 PCI.. it doesn\'t work! the drivers are different meaning you can only use one at a time.. Even with such programs as ASIO4ALL it will eat up processing power and shutdown your machine!.. sad times! but a good portable (if you rack it up) solution for multitrack mixing... (I used in cubase sx3 & 4 with apple macbook and studio PC).
Product Price: £319.00
Product ID: 4414
Product SKU: TT-PHASE88RFW ]]> Mon, 20 Apr 2009 08:57:28 +0000 http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/product/4668-terratec-axon-ax-100-mk2.html/?utm_medium=rss%26utm_source%3Dreviews_terratec%26utm_campaign%3Dmanufacturer%26utm_content%3Daxon_mkii_terratec_axon_ax_100_mk2 User: Craig
Rating; 3/10
Decide carefully how you intend to use this product, either as a controller for an external sound module or as a stand-alone solution to getting synth sounds on guitar. If the latter, I recommend Roland products instead. I did a lot of research on this unit before trying it out but found that it failed to live up to the hype as a sound generation machine. Internal sounds are dismal compared to Roland's. (If you intend to use an external sound module then this will not be an issue for you.) I didn't find the tracking to be significantly better than Roland's and false note triggering was much worse with the Axon, even after tweaking all the parameters. On the face of it, I like the Axon's rack format and connection options but in every important respect I found it a let-down. I must add that I was using a Roland GK pickup not Axon's own (whether or not that makes a difference).
Product Price: £496.55
Product ID: 4668
Product SKU: TT-AXONAX-100MKII ]]> Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:54:33 +0000 http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/product/12361-terratec-axon-ax-100-mk2-bundle.html/?utm_medium=rss%26utm_source%3Dreviews_terratec%26utm_campaign%3Dmanufacturer%26utm_content%3Doverall_i_give_the_axon_95_it_does_what_it_says_on_the_box_and_i_can_after_all_buy_another_power_supply_terratec_axon_ax_100_mk2_bundle User: Earnest Trenear
Rating; 9/10
I purchased this as an amateur performance-oriented jazz-rock guitarist. I work in a local Specialist Performing Arts Secondary School. Guitar to MIDI hasnEURt featured in school so far but is likely to do so in the future. IEURve only scratched the surface in the few days IEURve had it but the AXON is capable of some stunning effects for band/solo and very useful for studio work, especially if you donEURt feel like getting down with a keyboard. Check out the Burr Johnson video on the Terratec website if you want to know just how Guitar to Midi might change your life. Just be aware that it needs programming to do this stuffEUR it canEURt read your mind but the versatility (meaning - complexity) might just bend it (your mind that is) a little! DonEURt ask about the tracking EUR there isnEURt a problem. However, getting the best out of the AXON necessitates a fairly precise playing style so if your style (like mine) is inclined to a degree of laziness, be prepared to do some work in this area. The disciplined approach, as ever, is the best. Once I got the pick-up installed (see below), the AXON worked right out of the box. I found the guitar pass-through (down the AXON cable and out of the back of the rack unit) added some noise so I ended up routing the guitar signal on a separate cable (despite TerratecEURs recommendation); this may be connected with the rack location I chose for the AXON so try both and try moving things around to avoid hum fields from other equipment. Regarding pick-up installationEUR A semi-permanent installation is undoubtedly best (for me anyway). I donEURt intend to move the pickup from one guitar to another and I donEURt imagine many people would, but I do like to keep instruments in hard cases for protection when theyEURre not being played so the pickup needed to be removeable. After mucking around, giving up with the adhesive pads supplied by Terratec, and feeling quite sick at the thought of drilling into that lovely wood, I managed to install the pickup on an Ibanez Prestige (diseased poplar top) with a Floyd Rose by making a suitable bracket from sheet brass and attaching this under the bridge height adjusters. It only just fits but it works fine. ItEURs worth taking a little time to set up the individual string responses and the velocity parameters of the MIDI instruments to get the sounds spot on. However, I am planning to move the pickup to a hand built EURmusicman styleEUR guitar with a stop tail piece as soon as time permits. The reason for this is simple EUR many midi instruments are chromatic in nature and the continuous train of slight pitch bends which are inevitable when playing anything with a whammy bar are a recipe for trouble because unless youEURre really, really careful, the natural guitar output tends to sound out of tune with the midi instruments. You can set the AXON to accept continuous pitch change information (as opposed to having it quantized chromatically) but did you really want a piano with a whammy bar? (I know it sounds like fun but, unless youEURre an absolute master of the whammy bar with perfect pitch to boot, or donEURt have the luxury of choice, my recommendation is: DonEURt do it.) The AXON has a number of options for controlling pitch bend which you can use with some success but to me, this is a very much a EURcake and eat itEUR scenario. There are some chromatic instruments that sound great with continuous pitch change available; I might just buy a second pickup or consider a permanent piezo under-saddle installationEUR Complaints EUR I have a few personal observations. Some of this is a matter of opinion and IEURm perfectly happy to accept that IEURm being stupid but: Complaint 1 EUR THE WALL WART. 1) I hate the damn things! 2) The supplied wart is too big for most mains distribution boards and stops you using the adjacent sockets. Thanks a bunch Terratec! 3) The 12 volt AC connection on the rack unit is right next to the guitar output EURis that a recipe for radiated EMI or what? Complaint 2 EUR The Manual The content is fine apart from the section on the PC Editor. The editor is probably a fine piece of software and it should make programming the AXON childEURs play but it doesnEURt and some aspects of its use are completely obscure. Even reasonably savvy PC/Mac using guitarists are going to be struggling with this. The whole section has obviously (to my mind) been added as an afterthought; it needs to be rewritten and properly integrated with the rest of the manual if it is to be of any use. Overall I give the AXON 95%. It does what it says on the box and I can, after all, buy another power supply. The Editor is the only significant shortfall and once the menu structure is in your head, programming the rack unit directly is not difficult.
Product Price: £560.93
Product ID: 12361
Product SKU: TT-AXON-BUNDLE ]]> Mon, 03 Jul 2006 16:47:15 +0000 http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/product/12361-terratec-axon-ax-100-mk2-bundle.html/?utm_medium=rss%26utm_source%3Dreviews_terratec%26utm_campaign%3Dmanufacturer%26utm_content%3Dwow_terratec_axon_ax_100_mk2_bundle User: willy
Rating; 10/10
This is probably the most revolutionary product people started disorting amps. I have never used something so intuitive and transparent. No endless setting up settings and menus, it just works. In a word. INCREDIBLE.
Product Price: £560.93
Product ID: 12361
Product SKU: TT-AXON-BUNDLE ]]> Thu, 27 Apr 2006 14:32:23 +0000 http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/product/4668-terratec-axon-ax-100-mk2.html/?utm_medium=rss%26utm_source%3Dreviews_terratec%26utm_campaign%3Dmanufacturer%26utm_content%3Daxon_ax100_mk11_terratec_axon_ax_100_mk2 User: Robin Taplin
Rating; 10/10
Anyone wanting a highly accurate tracking midi converter need look no further. Developed from earlier models ,used by no less than John McClaughlin, the Axon tracks, perfectly at any picking speed. Potential buyers need to be aware of the general view that a piezo system such as the Graphtec is the best means to trigger the Axon as opposed to a Magnetic pickup solution. Need to add therefore another 300 on top of the price of the Axon for a pickup solution. Other features on the Axon make it a really interesting and flexible musical tool. I refer specifically to the string fret and pick position splits which allow virtualy any permutation of sound splits across the instrument. An example of a bass plus ride symbol on the bottom 2 strings plus a Rhodes type piano on the top 4 exemplifies the kind of useful configuration that can be achieved. There are loads of others without doubt. The Internal sounds are a bit 'curates egg' but in any event I intend to link the Axon to Gigasampler or a module for a no compromise solution.I suspect that might be the inclination of others due to small sample sizes used in the sound module which leave some internal sounds quite compromised. Pads/ensembles tend to be the better sounds for me at any rate. Saxes are plain dreadful but I would be generous enough to suggest taste and musical context impact heavily on how these samples are used. I am playing all my Charlie Parker licks using a oboe sound which is a bit different but works well. In comparision to other units on the market I may not be the best judge since my experiences with a number of Roland units and their extremely disappointing tracking had effectively kept me out of the midi guitar market for years. After researching what was available or coming to market I waited almost a year for the Axon. I wasnt disappointed and for the price I don't believe anyone wanting to seriously use midi would be either.Probably the best purchase I've made in the last 10 years. For those wanting to check it out look on the Axon(Terratec) website and download the Burr Johnson demo videos.
Product Price: £496.55
Product ID: 4668
Product SKU: TT-AXONAX-100MKII ]]> Thu, 23 Mar 2006 09:29:43 +0000 http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/product/4666-terratec-phase-24-fw.html/?utm_medium=rss%26utm_source%3Dreviews_terratec%26utm_campaign%3Dmanufacturer%26utm_content%3Dterratec_phase_24_fw_terratec_phase_24_fw User: Keith Chadwick
Rating; 3/10
Hardware issues: 1. Basic 240v psu, not what was expected for a unit designed for mobile work. 2. This unit runs surprisingly hot when running from FW supply or external supply. 3. FW supply noise can be heard on analog outputs, and some earth leakage when both FW supply and external psu are present. Definitely less than 100db snr in such circumstances. 4. When used as a standalone DAC, the unit can hunt for the correct clock rate for some time - occasionally forever, and often reports the wrong clock rate. Software Issues: 5. Master volume control frequently not operable. 6. Changing master clock rate always cycles through 32K, can take some time, and crashes playback applications. 7. Intermittent signal loss occurs on many systems. 8. Does not co-exist with other Terratec sound cards (Aureon Universe, DMX 6Fire). 9. Considerable differences in operational issues dependent upon software install - both on different PC's, and on the same PC. 10. Will sometimes install in a state where sound is always full on at system boot. 11. Sometimes installs and just gives a ticking noise alternating between channels (in time to main LED pulses). 12. Sometimes when running in standalone DAC mode one channel will be significantly quieter than t'other. Not quite a total write off, hopefully Terratec will provide firmware/software upgrades, and a better psu may make some improvements. When it occasionally works correctly, sound quality is good.
Product Price: £149.99
Product ID: 4666
Product SKU: TT-PHASE24FW ]]> Fri, 15 Jul 2005 14:54:30 +0000 http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/product/4666-terratec-phase-24-fw.html/?utm_medium=rss%26utm_source%3Dreviews_terratec%26utm_campaign%3Dmanufacturer%26utm_content%3Dphase_24_terratec_phase_24_fw User: John
Rating; 5/10
if your'e thinking of running tjhis unfriendly bitch on a mac dont! dont say i didn't warn you. Not suffienctly developed
Product Price: £149.99
Product ID: 4666
Product SKU: TT-PHASE24FW ]]> Sun, 15 May 2005 04:43:18 +0000