Digidesign Eleven Rack Guitar Multi Effects Processor

I absolutely love my new Eleven Rack this thing is a Beast, the amp simulations are spot on and the unit is very easy to setup and use. This was one of my best purchases for my studio , Quality built unit and looks fantastic in my desk.if your in need of an amp simulator you should try an Eleven Rack they have been used for years by some of the best artist out there and I can see why.what I like best is I can use it in my studio or use it as a stand alone unit for gigs the Elven Rack is A BEAST !!!

oh Digidesign. how the mighty have fallen. Everytime I want to use this damn thing it's 200$ to Avid for the latest ProTools that's certified with a newer OS, but not too new or else they don't support it yet, but then wait, it's coming soon....oh well you need to upgrade the ProTools again for another 200$.... get a Pod HD500X and call it a day.

This unit sounds very good live, playing blues, jazz rock top 40's etc. along with a Furman AR-1215 Power Conditioner, a Korg A-1 , an Axe FX 2, a decimator, a BBE Sonic Maximizer 362, a custom patch bay and a Peavey DPC-1000. I need to figure out where to purchase a volume knob that has fallen off. Trying to get through to Digidesign, you'd be better off calling fresh cut grass. So, if your machine breaks sell it to the pawn or thrift store and get an AXE-FX, period. PS. I don't even use Pro-Tools because its too iffy. NEXT STOP AXE-FX!! It does not install on WINDOWS 7 or a Dell computer using WINDOWS XP. I guess I would have to use WINDOWS 95, 2000 or MS-DOS.

It sounds like a respectable DSP amp with a respectable amount of options. My disappointment is perhaps based on the over hyped reviews I read on many different sites before I bought it. This is promoted as truly tube (or amp modeling) like sounding accurate with the feel of analogue tube amps. I was very much expecting to like it more than I did though.Compared to the tube amps I do own, this doesn't come close to the dynamics and "feel" if you know what I mean. DSP, or digital modeling, has done very well to reproduce sounds and effects, but when playing something seems always missing and the one playing can almost always hear digital artifacts (i.e. square shape curves, roll off, etc). To others listening to it the feedback was very positive to what I played through it.I am actually very disappointed in overall "feel" when playing. When playing through it I do not get any impression that is like playing on a tube amp. I really wish it did as I expected it would. On some of the settings with fuzz or gain you hear this left over scratchy remnant... kinda like a fly buzzing around your beer. It just takes away from the goodness. I may try removing those effects and running some of my pedals into it to see what happens. It has an effects look and an adjustable impedance for the front end inputs. That is very cool and should give me some options. The built in effects are average at best.Will I keep it... at this point yes. It is a good deal with Pro Tools 10 (full edition) and the guys at Sweetwater are great. Old fashioned type of service... a good thing. I will use it for easy recording when I want a reasonable track without the headache or amps, placement, changing tubes, mics, wires, and people screaming about the noise level. Yes.. the Eleven Rack has it place... respectable sounds and lots of convenience. Just not something I would play for the fun of it.I have not recorded to Pro Tools as the setup has given me some issues I have not figured out yet. Pro Tools sees the Eleven Rack, but does not "hear" it. I am sure I will get this resolved though and if not I know the guys at Sweetwater are there to help. I have only played through other amps and headphones. It does have some nice features that let you remove the amp, and cab and speaker effects and adjust levels.... So you can plug into monitors, various types of amps (tube, clean, dirry, etc) and adjust what does through without having to completely redo the effect setting. This is a very nice feature.So... in conclusion... it is decent. Not great. Worth $700... maybe, but for me only for the recording and convenience factors. I won't be selling my other amps anytime soon. I was hoping this would prompt me to do that as I have way too many amps and cabs. I was hoping to hear some sounds that said "Go ahead and sell some of the bulky gear you've got laying around. I'll handle those needs for ya." But regrettably the Eleven Rack did not speak to me that way.

On initial receipt you might find that your Eleven Rack will exhibit no sound in standalone mode. I RMA'd my first unit only to find that second one exhibited the same problem. Performing a memory reset will typically fix this issue. Additionally, while using the provided software, Pro Tools 8 LE, connected via USB, I discovered that if you disconnect the unit from USB before properly closing the recording session that it will also make the unit silent in standalone mode. It is my guess that the final QC they perform at the manufacturer is some USB based testing, and they are not resetting the unit to standalone before boxing it. I have yet to find a manual way to fix this other than a memory reset which clears any modifications or patches that you have applied. So you would defiantly want to insure you shut the session correctly before taking it to a gig or you may get stuck having to reset the memory leaving with only the factory patches if you have no computer/software available at the gig.Initially I was unimpressed with the sound of the unit through the headphones. The factory patches seemed unimpressive and I didn't get that "real amp feel" that everyone boasts about on the blogs. However, once I connected to a properly amplified PA it came alive. You can essentially control the sound like a real amp using the volume control on your guitar. It properly moves in and out of saturation smoothly depending on how hard you hit the strings. Even the most factory patches sound pretty good but if you really want to see the units capability right away, download some of the patches that others have created for specific songs and load them in through the Pro Tools interface.My only disappointment with the unit is that there are three effects missing that would make it a complete replacement for all my pedals. These effects are a stereo digital delay, so that you can perform "ping-pong" effects live through the PA. An Octaver, and a Whammy pedal. These can easily be incorporated externally through the stereo effects loop provided. For the live performer these particular effects are not likely going to be used much anyway so it is understandable why they were not made a staple. My only other complaint is that they did not make the patch modification interface through USB independent of Pro Tools. In other words, you must open and wait for pro tools to load before you can access the interface to view/modify the unit's patches. Of course you can access these through the screen on the unit itself but is is much better easier to visualize and manipulate on the computer. Additionally, it appears you must have the eleven rack connected or the version of pro tools that comes with the unit will not open. So no leaving the unit at the practice room thinking you are going to be able to tweak a song back back at the house. I'm sure there are ways around this issue though.I purchased mine for a really good price through AudioMIDI and they were very prompt in processing my RMA which I now know was unnecessary.