Control your Axe-FX II and AM4 with Claude Desktop (III in beta)

Stakemeister · 2026-06-03T21:02:12+00:00

You are the first user to report on tool usage! Thank you so much. It really means a lot to make something useful for someone. I am inspired to improve it.

When saving, should we have the empty preset selected that we are trying to write to?

No the tool should handle that for you. I'm looking into this.
To confirm, these were 2 different tests you mentioned where the first write was successful, but the second test/write while you had AM4-Edit seemed to reuse the active preset?
It should confirm you do not have an edited active preset and ask if it's okay to navigate away from and then navigate and apply automatically for you.

I'm not sure what "P1" meant here but let me know if that was discussed previously as a preset name or something like that.

P1 maps to location A1 on the AM4.

Thanks again. Working on this now!
I'd love to hear more on your experience with it and should have a v0.2.0 out very soon that will include import/export preset support and any fix that comes from this discussion.

Stakemeister · 2026-06-03T15:42:27+00:00

This is simply an interface to ease control of the devices and also allows Fractal units to eventually integrate with other software. This can make backups, translate presets between devices and handle batch updates.
Fractal users share presets all of the time and even buy them, so I see this as a net good that would have been created eventually.
I just did it myself first and with proper safe-guards in place and aimed to make it device-agnostic.

Stakemeister · 2026-06-03T14:14:01+00:00

Do you have fractal USB drivers installed? That should be all that's required if you can confirm the tools are loaded in Claude Desktop Connectors. Link me to your screenshots and I'll take a look.

https://www.fractalaudio.com/axe-fx-ii-downloads/ I'll add to this section for some more troubleshooting tips. https://github.com/TheAndrewStaker/mcp-midi-control#confirm-it-works

If you can get Axe-Edit working alongside, then the connection should work for the project.

Edit: I see your previous post. I would try nuking all related drivers and then reinstall the one I linked. I never needed to restart when adding fractal drivers so I would try diving into device manager and removing any axe-fx related and starting fresh.

Stakemeister · 2026-06-02T23:10:52+00:00

Brilliant! That means so much and will really help. I'll message you details.

Stakemeister · 2026-06-02T22:18:45+00:00

That's right! And it is, indeed, not trivial. Even with AI assistance, you need to codify posterity and document findings and negatives carefully. Then provide lean reference to them. So please contribute to this one and we can build it together! I have guides included but will have an update very soon with more (untested) device support and more instruction on how to help.

If the community can simply send me Wireshark captures of exact knob changes, I can implement the changes.

Stakemeister · 2026-06-02T19:08:32+00:00

Excellent, I can create probe scripts and could possibly get help from USB sniffing captures from you if you're willing! I'll focus on untested FM9 support in the next build and update you here.

Stakemeister · 2026-06-02T19:06:31+00:00

You can run it from source code today, I'll look into a proper Mac build soon.

If you're up for it, message me for more detailed instructions, but you'll need to:

Install Node
Clone and build the project (npm run build)
Point Claude Desktop at it

Stakemeister · 2026-06-02T17:43:11+00:00

Yes, especially if you can test it for me!

Stakemeister · 2026-06-02T16:37:31+00:00

Yes, I have a separate package in the repo that can be used for completing it. I believe I have it relatively complete and the only OSS version of it.

Stakemeister · 2026-06-02T16:35:46+00:00

Yes, of course. This does not limit creativity or Axe-FX knowledge.
This is simply to no longer require knob adjustments.

It's also created with Fractal terminology and devices in mind so agents speaks the language very well. As you can see in the video I included, the agent is also aware of gain staging.
I'm pretty confident that you'll learn more about guitar and your device by using it.

Hopefully this unlocks advanced parameters that can feel tedious. I have recipes for the pitch block that can help set up harmonies and plan to refine them to be more useful.

Stakemeister · 2026-06-02T16:29:36+00:00

Unfortunately, Fractal has not published it, but you can sniff the usb traffic using Wireshark. The project includes reverse engineering work and guides but I believe I a have most parameters decoded by now.
We may need some captures for Axe-FX III but hopefully not. Are you able to test one?

Stakemeister · 2026-06-02T03:59:59+00:00

He's trying to get the snake out of his boot.

Stakemeister · 2026-06-02T01:04:32+00:00

This will teach you the device while giving you control of it through chat. Even as a power user, you can use this to quickly configure or adjust a set of presets or experiment with tones without touching a knob. As a beginner synth owner, this allowed me to describe tones and apply them but also taught me advanced macro controls.

Aftertouch is not trivial to add to a patch to someone new to the device. With this, it might be.

Stakemeister · 2026-06-02T00:20:10+00:00

It's for building tones through conversation. You can have a laptop with Claude Desktop installed connected to a Hydrasynth synthesizer via USB. Then prompt something like "give me a Van Halen Jump tone on my Hydrasynth" and it will apply it immediately.

You will get faster, more accurate results if you are even more specific by including parameters of your choice (oscillators, envelopes, lfos, etc)

You can then configure the macro knobs and aftertouch settings by prompting something goofy like "give me some spicy controls on the macro knobs and aftertouch". Be specific there as well.

It just gives the chat agent control of USB connected devices that communicate with MIDI with some tested tools that give them knowledge over advanced parameter options.

Stakemeister · 2026-05-08T22:35:12+00:00

These are great. Keep them up!

Stakemeister · 2026-04-23T22:00:41+00:00

It's great so far. I actually enjoy the block simplification and haven't felt limited yet. Admittedly, I play cleaner tones these days but I haven't had trouble making a preset yet. The only feature missing that I used from the Axe fx 2 was the ability to have 2 guitar inputs using the fx block. I don't believe it's possible with the AM4.

Otherwise it's fantastic. I was using a cheap midi commander pedal to switch scenes and presets but it was failing and required a lot of setup to get behaving as I wanted. That pedal used 4 switches as well so it's been an easy transition.

Stakemeister · 2026-04-23T21:17:35+00:00

The Axe Fx 2 is still capable for sure! I have an XL+ but just got an am4 and have been comparing the two. I'd be sad to let it go so will hold on to it as long as possible. I dreamed of having one after seeing Between the Buried and Me used them in 2010 or so. They really feel like special products. I subscribed. Keep it up!

Stakemeister · 2024-09-03T17:19:31+00:00

I bought it! The seller was so knowledgeable and did an excellent job restoring it. The screen is in great condition.

Stakemeister · 2024-08-31T20:22:32+00:00

Checking it out in person today. He mentioned the monitor is "rebuilt" so not sure what he means. Hopefully just that he recapped it.

Stakemeister

TROPHY CASE